Keeping Clean When Your BJJ Gym Doesn’t Have a Shower

If you are worried about not being able to clean yourself up after a hard BJJ training session, here are some tips to get the sweat and stink off if your gym doesn’t have a shower.

If there’s one thing that’s certain in jiu-jitsu, it’s that you’re going to be close to people. With all that closeness, you’re bound to be gross with sweat. I don’t care if you don’t sweat a lot—you will have someone else’s sweat on you. Not to mention the various skin diseases you can get from being in such close contact with others. It doesn’t matter if you’re not dirty or if your gym is generally clean; there is always a possibility. Because of this, it is very important to wash your body as soon as you can after training.

If your gym has a shower, then this is easy to do. But some gyms don’t have a shower, or they only have one shower for the whole gym, and not many people have time to wait around to shower.

If you’re in one of these situations, it is important to have options for cleanliness after your training sessions. Here are some options for you if your gym doesn’t have a shower.

As I mentioned before, all that training with multiple people increases the opportunities for diseases to pass easily. On the lighter side, even if you don’t sweat a lot, you might get covered in someone else’s sweat just because of the nature of the sport. It’s important to lessen these risks by changing and cleaning yourself as soon as possible.  In addition, changing your gi top and rashguard in between sessions and making sure you wash your training gear properly can help with your overall cleanliness.

Most gyms have a bathroom with a sink, so it should be easy to use the sink to wash off the essential parts and wipe down your body. I won’t get into the debate over whether people use washcloths or not, but if you carry a washcloth in your bag, it should be easy to clean yourself without making a mess of water all over the bathroom. You can also bring a small bottle of body wash or a bar of soap to help.

In the grappling community, defense wipes are a great invention. They are antiseptic wipes infused with tea tree oil to help prevent potential skin diseases you can catch from grappling. What’s nice about defense wipes is that you only need to carry the bottle of wipes and take one or two out to clean your whole body. They also smell great and come in different varieties. You can get them on Amazon here:

If you need more than a couple of wipes to get the stink off your body, then 60-second shower wipes are perfect. These wipes are great because all you have to do is wet them and let the suds build up, wash your body, wipe the suds off with a towel, and throw out the wipes. They are also very convenient because you don’t need a shower—just a bit of water to get the suds going. The wipes are disposable, and you can carry a few of them for the week in a plastic bag to keep them from getting wet. You can get them on Amazon here

If you don’t want to do the things previously mentioned, the one thing you should do after you train is to get out of your training clothes. Firstly, you don’t want to be stinky as you travel back home, and you want to minimize the number of germs you carry with you.

It’s great to carry some comfy clothes for after you train so you can get nice and comfortable after you’ve been beaten up for a few hours.

Some martial arts gyms don’t have the luxury of having multiple showers for people to use. Cleaning up after a hard training session with multiple training partners is important for your health.

Although these options are great for when your gym doesn’t have a shower, they do not replace a shower when you get home from training. These cleanliness options help minimize the smells and diseases that can come from training jiu-jitsu.

Question: How do you—or how would you—deal with your gym not having a shower? What are some of your methods for cleanliness after the gym? Tell me in the comments or on my Instagram @blackgirlwhitegi_bjj.