Fencing clothes get wet. Not wet like swim trunks or rain jackets, but wet from the heaping amounts of sweat that pour out of a fencer’s body throughout the course of a strenuous practice in thick gear.
The real deal with sweat
First off, let’s talk about sweat.
There is something deeply satisfying about getting in a hard workout at the fencing club. Running up and down the strip, feeling those muscles tense and release, it’s good stuff! That good stuff also produces smelly, wet stuff in the form of perspiration.
Sweat in and of itself is basically water expelled from the skin in order to cool the body down. There’s not actually bacteria in the sweat itself, rather it’s the bacteria on our skin that mixes with the sweat and digests the small amounts of sugar in it that causes the odor.
There’s no reason to feel crazy about sweat, our bodies are meant to do this. It’s healthy to sweat. What’s no healthy is for that sweat and bacteria to stick around and smell like a rhinoceros as a result. The odor gets worse the longer fencing gear stays sweaty, not to mention the risk of bacteria getting out of control. Getting rid of the bacteria and keeping fencing equipment dry should be a priority.
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