yoga mat bacteria Archives

5 Tips for Yoga Studio Owners to Reopen Responsibly

COVID Conditions are getting better

COVID-19 vaccines are now available. Hospital ICU beds are at lower percentages for COVID. Total case numbers are decreasing and restrictions on yoga and fitness studios are loosening. Being ready to open your gym or studio for full indoor classes is key. There are many things you can do to reopen responsibly.

Here are five tips to reopen responsibly

Share your checklist. No doubt you have a cleaning checklist for sanitizing protocols. Check into the COVID-19 CDC guidelines. Be sure to share this information on your website, social media and even at your front desk with signage. Videos work best for social. Create a link on your website’s homepage with all the safety measures you are taking.
Keep members coming back. Your safety and cleaning protocols will make students feel safer coming back. Give them personal attention and care to keep them coming back. MatFresher is a novel mat cleaning machine for your clients’ yoga mats. MatFresher differentiates your yoga studio from others that only offer wipes or sprays. Plus wipes and sprays increase your expenses and aren’t effective. MatFresher is free for studios and gyms. Better yet, it generates new revenue with every check-in!
Air it out. Adding HVAC filtration systems can help. But for many studio owners, changing to air purification systems would be too costly. A simpler way is using fans to circulate the air. Floor fans are an inexpensive solution and will keep clients from breathing stagnant air.
Word up. Add signage to your studio. CDC requires studios to post “social distancing and mask-wearing” posters.. They also recommend floor stickers that designate where students stand while waiting for classes. Plan out your studio space and mark the floor with bright tape to line up customer mats and other equipment.
Do their part. Now is the time to ask your clients to do their part. It is a good idea to have all students coming back to the gym or yoga studio sign a pledge to healthy living, wearing masks and even cleaning their yoga mats regularly.

reopen responsibly with a mask and clean mat pledge — Wear a mask, socially distance with members, clean your yoga mat with MatFresher

Why MatFresher?

MatFresher is the only hands-free, multi-step solution to clean and sanitize mats. Not only does MatFresher brush away dirt and debris, in addition to killing germs with powerful UVC light, the all-natural sanitizing spray penetrates the pores that light can’t reach. Mats are then neatly rolled and ready-to-go in 30 seconds! Contact MatFresher to find out more.

How to increase profitability during COVID

Posted on by MatFresher

Hundreds of gyms and studios remain closed or partly open, due to COVID-19. Businesses are struggling to keep their doors open. Profitability is down. Some businesses are closing their doors. Membership is down. People are still hesitant to return to indoor facilities. Business owners must pivot and find new ways to attract members and revenue. Here’s one way you can increase profitability during COVID.

Losing money — Every penny counts to be profitable.

Safety procedures for sanitizing facilities have never been more important. People do not realize regular disinfecting spray or wipes are not enough to truly clean their mat.

Germs — Eliminate germs while finding a new revenue stream to become profitable.

A mat is a perfect incubator for many of our skin infections. Mats have contagions lurking on them including strep, flesh-eating strep (yikes!), and a variety of staph, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These do not go away with just sprays or wipes. When they hang out, they can cause real problems.

Feel safe, more effective than cleaning supplies

While members and staff may have previously considered mat sprays or wipes as sufficient sanitation measures, heightened concerns have led to higher expectations for how to keep their mats free of harmful germs. Providing the most effective and convenient method of cleaning a mat can be an important element in retaining and expanding your clientele while making staff feel safer.

The MatFresher mat cleaning machine is a game-changer! MatFresher will kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi, removing the guesswork from sanitization keeping your members safe and clean. Plus it happens in under 30 seconds.

MatFresher is the perfect partner for your business and your staff. Returning staff may have concerns about safety and sanitation. The MatFresher cleaning technology will help you re-opening at scale while giving staff peace-of-mind and confidence in safety.

MatFresher also provides added value as a revenue-driver for your gym and studios. More effective than DIY yoga soaps or harsh antimicrobial chemicals, MatFresher is an encouragement to attend class in person and then EARNS YOU NEW REVENUE with each check-in. MatFresher creates a new residual revenue stream for your business.

