Don’t be intimidated, however, as home or gym fitness equipment maintenance can be rather simple. For starters, you want to simply keep your equipment clean. Sweat will dry out the padded surfaces—causing premature cracks that damage said padding—and needs to be wiped down after every use to prevent this. Any sanitizing spray will do if you’re diligent about removing the sweat. Try creating a non-toxic, soap and water solution to get the sweat off keypads and consoles to keep the cardio machines clean and performing at their peak. As for the rest of the equipment, you want to wipe the tracks, exposed portions of flywheels, and other components down at least bi-weekly to prevent buildups of dust, debris, and other substances like chalk (if you happen to use it).

Keeping your equipment clean is a good place to start when you’re looking into workout equipment maintenance. The next step should be ensuring the equipment is operating as smoothly as possible. For our equipment, you can apply dry silicone to the guide rods on weight machines and silicone-based products for certain cardio machines. This will reduce friction between the moving parts and improve the longevity of your equipment. The manufacturer will often have recommendations in the user manual.

Something you may not even consider is the need to update the software of your exercise equipment. As exercise machinery becomes more advanced, machines like treadmills have systems that measure your speed, display your heart rate, automate route simulation, and more. Keeping the software up to date will prevent functional issues and keep your machine responsive.

Finally, one last tip for fitness equipment maintenance is that you should regularly inspect your equipment’s condition. While it’s obviously easy to identify issues while using the equipment, that’s typically because the problem will worsen or cause the machinery to completely break, potentially causing harm to yourself. Catch and solve problems early so that you don’t have to suffer the consequences while in the middle of a workout. Much of preventative maintenance involves simply keeping a diligent eye on your equipment for defects or wear and tear so that you can respond to them early.