Dont be the STINKY KID in Jiu Jitsu class....... The weathers heating up -- and thats bad news for body odor. Jiu-Jitsu is a close contact high perspiration activity so take steps not to be offensive to your training partners. Start by having good hygiene! Don’t forget to arrive odor-free and well-groomed. This means trim your finger and toe nails, if you have long hair, put it up, and ALWAYS wear deodorant. ABOVE ALL WASH YOUR GI every time after you train and dont leave it in your bag wet with sweat after training. To help raise some awareness on the matter here are 10 tips on washing and taking care of your Gi. 1: While it hopefully goes without saying, you need to wash your gi after every single time you roll. It’s just the right thing to do for everyone involved. If you are doubling up on a day, going to the morning class and the afternoon class, please don’t wear the same gi. Take a shower, too, while you’re at it. 2: Don’t overload your washer. In your washer, three things contribute to cleaning your clothes: water temperature, soap and agitation. If you cram the washer full, there will be very little agitation and your clothes won’t get clean. If your gis don’t smell good after your wash, it’s possible that you’re loading too much and your washer’s can not properly clean it. 3: Try White Vinegar instead of bleach: This is particularly great if you’re line drying, but is good for killing odors without weakening the fabric. Bleach will make your gi stiff and will dramatically shorten its life by weakening the fabric. Vinegar, on the other hand, will help eliminate odors without destroying the fabric in the process. A 5% solution of vinegar and water is also a natural, non-toxic antiseptic that will kill 99% of germs. So, try adding white vinegar to the bleach bin of your washing machine instead of bleach (1/4 cup to 1 cup, depending on the size of the load). White vinegar is also safe for colors, if anything, helping to set them instead of making them fade, with the added benefit of helping prevent pit stains and yellowing in a white gi. When you line dry, does your gi feel like it could stand up on its own? Made of cardboard? That stiffness is from residual soap. Vinegar added to the final rinse helps get the soap out, so you don’t end up with cardboard when you’re done. 4: Baking Soda or Borax for acidic odors: Vinegar is an acid, and tip 3 will only work if we’re talking about bacteria. If you find that an odor isn’t responding to vinegar, try baking soda or borax (or combining the two) added to your wash instead of the vinegar. 5: The Sun kills bacteria naturally. Summer is almost here and its sunny and warm,take advantage of the Georgia sun and Line Dry your Gi’s, as it’s UV rays kill bacteria naturally. 6: Dry your gis completely before wearing them. Another common cause of funk is to wash the gi then wear it before it’s completely dry. Moisture is an environment that bacteria enjoy, and if you never allow your kimonos to dry completely, you’re probably harboring plenty of funky bacteria. This means if you’re line drying, you should plan ahead and give them plenty of time to dry. 7: Heat kills bacteria. While it’s true that washing in cold water and line drying will extend the life of your gi, the Dryer is not THAT bad. It’s not like washing and drying your kimono will cause it to fall apart in months (although bleaching it definitely will destroy it fast). The first thing I do when I get a new gi is to try it on. If it’s pre-shrunk, great. I still expect a little shrinkage, but not that much. If it’s not pre-shrunk, I expect the sleeves and pants to shrink up a few inches. 8: Deorderize your belt. There are two main reasons for not washing the belt in the machine. The first is superstition. The second is that our stripes tend to be athletic tape. Washing the belt might literally wash off the stripes. Your belt will get funky if you don’t do something to clean it. You don’t have to wash it in the machine, use a disinfectant spray. Odoban works pretty well, and is available in bulk at Sams. Febreze also works pretty well. You can also make a 5% solution of white vinegar and just allow it to dry completely. The vinegar smell will fade away as the fabric dries. 9: Own multiple Kimonos: If you’ve been training consistently for 6 months or more and still own only one gi, it is strongly recommended to have another one. If you train multiple times each week and are serious at all about it, do yourself and your training partners a favor and own at least two gis you can interchange between. 10: If all else fails, try washing your washer. This is particularly true for the front loaders, where a small amount of water tends to remain in the basin between washes. Some things you can do to disinfect your washer include running an empty cycle with hot water, soap and bleach. Or I would recommend hot water and about 3 cups of white vinegar. If you have a front loader, leave the door open between washes to allow it to dry out. The front loaders are air tight, and leaving the door closed will promote the growth of bacteria, mold and mildew. It seems very elementary to have to say this but some just don’t quite get it. Remember, you’re rolling around the mat with another person, up close and personal. You’re attempting to submit them using your Jiu-Jitsu technique … not your body odor. Here are some more simple tricks to help keep your top BO triggers in check.
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 21:45:41 +0000
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