The Stink Prevention Manual for People Who Roll on the Ground with Strangers

This guide is only for synthetic and cotton fibers. This will destroy your wool/silk clothing if you use it on them. It’s good for your standard laundry, but especially important for athletic clothing, which is more prone to getting stinky.

Standard Laundry Practice

Wash grappling clothes as soon as possible. Letting your sweaty clothes sit with no ventilation in a warm environment (like in your gear bag) is a recipe for microbial growth that will cause some stank. Leaving clothes in your car on a warm day = heat + humidity = stank factory.

If you can’t wash quickly, put them somewhere that minimizes heat and humidity - so don’t leave them in a closed bag or in a pile on the floor.

Use a detergent that has enzymatic ingredients. Check the ingredients for ‘lipase’ or the word ‘enzyme’. If your detergent doesn’t have any, you can use “Biz Powder” that you can find at Walmart for pretty cheap (it also has oxygen bleach). If you don’t have enzymes in your detergent, your laundry will end up stinking eventually. Enzymes are expensive to add so a lot of detergent manufacturers are cutting them out to cut costs and formulas change often - check the label.
Either use a detergent that contains ‘oxygen bleach’/’oxi’ product, or add something that has it. Check the “Laundry Ingredients explained” section below to find options for which products you can use.
Adding an acidic rinse aid in your fabric softener dispenser will help bring the ph back down (even if you don’t use ammonia, detergents are alkaline) and will help make your fabric feel soft without feeling greasy. The cheapest option is citric acid powder. It’s worth doing I promise you will be surprised at the results. This goes in the fabric softener tray where it’s added right at the end of the wash - you only want the pH back down right at the end.
Don’t use scent boosters and DEFINITELY don’t use fabric softeners. They add oils/wax to your clothes, which bacteria feed on and contribute to stank buildup.
Wash on hot or at least warm. Extra Rinses Extra Better. Turn Soil Level/Water level up as much as possible.
If your machine has a soak/presoak option, use it when possible. It will give the enzymes in detergent more time to work and you’ll get better results. If you don’t have this option, really make sure you’re not overloading your washing machine.
If you think you might need a cleaning boost, you can add ammonia to your laundry for the wash cycle.

How Much Detergent Should I Use

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about dosing, but after digging through the research, the chemistry, and way too many laundry forums, this is what makes the most sense.

Use less detergent than the scoop tells you, but more than the minimalist “one teaspoon” advice floating around online. For most loads with grappling gear in most machines, two to three tablespoons of powdered detergent or one small HE cap of liquid is the right starting point.

If your clothes smell good out of the washer but stink again once you sweat in them, feel waxy or stiff, or your whites look dull, you are probably under-dosing. If your gear feels filmy, musty, or like residue is sticking around, you may be using too much.

In short, start with a moderate but not tiny amount and adjust based on results.

Rescue Routine for Stanky Gear

Synthetic fabrics (virtually all jiu jitsu gear) is more prone to stank buildup because they’re more prone to oil buildup compared to cotton. They’re hydrophobic and moisture wicking, but they hold onto oils very well. If your clothes got stinky, it’s okay. Don’t get worked up it doesn’t mean you’re gross. It has happened to all of us.

Cover your bases by making sure you’re following the standard laundry protocol

Detergent with enzymes
‘Oxi’ product (most commonly sodium percarbonate which you can actually just buy unbranded) with your detergent
Occasional use of Ammonia (optional)
Acidic Rinse aid in a dispenser like citric acid

If you’ve covered all the bases and you’re still stuck with stinky clothes that rebloom (they smell okay out of the dryer but start to stink after you put them on), it’s time to soak your clothes.

