Why Fitness Centers Require a Different Standard of Cleaning(And Why Most Get It Wrong)

And why most get it wrong. Gyms aren’t offices. They’re high-contact, high-moisture environments where odor, safety, and member perception are all on the line.

Quick idea: If your space is designed to make people sweat, it must also be designed to control what sweat leaves behind.

Walk into a fitness center and you’ll notice something before you see anything: the smell.

Not because the place is “dirty” in the traditional sense—but because gyms are living, breathing environments. Heat, sweat, moisture, friction, skin contact, rubber flooring, shared equipment… all working together every single hour the doors are open.

A gym is not an office. And it cannot be cleaned like one. Yet many fitness centers rely on the same cleaning logic used for desks, carpets, and conference rooms—and that’s where problems begin.

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