Compare how MatFresher saves money — Save money with MatFresher and feel confidently clean

How MatFresher works for gyms and studios:

Schedule an introduction Simply schedule a call with one of our yogi’s to learn more about MatFresher and to request machines for your studio today.
Get MatFresher Once you sign up to be a MatFresher studio, we will coordinate a convenient delivery time for your studio. Roll it in, plug it in and turn it on.
Clean with MatFresher With the MatFresher installed in your gym or studio, your students and staff can use it for mat washes before and after class.

MatFresher can increase profitability by providing a new income stream for your studio during COVID. This will bring peace-of-mind to your members. The machine does not cost you anything, so you can focus on increasing your bottom line. Contact us to schedule a free demo today.

How Clean is Clean for Your Mat?

Posted on by MatFresher

UV Light Sanitization: Facts and Snake Oil

What’s Actually Working

Properly disinfecting studios has always been vital, but the spotlight on cleaning measures has dramatically amplified in light of COVID-19. While many studio owners and students spend countless dollars on standard products like yoga mat wipes, spray cleaners, and even mat cleaning machines, it’s important to analyze the efficacy of these methods. As technology improves and more studies are conducted, information on various methods should be carefully evaluated before making an investment or trusting that a machine provides a true clean for your mat. MatFresher is the only multi-sanitizing mat cleaning machine. In addition to being completely free for studios, let’s examine why MatFresher’s safety measures are superior to other options.

cleaning items - MatFresher is clean for your mat

UVC Light

A mat cleaning technique that has recently increased in conversation is using UVC light. UVC light sanitizes surfaces it contacts. But how does this technique actually disinfect? The light must reach the pathogen directly to eradicate it; if the conditions are not completely met, harmful particles remain. Because yoga and exercise mats have uncontrollable characteristics like crevices and unique materials, the effectiveness of UVC light is conditional.

Eco-friendly mats are a prime example of how UVC light affects materials differently. These mats are created with an open-cell material, providing more traction in a hot yoga environment and increased absorption for sweat particles. Unlike closed-cell mats, the overall-positive absorption capabilities of open-cell mats create a trap for bacteria, rendering UVC light insufficient. Because the light cannot reach all areas of the open-cell mat, the process of sanitization does not happen in the way that users anticipate. Unfortunately, many are unaware of this and believe that their mat is safe after a clean, while germs unknowingly linger.

Understand Your Machinery

Many machines built to clean yoga and exercise mats claim a UV dosage centered around 99% cleaning efficacy. While this number sounds harmless, a discrepancy exists. Mats that make contact with the face or hands require a level of sanitization comparable to the Environmental Protection Agency’s requirement for clean drinking water, which is 99.99% pathogen-free. The gap between 99% and 99.99% is equal to 10,000 pathogen parts per million and 100 parts per million — a significant difference as it relates to health and safety.

Mildly resistant viruses, including COVID require a UVC dose of more than 40,000 micro watts per square centimeter for eradication. Mats used in certain environments, like hot yoga studios, may require additional dosage to inactive the pathogen. Machines that use a lower UV light dosage do not meet the basic requirements for killing viruses. Similar to how flossing teeth further aids the effect of brushing in teeth-cleaning, sanitization of a mat is not complete if the light is not reaching all of the sneaky spaces in which germs reside. Owners of studios and exercise centers need this information so that students and staff are not blindly trusting in a machine that does not sanitize comprehensively.

Consider the Cost

With the cost of additional cleaning measures top of mind for every studio, boosting revenue is more important than ever. Rather than relying on mat cleaning machines that are not effective and over-spending to maintain the equipment annually, there is an option available that provides peace of mind at no cost to the facility. MatFresher, unlike hard-to-find wipes and machines with false claims, is up to 99.99% effective in killing bacteria found on mats. Additionally, the mat washing machine uses a 100% all-natural solution that is gentle on yoga mats and on human skin. Eliminating the need for numerous cleaning spray bottles, MatFresher ensures that your facility reduces waste and your carbon footprint significantly. With all of these integral benefits in mind, adding a complimentary MatFresher machine to your studio is a no-brainer.