Spa day for your laundry

Get a big plastic container - I use a cambro 22qt.
Fill it up 2/3 of the way to the top with hot water (as long as you’re around 50C and below you shouldn’t risk denaturing the enzymes used in laundry products)
Add 1/4c Biz Powder or Biz/Tide blend per 1 gallon (4 qt) of water
- Biz Powder alone works well here - it’s what I use. If you don’t have biz powder, then powdered detergent alone can work if it has ‘oxygen bleach & enzymes in it (although you mainly want the enzymes and oxygen bleach without a ton of surfactants and pH adjusters, which is what Biz Powder is).
- For sheets/white clothes, use a blend of Biz powder & some detergent that contains TAED (like Tide Ultra Oxi)
- Make sure everything is dissolved before you add clothes
You will need to stir more than you think. Really make sure that the powder is dissolved. If you have undissolved oxygen bleach granules & they make contact with your clothes, especially if you have detergent mixed in that has TAED in it, your laundry will likely get bleach stains.
Add clothes & keep submerged with either a ceramic plate or a towel on top
Wait 8-12 hours
Drain (don’t rinse or wring them out, just drain)
Wash your laundry
- Put detergent in drum
- Add your clothes
- Add 1c ammonia on top of clothes
- Add citric acid to fabric softener dispenser
- Start washing machine **you don’t want to have ammonia dissolving oxygen bleach without water to dilute it so don’t leave it longer than a few minutes without starting
If laundry smells good out of washer, dry. If it still smells off, rewash immediately before drying. Make sure you’re using enough detergent.
Enjoy your stank free clothes. You might have to repeat this process a few times if something got really funky. If several repeats don’t fix it, your gear is likely past the point of no return with oil buildup.

Laundry Lagniappe Notes

If you start getting skin irritation or rashes from your training clothes even though they look clean out of the wash, it is often residue buildup. This is usually from leftover detergent, fabric softener, or minerals trapped in the fibers. Try using slightly less detergent, run a longer cycle with an extra rinse, and make sure you’re using a citric acid in the final rinse to help remove residue.
Skip fabric softener and scent beads for anything you train in (really for all of your clothes just throw them out). These coat the fabric with oils and waxes that trap sweat and bacteria, make odor worse over time, and can cause irritation.
Be cautious with detergents that are heavy on fragrance or optical brighteners. These are common triggers for skin sensitivity and do not improve cleaning performance for athletic clothing. For training gear, you want effective cleaning, not perfume.
The washing machine itself can contribute to odor and irritation. Front loaders especially need occasional cleaning. Check the detergent drawer, rubber gasket, and drum for buildup so residue is not transferring back onto clean laundry.
Detergent formulas change often. If a product that used to work suddenly stops performing, it may not be anything you did. You might need to adjust your routine or switch brands.

Top Laundry Product Recommendations

If you really want a full breakdown, look Laundry Product Comparison Spreadsheet

Tide Ultra Oxi Powder has almost everything you want in a detergent It is expensive though. The biggest downside is that it has less surfactants compared to a liquid detergent, and can take longer/struggle to dissolve in the rinse. There’s a solid argument that liquid might be better, but this is the simplest option here by far.
365 Whole Foods Sport Laundry has the most complete enzyme ingredient list out of everything with protease, lipase, amylase, pectic lyase, mannanase, AND DNase/phospphodiesterase. It doesn’t have oxygen bleach or TAED, but it does have everything else. It also has more surfactants compared to tide powder per load, which can help remove oils. I think this is honestly the best option for grappling clothes on the market currently. The biggest problem is that it doesn’t have enough builders/chelators to deal with the hard water I have at my place - so I personally need to use something to adjust
Biz powder is relatively cheap and contains both oxygen bleach and enzymes. It’s the cheapest way to turn bad detergent into good detergent. It is likely cheaper to do this + a really cheap detergent like kirkland brand rather than just getting tide oxi. Biz powder is significantly cheaper at Walmart (around $6 each) compared to Amazon (over $10 each).
Citric Acid to use in a rinse aid. You don’t need much. Amount is pretty much a factor of your washer’s water use. Most HE machines need about 6-8 grams - which is about 1.5 -2 measuring teaspoons. Most top loaders need at least double - somewhere between a level and heaping Tablespoon - 15-20 grams would be a good starting point. If your water is known to be hard, use more.
Ammonia (you don’t need to use every time, but do use it occasionally). Whatever scent it has will likely come out after drying, but I prefer unscented regardless. It’s really cheap. Add 1/2c to 1c in the laundry drum. DO NOT POUR AMMONIA ONTO OXYGEN BLEACH. It won’t create any dangerous gases, but it will make hyper concentrated oxygen bleach that can mess with your clothes.
Spot pre treatment with enzymes. This can be used on the armpits of your rashguards if you get residue from deodorant/staining, but it’s very good at getting oil stains out of clothes. The enzyme ones will lift stains better than dish soap or non enzyme options. Spray it on, leave it overnight (or for a few days), then throw em in the laundry. Ammonia also helps remove spot stains.
A laundry builder/mineral chelator if you have really hard water (my tap water in Golden is moderately hard) and you’re using a detergent without enough. If you’re using powdered detergent, this is less likely to be needed because they already have more in them compared to liquid. Sodium citrate is the cheapest thing you can get, just use a teaspoon or two in the drum along with your detergent.

