Matiquette: A matter of hygiene, odours and common courtesy

There are several items that are regularly used and comes into constant contact during the CMD workouts: gloves, tshirts and BJJ kimono.

This raises the matter of personal hygiene and exercising good habits pre-and post-workouts.

It goes without question that everyone stepping on the mats should have good personal hygiene and grooming habits. Taking a shower before a workout removes the grime and funk accumulated over the course of the day, even if you spend all day in an air-conditioned office, it is still much appreciated by your sparring partners when close physical contact is required (such as in a clinch or in the Monkey Jits).

Walking in and out of the gym (especially to the restroom) should be done with footwear. Walking about barefoot is a bad idea as you will definitely pick up bacteria on the way out and in the studio. The bacteria will get rubbed off on the mats and some unfortunate's face or hands will come into contact and spread it to everyone s/he spars with.

The most common forms of skin-contact infections in many gyms are ringworm and staph. I try to keep the mats disinfected but I can only do so much. The rest is down to good habits by you.

Please take a moment to educate yourself about these common skin infections. As with many contact infections, they can be quickly spread and often results in gym closure to disinfect everything. For the victim, recovery can take a few months and that means no training or coming into physical contact with anyone, including pets. Think I'm joking?

In severe cases, this may include surgery and hospitalization. This potentially painful and expensive experience can be easily prevented.

The most common item that comes into contact with your training partners are your boxing gloves and your hands.

For my gloves' interior I use something called colloidal silver spray. Unfortunately it is not available in Malaysia presently but I have found it to be most effective to kill the bacteria that causes the smell in the gloves. This also works great on workout clothing but it starts to become expensive when spraying down a BJJ uniform. One tip that works is to immediately wash the gi when you get home. If you leave it in a laundry basket overnight the bacteria starts to work its way into the fabric and stays there. Every subsequent time you sweat in it, you reactivate the bacteria and the gi becomes stinky again. Not a good way to train.

I recall an older Japanese gentleman who used to train BJJ with us before he was assigned to another country. Before every BJJ class, he would brush his teeth and clean his face and neck. Sometimes he would shower before changing into his gi. Now I know why. I'll let you folks figure it out but before you step onto the mats next time, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results. It only takes 5 minutes of your time and instead of hanging out waiting for the next session, wash up before getting on the mats.

Now the problem with boxing gloves is that the soft foam interior is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. After you have done training, the accumulated sweat pools up and is soaked up by the foam. The leather exterior, while breathable, is effective in keeping moisture in and air out. Even if you put the gloves in direct sunlight, the UV and solar rays will never make it to the ends of the gloves where your fingertips reach. Throwing leather gloves in the washing machine will not be the solution either as they will end up getting soggy and will damage the leather.

There are products like glove dogs or activated charcoal pouches which act more like moisture absorbers but the trouble is that it leaves the bacteria inside the foam. This is similar to those who use a hair dryer on a cool setting but seriously who has the time to spend an hour to dry out the gloves without getting to the source of the stink (bacteria)? Even things like Febreeze will temporarily mask the smell and leave you hands saturated with chemicals. The best is to use a combination of the colloidal silver and (air) drying technique.

For the gloves' exterior I use Clorox disinfecting wipes. This is available in most supermarkets that I've been to and it's good stuff as it claims to kill flu and cold viruses too.


The next are your hands; cut, filed fingernails, clean hands will help you prevent the spread of germs. I have nail clippers and waterless disinfectant liquid in the gym. Please use it.

The final item(s) would be your clothing. Clean workout gear (including knee pads and underwear) is the standard operating procedure. Clean BJJ gi is a must. If it's stinky and used, sitting in a closed gym bag in the back of your car for a week = not acceptable. Don't be surprised if no one wants to spar with you that evening. The message you send to your training partners is if you can't even look after your gear, I won't have confidence in you not injuring me on a physical or bacterial level so thanks but no thanks.

I may have mentioned this before but it is also not acceptable to cut your fingernail just before a jiu jitsu class. The freshly cut edges of your nails will scratch and cut the skin of your training partner (ranging from invisible to visible lacerations) which accelerates the any skin infections found under your fingernails or on the mats or your clothing. Better to do this at home, file down the toe and fingernails a day or two before sparring. You will find that if you are consistent about this there will be no incidences of any infections.

Well that's it for now. Happy and safe training.