Reviewed by Evan Lewis, PhD. Last updated 10 August 2026.
By IodinePure
Foot fungus is endemic in MMA, BJJ and wrestling, and it does not come from a bad sweep. It comes from the mat: warm, sweat-soaked, and shared barefoot by thirty people before you. Here is the three-minute post-training routine that keeps it off you.
Foot fungus, ringworm, and plantar warts are not a sign that the athletes are unhygienic. The training environment is structurally designed to transfer them. The athletes who don't get these infections aren't lucky. They have a post-training habit.
Why Are Combat Sports a High-Risk Environment?
Because every condition fungi need is built into the training method. Mats that are warm from body heat and saturated with sweat. Dozens of bare feet making direct contact with the same surface for hours. Grappling means prolonged skin-to-skin contact with training partners at close range. Temperature, moisture, organic material, and direct contact are exactly what fungi, viruses, and bacteria need to transfer and establish.
StatPearls puts athlete's foot at roughly 10% of the total population, and notes the risk of tinea infections is elevated with excessive sweating and with occlusive shoes worn for long stretches. A gym is that description with extra people in it.
In combat sports, bare feet on shared mats is not an edge case, it is the entire training methodology. The risk is built into the sport.
What Is Wrestling Mat Fungus, Exactly?
It is a locker-room name rather than a diagnosis, and it covers more than one organism. When people say wrestling mat fungus they usually mean ringworm, tinea corporis, because that is the one coaches pull athletes off the mat for. The same phrase gets used for athlete's foot on the soles and for the itchy patches that turn up on a forearm or a neck a few days after a hard week.
Worth knowing that two of the other mat infections are not fungal at all. Impetigo is bacterial and it crusts, usually honey-coloured. Herpes gladiatorum is viral and it comes up as clusters of small blisters that tingle or burn before they appear. Both spread on mats the same way and neither responds to an antifungal, so calling everything mat fungus is how people end up treating the wrong thing for a fortnight.
The practical rule: a ring with a raised scaly edge and a clearer centre reads fungal. Blisters in a cluster, crusting, fever, or anything painful rather than itchy goes to a doctor before it goes back on the mat.
Which Infections Do Mat Athletes Get Most?
Three: athlete's foot, ringworm, and plantar warts.
Tinea Pedis, Athlete's Foot
Dermatophyte fungi thrive in the warm, moist environment between the toes and on the soles of the feet. Athlete's foot presents as itching, scaling, cracking skin between the toes and on the sole, sometimes with blistering. It is highly transferable on shared mat surfaces and is extremely common in combat sports. Left untreated, it can progress to the nails.
Tinea Corporis, Ringworm
Despite the name, no worm is involved. Ringworm is a dermatophyte fungal infection of the skin. It presents as a ring-shaped, red, scaly, often itchy lesion on the trunk, arms, or neck. In BJJ and wrestling, face, neck, and forearm ringworm is extremely common because of the sustained skin contact in clinch positions, guard, and top control. Ringworm is technically grounds for not competing in many wrestling and BJJ competition rulesets.
Plantar Warts
Plantar warts are caused by specific strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that infect the sole of the foot through small breaks in the skin. DermNet describes plantar warts as tender inwardly growing myrmecia caused by HPV 1, and less painful mosaic warts due to HPV 2, spread by direct skin-to-skin contact or by autoinoculation when a wart is scratched or picked. They grow inward under the pressure of standing and walking, which makes them painful when you're sprawling, driving off your legs, or drilling takedowns.
Why Do Some Training Partners Never Get It?
Because they have a routine, not because they have luck. Watch the people in your gym who consistently avoid these infections. Within a few minutes of finishing training, they're in the shower. Before they put their shoes back on, they're applying something to their feet. Their gear goes in a bag that gets aired out. They have a short, consistent post-training routine that they do every single session.
The difference between "always getting ringworm" and "never getting ringworm" in the same gym is almost always hygiene habit.
What Does the Post-Training Routine Look Like?
Five steps, three minutes. Do it every single time you train, without exception.
- Shower immediately after training. Not an hour later. As soon as training ends. Use soap on your feet, between your toes, and any skin areas that had sustained mat contact. Fungal and viral organisms are easier to disrupt in the minutes immediately following exposure.
- Dry thoroughly. Fungi love moisture. Get between every toe with your towel. Wet skin between toes after a shower is the perfect environment for athlete's foot to get started.
