Fitness Room Maintenance: The Importance Of Inspecting Your Gym Equipment Cables Often

If you are an apartment building owner or manager and not inspecting out your fitness room equipment regularly, then it is important to start. You should make a habit of glancing over each piece of equipment every day or assign a staff member the task. One of the most important parts of your fitness machines to examine regularly are the cables. Learn why it is so important to keep an eye on your gym equipment cables, how often to routinely replace them, and how to know when they need to be replaced.

The Danger of Neglecting Gym Equipment Cable Inspection and Replacement

Your weight machines that have stacks of weight plates are equipped with pulley cables. These cables are relatively thin for the amount of weight they support, so they don't last for the life of the machine. It is considered best practice to replace your fitness equipment cables every year. However, even when you have a relatively new set of cables in place, it is still important to inspect them daily for signs of damage, because if a cable snaps while a resident is using a piece of equipment, it could result in serious injury. 

For example, if a resident were using your lat pull-down machine, they would be pulling the weighted bar down with a lot of force while the machine is stacked with weight. If that cable snaps and suddenly decreases the weight resistance as they are pulling with high force, they could end up pulling the bar into their chest or onto their shoulders with extensive force. The more weight they were initially pulling down, the more serious the injury could be, and a bone, such as a collar bone, could be broken due to the sudden force. 

While it is always important to have all residents that have access to the fitness room sign documents relieving you of liability for any injury they encounter in the fitness room, realize that you may still be found liable for an injury due to equipment maintenance neglect. Those forms really only protect you from routine fitness injuries, such as muscle strains, and are not an excuse to neglect the safety of your equipment. 

How to Spot Gym Equipment Cable Damage

Most gym equipment cables have a nylon coating, and this coating not only protects the cable, but makes it easier for you to spot damage -- a tear in the nylon coating signals that the cable needs replaced immediately. 

If your cables do not currently have nylon coatings, then you can simply check them for areas of wear, kinks, and rust. 

If you notice any of these signs in your nylon-coated or uncoated fitness equipment cables, then you should place an "out of order" sign on the piece of equipment and find a way to make it inoperable (removing the cables will make it inoperable, but if you spot damage before you learn how to remove them, then place a padlock or other device to make sure not one uses the risky equipment) until you replace the cable. 

Fitness equipment cables are very affordable, and you typically only need to know the make and model of your machines to find a cables that fit them. If you have older equipment with cables that are no longer being produced, then some companies will provide custom cables to fit your machines. To have custom cables made, you may need to send in your current damaged cables to have duplicates created. Don't worry that you will have to send them in every year, though, because once you find a company to make them for you, they can then save your design for future cable replacements, so you won't need to send them in again. Contact a company, like TK Star design inc, to get started.

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