: Risk of infection at the gym? When I dead-lift, I sometimes scrape my legs from the bar threads. Do I risk getting an infection because of this?

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Yes, you do. Additionally it will take more than 48 hours for those injuries to repair so it's entirely possible that you'll be pulling the bar across unhealed wounds. It doesn't take much to realize that your blood and body fluids are now on the bar that you put back, perhaps with a towel wipe which doesn't really do much, and now the next person is using it 10 minutes later.

You have a couple of options:

Wear long pants. Personally I can't stand this, but some people have no problem. Make sure they're stretchy or baggy enough to not pinch and change your form.
Wear socks that go up to your knees. This might look ridiculous, but there are some fun socks out there that work well. I have a set with my state's logo on them, get creative.
Use tape. You can bring a role of athletic tape with you, and put two strips down each shin. This is what I do because I can still wear shorts and I can just toss the tape when I'm done.

I've heard of people slicing the plastic from a 2 liter bottle and putting that in their knee-high socks as well who are particularly prone to this problem.