- Spray Sole Shield on your feet. After drying, spray Sole Shield on the soles of your feet, between your toes, and on the lower foot and ankle. Let it dry for 60 seconds before putting on socks or footwear.
- Spray inside your training shoes. Spray Sole Shield inside both shoes, particularly the toe box, and let them air dry. Never seal wet shoes in a bag.
- Spray inside your gear bag. Gear bags become contaminated from wet equipment sitting in them. Spray the interior periodically and leave the bag unzipped to air between sessions.
Skipping the routine is expensive over a season. Gupta and Versteeg, reviewing shoe and sock sanitization in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, report that recurrence and relapse rates for superficial fungal infections of the feet run from 10% to 53%.
What Should Your Gym Be Doing?
Cleaning the mats after every session, not once a day. Your personal hygiene routine matters, but so does your training environment. A well-run gym disinfects mats consistently. This means proper mat cleaning solution applied with appropriate contact time, not a quick wipe-down with a damp mop.
If You're Already Dealing with an Infection
- For athlete's foot: Start treating immediately. Spray Sole Shield on affected areas daily, keep feet clean and dry, and treat the inside of all footwear. Athlete's foot usually takes a few weeks of consistent daily care to settle, whatever you use on it. Anything spreading, blistering or painful belongs with a doctor.
- For ringworm: Cover the lesion if you train. Treat with appropriate antifungal. Tell your coach so the mats get cleaned thoroughly.
- For nail involvement: If you've noticed thickening, discolouration, or changes at the nail edge, address it early. EZ Clear Nails used daily puts solution on the nail edge and the skin around it, supporting the look of clear nails while new nail grows in.
- For plantar warts: Don't pick at them. See a GP or podiatrist for appropriate treatment. Wear footwear in communal areas of your gym while the wart is active.
Gear Tips That Actually Matter
- Rashguards and spats reduce direct skin contact during rolling, which directly reduces ringworm risk. Wear them.
- Wash all training gear after every single session, and wash it hot. In a 2022 study in the Journal of Fungi, dermatophyte spores survived a 40°C household wash and were only removed at 60°C, and neither freezing nor heat drying removed them.
- Never share gear, towels, or flip flops. Ringworm and athlete's foot transfer easily from shared fabric items.
- Flip flops from shower to mat area and back. The locker room floor is not your friend.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do BJJ athletes prevent ringworm?
The most effective prevention is immediate post-training showering, applying an antiseptic to exposed skin and feet after washing, washing all gear after every session, never sharing towels or personal equipment, and training in gyms that maintain consistent mat hygiene. Rashguards and spats provide an additional barrier against skin-to-skin fungal transfer during rolling.
What does good BJJ skin hygiene look like?
Four habits, done every session. Shower inside ten minutes of finishing, with soap on everything that touched the mat. Dry properly, especially between the toes. Put an antiseptic on your feet and on any skin that spent the hour under someone else. Wash the gi and the rashguard hot, at 60°C, because dermatophyte spores come through a 40°C wash. Nails short, cuts covered, and stay off the mat while anything is open or weeping.
Does iodine help with mat-borne infections?
Iodine has long been recognised as a broad-spectrum antiseptic. Sole Shield is a two-ingredient aqueous iodine spray for the skin and the inside of footwear. It is used as part of a post-training hygiene routine to support prevention of common fungal and skin conditions.
What do wrestlers use for foot hygiene?
Experienced wrestlers and coaches consistently point to the same core habits: immediate post-training showering, antiseptic application to feet and lower legs, daily footwear treatment, gear washing after every session, and flip flops in all shared areas. Sole Shield fits into that routine as a post-training foot and footwear spray.
How do I stop getting athlete's foot from the gym?
Shower immediately after training. Dry your feet completely. Spray the soles and between the toes before putting on socks. Spray the inside of your training shoes after every session. Wear flip flops in communal shower and changing areas.
Spray on Feet. Spray Inside Shoes. Spray in the Gear Bag.
The 60-second habit that keeps you on the mats.
Sole Shield is a two-ingredient iodine and water spray made for daily use on feet, inside footwear, and on sports equipment. Apply after training. Apply after showering. Keep your training partners healthy and keep yourself training.
About the Author
This article was reviewed by Evan Lewis, PhD, who specialises in natural and nutritional therapies for the prevention and management of chronic diseases and complications, with a focus on chronic disease, diabetes complications, clinical nutrition, and nerve health.
