Free gym & home hygiene checklists
Two short lists you can print and keep in a gym bag or on the fridge. Both follow guidance from the CDC and other public-health sources, listed at the bottom.
Gym checklist
- Lay your own towel on benches, mats and seats before you use them.
- Wipe equipment before and after you use it with the gym's wipes or spray. If the wipe station is empty, tell the staff.
- Cover cuts, scrapes and blisters with a clean, dry bandage until they heal.
- If a wound can't stay covered, skip mat work and shared equipment until it heals, and stay out of pools and hot tubs.
- Keep towels, razors, bar soap, clothing and creams to yourself.
- Wash your hands, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, after your workout.
- Shower soon after you train.
- Wash gym clothes and towels after each use, and dry them all the way in a dryer.
Home checklist
- Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds: before you cook, after the bathroom or a diaper change, after touching a cut or bandage, and after handling dirty laundry.
- Clean a fresh cut with soap and water, keep it covered until it heals, and don't pick at sores.
- Give everyone their own towel and washcloth. Different colors make them easy to tell apart.
- Clean what hands and skin touch most: phones, keyboards, remotes, faucets, light switches, doorknobs and counters.
- Clean with soap or detergent first, then disinfect. Dirt can stop a disinfectant from working.
- Choose a disinfectant whose label lists Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, and leave the surface wet for the contact time printed on the label.
- Never mix bleach with other cleaning products.
- Wash towels and bedding in the warmest water the care label allows, and dry them fully in a hot dryer.
- Carry dirty laundry without shaking it out, and wash your hands afterward.
When to call a doctor
Call a doctor if a cut, bump or sore turns red, swollen, warm or painful, starts to drain, or comes with a fever. Don't wait to see if it clears up on its own.
These checklists are general education, not medical advice.
