I will admit that many years ago, before I worked out, I didn’t wipe fown. I felt tough, strong, and invincible. Obviously, I was stupid. There I said it. I would often wipe it down after using it but not before. How does that make sense? It doesn’t.

Fast forward to now and I’m doing a wiping dance. Yes, a dance. I want others to see me wiping down the equipment both before and after I use it. However, others are not similarly wiping. And, that is quite foolhardy. And, maybe even deadly. And, I can’t seem to shame people into wiping the equipment even though my dance is quite cool.

Here’s some data. An exercise bike, on average, has 79 times more bacteria than a water faucet. Yuck. Free weights have about 362 times more bacteria than a public toilet. More yuck. Would you willingly sit on a dirty public toilet? Probably not. In New York people put up random street warnings about bed bugs. And, yes those are a problem in New York. We should mitigate that risk as well. However, at the moment we are on the verge of a coronovirus pandemic and we need to be vigilant about good hand-washing, infection control, and gym etiquette.