How to look after your gym kit for longer<\/p>\n
To start with, don\u2019t leave sweaty kit sitting in a gym bag. \u201cAs soon as you get home, take everything out of the bag and either wash it or hang it up to dry before putting it in the laundry basket,\u201d says Louisa. \u201cLeaving damp, sweaty clothes scrunched up gives bacteria the perfect conditions to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
As mentioned in the quiz above, turn everything inside out before washing, so that your detergent can reach the sweat and bacteria inside \u2013 but don\u2019t overdo it on the detergent, and remember to skip the fabric softener. \u201cExcess detergent leaves residue behind in the fibres, which can then trap odours,\u201d adds Louisa.<\/p>\n
A laundry cleanser or sportswear-specific detergent such as GymSpin capsules <\/a>or Titan Detergent<\/a> can work well for very sweaty kit, especially technical fibres.<\/p>\n When to accept defeat<\/p>\n However, no amount of careful laundering will grant activewear immortality. Sweat and body oils inevitably degrade elastane and technical materials.<\/p>\n Sports bras<\/a> suffer the swiftest demise. Unsupported breasts move up to 21cm during high-impact movement, according to research by the University of Portsmouth<\/a>, making proper support essential. Mari Thomas-Welland, founder of sportswear brand Maaree<\/a>, advises replacing them every six to 12 months. \u201cThe elastane is the thing that wears down quickest,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce it stops springing back, the bra stops holding you the way it did when it was new.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How to look after your gym kit for longer To start with, don\u2019t leave sweaty kit sitting in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,177580,24160,181755,166689,175735,10695,169376,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-806528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-gym-exercises","tag-home-gym-equipment","tag-other-article","tag-recommended","tag-recommended-health-and-fitness","tag-running","tag-special-exclusion","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}