Any gym saunas where people don’t go in their full sweaty workout gear?

[Anonymous]

I recently switched to a gym which has an infrared sauna in the changing room which was a big part of the appeal for me. I recently decided to finally try it out to realize that people go there in their full workout gear including shoes. Some women had their shoes on the bench. I felt pretty weird being naked just wrapped in a towel and wearing flip flops, even though I believe that should be the standard. I find it super gross for people to sit there in their sweaty clothes and I have no intention to go back. I go to a place where I can book a private sauna but it is pricy so I hoped to shift some of the sessions to the gym. Are there any gyms in the DMV where leggings and sneakers and not the norm in the sauna or is this just the way it is here in the US? I am from Europe and this is perplexing to me.

[Anonymous]

This has nothing to do with you question, but my husband is Finnish. In Finland you must use the gym saunas naked (no towel) for the reasons you just described. You shower before entering the sauna and then you shower afterwards. Each person has a little mat that they sit on (called a pefletti) for hygiene purposes. Just some cultural background for you.

[Anonymous]

This is the PP, I just saw that you are European, so you already know everything I just described.

[Anonymous]

You need to go to a Sauna at a spa, not a gym.

At my gym the saunas are co-ed and in the pool area. You have to leave the locker room, walk down a pool hall way (windows on one side) to the pool, then into the sauna. You would absolutely look crazy going in naked/wrapped in a towel. 90% are in work out gear, the other 10% in swimwear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the PP, I just saw that you are European, so you already know everything I just described.

Yes, I would have no problem going naked but I thought that would be too much in a country where women hide in a bathroom stall to change in a gym. I am fully naked in the private sauna I go to.

[Anonymous]

I think you have to go to a private sauna for a nice experience. Skip the gym sauna.

[Anonymous]

My gym also has an infrared sauna, I go in shorts and sports bra, no shoes. Its a single use sauna. I've never given it a 2nd thought

[Anonymous]

We have separate sex saunas at my gym, but I just accept they are gross - whatever that even means since everybody is sweating a lot in their anyways. I use it for heat acclimation in advance of endurance events. I go in there with my pool slides and a pair of my running shorts with no shirt so that I can immediately get dressed with a shirt and get into my car and drive home without the air conditioning on to keep my body temperature up for a longer duration.

If you want a fancy experience, you are just going to have to find a fancier/pay for a fancier experience.

[Anonymous]

Is there some kind of SwTD (sweat transmitted disease) I don’t know about? Why does everybody assume that others at their private gym are dirtier than they are? This is so silly to me.

[Anonymous]

You are fine sitting in the spot where someones naked butt was...but sweaty workout clothes no? Just sit in a towel..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are fine sitting in the spot where someones naked butt was...but sweaty workout clothes no? Just sit in a towel..

I did not say that. I always sit on a towel. It helps protect the wood too. I have an issue with the shoes and clothes because of the dirt on them that heat helps release into the air everyone breathes. The proper sauna etiquette in countries where sauna is a tradition is to take a shower before and sit naked on a towel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there some kind of SwTD (sweat transmitted disease) I don’t know about? Why does everybody assume that others at their private gym are dirtier than they are? This is so silly to me.

To me the biggest issue are the shoes as they are the same in which people walk around outside. To avoid sitting in someone’s pool of sweat you just sit on a towel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you have to go to a private sauna for a nice experience. Skip the gym sauna.

That is what I am doing but it adds up. Would have been nice to be able to do a few sessions at the gym. But it looks like what I see in my gym is the norm so I guess I will just keep paying.

[Anonymous]

Go to that gay cruising spot in centerville if you want that experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to that gay cruising spot in centerville if you want that experience

Nudity in the sauna has nothing to do with sex or sexual orientation. Yes, people might notice that you have a small 🍆 but, at least where I am from, they don’t care or go there because of that. The point is to let your skin breathe and that does not work so well in leggings and sneakers.