Workout clothing care

Working out has become a true American pastime, and along with exercise equipment, health club memberships, and footwear, the market for fitness clothing has greatly expanded over the past several decades. Today, clothing is available that is designed specifically for running, yoga, aquatic exercise, weight training, and aerobics, just to name a few. Manufacturers have moved away from using strictly cotton, and are developing new blends that offer a variety of benefits. But, while this clothing is designed to be lightweight and help maintain proper body temperature along with other factors, special care needs to be taken when laundering in order to ensure durability.

Let’s start out with the basics. For any type of workout clothing, one of the most important things to remember is not to let dirty clothes remain unwashed for too long. Resist the temptation to leave your gym clothes in the hamper, or worse, your gym bag, for any length of time. Sweat is comprised primarily of salt, which, if left to linger on fabric can stain the fabric and eventually even corrode it. Toss those clothes into the washer or hand-rinse them immediately upon removal.

Another basic is to sort your clothes by color before washing. A white tee shirt washed with a pair of black, cotton sweat pants will certainly pick up a bit of the black dye, especially if these items are washed in hot water. Separate the darks from the light colors, and always wash whites separately. Also keep in mind that hot water can shrink certain fabrics, especially cottons, and will also fade dark colors.

Before washing any item of clothing, first check the care tag to determine how to wash the item. Normally, the tag will indicate whether or not the item can be machine washed, the suggested water temperature, and drying instructions. Some fabrics can take just about any kind of treatment, while others need special consideration. Cottons can be washed in warm or even hot water, and then tossed in the dryer at moderate heat. But some blends, especially polyesters and Lycras, should never be washed in hot water, and are best dried at a low setting. Heat can destroy the fibers that give Lycra its stretch.

Rather than tossing blended polyester/Lycra fabrics into the dryer, remove them from the washer and hang on a plastic hanger to dry. These lightweight fabrics will dry quickly on the hanger and can be reshaped as they dry if necessary.

Anything worn in a chlorinated pool should also be washed immediately so that the chlorine does not begin deteriorating the fabric. The chlorine works to break down the fibers, and the suit will lose its elasticity and shape. Try using a special detergent made specifically for removing the chlorine from fabrics. Check websites that specialize in aquatic gear for this type of detergent. Ideally, these items should be washed by hand, but if your washer has a delicate or hand-wash cycle, you can wash bathing suits in the machine using cold water. Never put a bathing suit in a dryer; instead hang on a plastic hanger to dry. Over time, the heat of a dryer will break down the fibers and ruin the suit.

Because of the increasing popularity of aquatic exercise, there are some suits being made that claim to be chlorine resistant, and one manufacturer even offers a one-year limited warranty. But even these suits should be hand washed in cold water using a chlorine treatment or cold wash soap, and then hung up to dry.

If your clothes are stained, use a pre-treatment product. Many simply spray on and only need to sit for five minutes before washing. If your clothes develop underarm stains, pour a little liquid detergent on the area before washing. This acts directly on the stain and prevents it from setting in. Another interesting remedy is to take several aspirin and dissolve them in a cup of warm water. Pour this mixture over the sweat stain and let it work on the stain overnight. The garment can then be washed in hot water the next day.

Once a stained item has been washed, check carefully to make sure the stain was removed before during the wash cycle before placing the garment in the dryer. Once you machine dry a stained piece of clothing, the stain will become permanent, and there is nothing that can be done to remove it. By taking proper care of your workout clothes, you can extend their wear and look great at the gym in the meantime. And, after all, looking great is all part of improving your life through fitness and exercise.