This is a quick read but I had to get it off my chest… Happy Friday and safe training this weekend! Hygiene rules of the gym are as follows. Wash your GI, Clip your nails and wear sandals in the bathroom so you don't drag bacteria onto the mat!
If you’ve been training Jiu Jitsu for a significant amount of time, chances are you’ve run into your fair share of training partners that smell a little… funky. In our day to day lives, we tend to keep comments about how other people smell to ourselves, but should that change when we’re on the mat? What should we do? What should we say? How should we say it? Do we have the professor do it for us?
As adults participating in a contact sport, the hygiene of every individual on the mat becomes a concern for the group as a whole. At first a funky smelling gi or rashguard might be something that we can joke about, but it has the potential to be more than an assault on our senses. Poorly washed and stinky athletic wear can harbor all sorts of pathogens such as ringworm and staph, both of which can take a dedicated Jiu Jitsu practitioner off the mat and straight to a hospital if the necessary steps aren’t taken care of. Again, a stinky gi or rash guard isn’t just the wearer’s problem, it’s an issue for everyone that even touches the mat afterwards. As adults, we need to be able to have these conversations with our training partners.
No matter how uncomfortable it can get, a Jiu Jitsu academy should be a place where honest conversations are had. If one of your training partners is coming in with a gi/rash guard that he never washes, then it should be your responsibility to bring it up to them. Alternatively, if you want to preserve your anonymity, you should be able to notify the owner of the academy and they should set them straight, no harm no foul.
Here is a question? Should we all wear mandatory rash guards?
Truly Yours, Anonymous White Belt