Keeping your gym clean is a simple, effective way to help curb the spread of disease and make a great impression on your clientele. While it may seem complicated, the process is actually easy when you use all the resources at your disposal.
As with building a muscular body, implementing a cleaning strategy takes some effort in the beginning but then requires only a little maintenance to stay effective. If you don't have time to thoroughly clean your gym every night, you can always hire a cleaning service to handle the job.
Top Tips for Maintaining a Clean Fitness Center
Keeping your gym free of germs starts with communication. You'll need to educate your clients on how to curb the spread of disease by disinfecting surfaces before and after every use. Although it may sound simple, disinfecting surfaces is the most important step you can take to keep your gym sanitary, and it's easy to get this step wrong.
For example, incorrectly using disinfectant wipes can spread germs instead of eliminating them. Wiping back and forth with disinfectant wipes is ineffective and unsanitary, and instead, you should wipe only in one direction, using several wipes if necessary.
Because the cost of disinfectant wipes can add up, you may prefer to use spray sanitizer instead. In this case, your clients will need to let the disinfectant sit on the surface before toweling it off. Different disinfectants require varying amounts of time to work, and the time requirement should be listed on the container. To teach your clients about sanitization, post signs near equipment explaining the process and the reasoning behind it.
Cleaning Mistakes to Avoid
If you want to maintain a clean fitness center, you have few options other than enlisting your clients’ help. Either your clients wipe down equipment before and after every use or a staff member will have to hover around them at all times, which could get awkward.
However, keeping your gym clean will ultimately be your job, not your clients’, and you’ll have additional tasks to handle each day. Your clients will only be cleaning the pieces of equipment they use, but you’ll need to ensure that every surface in your gym stays disinfected.
One of the biggest mistakes gym owners make is assuming that disinfection is complete after their clients wipe down the equipment. Maintaining a clean fitness center takes daily, fastidious effort, and every surface in the gym will need recleaning after the clients are gone. A few areas that may require special attention include:
- Floors
- Doors and windows
- Bathrooms
- Water fountains
- Lockers
- Handrails
- Office equipment
You have several options for cleaning these areas and any others that may be unique to your gym. If you have enough staff members, you could delegate cleaning work for them to do before they leave. In this case, you’d increase your employees’ hours and then have to inspect their work, which might not be the most efficient choice.
Alternatively, you could hire a cleaning service to handle the job with a high level of proficiency and attention to detail. Although this option would increase your expenses, it would save time and minimize the chance that your clients will walk into a dirty gym the next day.
How a Clean Fitness Center Can Boost Business
Maintaining a sanitary gym can give your clients a sense of confidence in your establishment. When they walk into a clean gym to begin working out, they’ll likely value your effort and associate your business with a conscientious work ethic. Most importantly, they won’t be likely to write negative reviews regarding the cleanliness of your gym, which could impact business.
When you keep your gym clean, you’ll be promoting optimal health and hygiene in your establishment, preventing the spread of illness and helping to ensure that your clients will keep coming back. By reducing the chance of an outbreak occurring at your gym, you’ll go a long way toward managing your reputation online and in the Lynnwood, Washington, community.
The Easy Way to Keep a Gym Clean
Instead of spending hours every night disinfecting your gym, you can cut to the chase by hiring a cleaning service. With a nightly cleaning crew to disinfect your gym, you won’t have to worry about untrained staff members doing an inadequate job.
A professional cleaning service can use powerful tools to fully disinfect large areas. Techniques such as electrostatic fogging can quickly eliminate germs throughout an entire building, eliminating the need for manual spraying and wiping. Other benefits of hiring a cleaning crew include:
- Working with licensed, bonded and insured professionals
- Eliminating the need to buy cleaning supplies
- Knowing that trained, verified cleaners are on the job
- Maintaining a convenient schedule
The Difference Between Sanitizing and Disinfecting
Cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting are closely related yet distinct concepts with important implications for your business. Sanitizing refers to a cleaning method that reduces microbes to a minimal level whereas disinfecting is a more thorough process that eliminates all germs. Cleaning is an umbrella term that includes both sanitizing and disinfecting as well as sweeping, mopping and other custodial tasks.
While disinfectant wipes may adequately sanitize your gym equipment throughout the day, a more thorough approach will be necessary before your clients return the next day. True disinfecting requires careful, methodical work to ensure that surfaces don't become contaminated again during the cleaning process. Electrostatic fogging is by far the most efficient way to disinfect large areas without the possibility of recontamination.
Getting Your Clients Involved
If your clients are accustomed to working out without wiping down equipment, some of them may balk at adopting new rules. How you deal with customer education will ultimately be your choice, and you may simply choose to hire a full-time cleaner to sanitize equipment throughout the day.
However, most gyms require their clients to wipe down equipment and cover benches with towels to absorb sweat. In addition to posting signs explaining how to disinfect equipment, you can instruct staff members to set an example on the gym floor and patiently help your clients learn the process
Designing a Hygienic Gym From the Ground Up
With so many effective options at your disposal, eliminating germs in your gym shouldn’t take long. A comprehensive cleaning system will make it easy to maintain a sanitary fitness center in the years to come. At Clean and Simple Cleaning, we offer a full range of services for gym owners in the Lynnwood, Everett, and Snohomish County areaa. Call us today at 425-673-4733 to learn more about our services and get a quote for your project.