MatFresher - the mat cleaning machine — MatFresher – The Mat Cleaning Machine

If you’d like to learn more about MatFresher visit matfresher.com and schedule a demo call today. MatFresher provides a true clean for your mat.

What Do You Mean, “Healthy, Clean and Green?”

Posted on by MatFresher

The Need For Change

Now more than ever, sanitization is the top priority for gyms and studios. Hygiene is at the forefront of every employee’s and member’s mind. You are not alone in considering extensive measures to ensure safety and peace of mind for your clientele. Recent surveys indicate that students are not sure when they will feel secure returning to a live studio class. With this in mind, there is no room for returning to the previous methods of studio or yoga mat sanitization. Proactively promoting innovative, healthy, clean, and green cleaning practices is vital to retaining customers and growing check-ins.

The Old Way

manually cleaning yoga mat - not healthy, clean and green

Not long ago, mat cleaning was little more than a quick wipe down of a yoga mat after class – often not much more effective than shifting sweat from one place to another. As students made small talk or discussed plans for the upcoming week with a class instructor, one side of a mat typically received a haphazard cleaning, while the other side remained dirty. Even with the best intentions, any clean areas of the mat could inadvertently touch those that were still germ-ridden, and any hope of a completely sanitized mat was lost.

Whether your studio has tasked staff members with cleaning studio-owned mats or previously allowed members to bring and clean their own, the sanitization of equipment is only as effective as the effort made in doing so, and even then, effectively leaves safety up to chance.

The Problems

Along with providing sanitizer and masks to staff or students, your studio will undoubtedly stock mat cleaning sprays and wipes. While these measures may sound reassuring to members, there are three key problems at hand.

The most powerful mat cleaning products only fulfill their purpose if utilized thoroughly, and, even then, mat bacteria may linger. After precious time spent cleaning, it’s unfortunate that germs are still clinging to your yoga and exercise mats.
With wipes, sprays and mat cleaning equipment in high demand, these products will become more difficult to find and, as a result, create higher expenses for your studio. Also, with the expectation for memberships to drop due to current events, additional overhead costs are not ideal. Relying on the unpredictable availability of these supplies does not secure peace of mind among staff and studio members.
Along with the precarious supply chain, exercise mat cleaners present a significant green problem. As more yoga mat wipes and sprays are utilized, the wipes and plastic containers find their way to landfills. One way to solve this challenge is to create a DIY yoga mat cleaner and recycle your bottles. While this may seemingly slow the issue of waste, many advertised methods of DIY cleaning solutions can still contain chemicals that are harsh on an exercise mat. Store-bought cleaning solutions contain chemicals that are unhealthy for close contact by humans and can damage a mat over time.

A Comprehensive Solution

Understanding the negative effects of current yoga mat washing products and methods helps identify a healthy, clean and green solution for your studio. What if there was a system that ensures less waste, more convenience, high efficacy in killing bacteria, more health benefits, and provides a revenue-boost? What may sound too good to be true can be found in MatFresher technology.

While a plethora of products aimed at capitalizing on recent events are now available, MatFresher has been under development for nearly two years, proactively aiming to solve the sanitization problems that few previously noticed. From day one, MatFresher’s objective has been to transform the way studios and their members clean their mats. No longer must safety rely on students or staff understanding how to clean a mat properly. MatFresher provides peace of mind by cleaning mats quickly with an 99.99% effective germ killing all-natural solution. Also, MatFresher generates meaningful new revenue for your studio.

What’s Next For Your Studio

This is a turning point within the exercise industry and society as a whole. Why should your studio rely on cleaning chemicals that are not healthy for the environment, your staff and students, your yoga mats, your time, or your cleaning budget? With MatFresher, your studio community can feel confident practicing together safely with sanitized mats. Studios will enact new safety measures that limit a member’s time within the studio between classes. MatFresher provides an effective, fast and convenient way for mat washing that doesn’t disturb the flow of classes.

Never has there been as much pressure or responsibility on studio owners to get sanitization right. Let MatFresher lift the cleanliness burden cleanliness by creating a healthy, clean and green studio environment. Learn more about the revolutionary yoga mat cleaning machine.