Doing the fist bump

For the past 3 years I’ve been training in Martial Arts which I actually enjoy doing. Believe it or not, this training has been one of the hardest activities for me to endure as an emetophobe. It’s due to the fact that the place I train at is a potential germfest. Most of the classes are kids classes and as cute and lovable as these children are, they pick up and spread viruses from school, parks, playgrounds, and birthday parties. For those that have kids, you know what I’m talking about.

The Dojo (that’s karate speak for gym or training area) and the mat where we walk around barefoot on is cleaned and sterilized daily at the end of the day but that’s only comforting when your class is the first or second one of the day and the mat is still freshly cleaned from the night before. Unfortunately, the adult classes are last when dust, lint and God knows what have accumulated. It’s unrealistic to expect them to clean it after each class.

In mixed martial arts there’s a lot of physical contact. For example, self-defense techniques where we partner up taking turns attacking each other while the other person defends themself. The attacks include neck grabs from the front and back, stranglehold, etc. This is beyond disgusting because we start with a warm-up, stretch, and punching/kicking practice. By the time we get to the self-defense part, we’re all sweated up. Some of the adults sweat so much, there are wet spots on the mat.

At the end of class when everyone else is high fiveing, I’m doing the fist bump.