Looking after it

Compression dies of heat, not of washing. Steel rusts where it stays wet. Everything here is the mechanism rather than a rule, so it is easier to remember.

One thing to take away: heat is what kills elastane. The tumble dryer is the thing to avoid, not the washing machine - and a damp pair left in a gym bag in a hot car is worse than either.

Compression apparel

The grade printed on the card is measured on our rig with the garment new. It stays that way for a long time if the elastane does, and elastane is destroyed by heat rather than by use. Everything below follows from that one fact.

• Cold wash, inside out. Cold is what the elastane cares about; inside out is what stops the printed face abrading against everything else in the drum.
• Hang dry, never tumble. A dryer is the single fastest way to lose a grade, and it is not reversible - the fibre does not recover.
• Wash it soon after training, not eventually. Sweat is salt, and salt sitting in a damp fibre in a warm bag is the same attack as a dryer, just slower.
• No fabric softener. It coats the fibre to make cotton feel soft, and on a technical knit that coating is what stops it wicking - the garment starts holding sweat instead of moving it.
• No iron, and no radiator. Both are heat applied directly, which is the one thing the fabric cannot take.
• Wash with like fabrics. A zip or a hook-and-loop strap in the same load will pull threads on a seamless knit, and a pulled thread on compression is a run.

If a garment has lost its grade noticeably inside the returns window, that is a fault and we want to hear about it - not a care question. The same is true of a seam.

Bells, benches and anything with steel in it

• Wipe it down after a session. Sweat is corrosive and it sits in exactly the places you cannot see - under a handle, in a knurl, at the base of a weld.
• Store it dry, and not on a concrete floor in a garage. Concrete holds damp and gives it back overnight; a mat or a shelf is enough.
• Check the fasteners on anything that folds or adjusts. Both the bench and the adjustable pair have them, and they loosen with use because that is what repeated load does. Hand-tight before a heavy session costs ten seconds.
• A vinyl coat protects the cast iron under it, so a deep scrape is worth not ignoring. It is also why a bell dropped on a hard floor damages the floor and the coat rather than the weight.

Bands, ropes and rollers

• Keep latex out of direct sun. UV degrades it invisibly, and a band fails suddenly rather than gradually - which is a problem when it is under tension near your face.
• Check a band before every set, not every month. Look for a nick on the edge and a cloudy patch in the body. A nick is where a tear starts.
• Store bands loose, not stretched or knotted. A band kept under tension is a band ageing while it sits still.
• Keep a rope cable off grit. The cable wears where it passes through the handle, and grit turns that from slow to fast.
• Wipe a roller wheel and check it still spins freely. A wheel that has picked up hair or grit starts to judder, and a juddering wheel is what makes a roll-out go sideways.

The recovery tools

• Cups: warm water, mild soap, air dry fully before the valve goes back on. Trapped moisture is what makes a silicone valve sticky, and a sticky valve is one that will not hold suction.
• The lumbar board: wipe it and store it flat. Stored leaning against a wall under its own weight, a plastic arch slowly takes a set.
• The yoga ring: check the padded contact points are still bonded. That is the part that takes the load and the part that fails first.

Not sure whether something is wear or a fault? Send a photo of the part, not the parcel, with your order number. It saves a round trip and we would rather be asked.