What to Do If Your Clothes Are Stinky Mid-Practice

If you realize that your clothes smell, you are welcome to grab loaners from the gym. It happens, and sometimes your clothes smell clean and fresh until you start to sweat in them, and then they suddenly smell musty.
If you are training with someone who smells stinky, it is a-okay to tell them.
If someone tells you that your clothes are stinky, there’s no stigma to changing them.

There is a stigma to having someone tell you that you smell stinky and deciding to not change into spare clothes or using loaner clothes. Lastly, if I’m ever stinky, please tell me!

What About Body Odor

We have travel sized deodorants for sale at the gym in case you forget to put some on and need some.

However, you shouldn’t be coming into the gym already stinky. If you’ve been working out, playing outside, etc.. and sweating, you should shower before you get to the gym and jump on the mats.

Appendix: Laundry Chemistry Explained

Surfactants

Surfactants are the cleaning agents in detergent: the part that does the real work of removing sweat, oil, and dirt from your clothes.

What they do

Lower the surface tension of water so it can penetrate fabric fibers
Surround and lift oils away from the fabric
Keep dirt and residue suspended so they rinse out instead of redepositing

Why they matter for athletic gear

Synthetic fabrics like rash guards and spats:

repel water (hydrophobic)
hang onto oils from skin and sweat

Surfactants are the only part of detergent that can physically remove those oils.

If there aren’t enough surfactants in the wash, even with enzymes and oxygen bleach, clothing can still smell.

Powders vs liquids

Powder detergents usually have more oxygen bleach and builders
Liquid detergents usually have higher surfactant levels

For heavy athletic odor, sometimes switching to a high-surfactant liquid for 1–3 washes can help release trapped oils.

What surfactants don’t do

They don’t kill bacteria
They don’t neutralize minerals
They don’t replace enzymes

They simply remove the stuff bacteria feed on, which is why they are essential for preventing mat stank.

Lipase and other enzymes

These are expensive ingredients in formulation and a lot of detergents don’t have them/have removed them from their formulations. You need these, especially for your athletic clothing. Buy something with them, like Tide Ultra Oxi. If your laundry detergent doesn’t have any, you can buy “Biz Powder” on Amazon or very cheaply at Walmart. It has an enzyme blend and oxygen bleach in it. The product with the most complete wide range of enzymes is ‘365 Sport Laundry Detergent’ at Whole Foods/on Amazon

Oxygen bleach

This is your ‘Oxi’ stuff. It’s generally sodium percarbonate (the active ingredient), sodium carbonate, and other fillers. It has a shelf life and won’t last forever. It also can’t be easily dissolved into small amounts of liquid, so liquid detergent generally has much less of it. Even if your pods say “Oxi” on it, they can’t physically get that much in there.

You can buy

Sodium percarbonate if you want the cheapest solution and don’t mind having several laundry products (just be aware it doesn’t last forever).
Biz Powder if you want to have oxygen bleach + enzyme with a detergent that doesn’t have either
Detergent that has it already (like Tide Ultra Oxi Powder)

Ammonia and pH boosters

Ammonia raises the pH of your water while your washing machine is operating. This makes detergents work more effectively. It’s particularly helpful if you’re trying to get oils out of your clothing. The oil from your body is normally the largest cause of mat stank. Apocrine sweat glands (located in spots with more hair like your armpits) produce oil in addition to sweat which is why we get body odor there.

Ammonia is also a general degreaser & emulsifier which really helps us get rid of the oils in clothing - the main cause of mat stank.

Cons To Ammonia:

Ammonia can weaken the fibers in your clothing causing them to wear down prematurely. It definitely should not be used with wool or silk, but with cotton and synthetics you should be okay even if you use it regularly.
Ammonia can cause dye bleed especially if you use too much - both fading colors & dyeing whites if you mix colors in a load.
It can cause your laundry room to smell like windex. Your laundry won’t smell, but your house might. Plan accordingly.

Use by adding 1c to your laundry drum. Do not pour onto detergent or oxygen bleach. Do not leave sitting for hours. Do not add in your laundry spa day recipe.

Acidic rinse aids

There’s a Goldilocks point of how much detergent a particular load needs. Not enough, the soils in clothing don’t get removed. Too much, and you’re not only wasting detergent, but you can get buildup in the textiles due to modern laundry equipment being really good at washing and sort of crap at rinsing, as well as buildup in the machine because there are nooks and crannies that don’t regularly get exposed to much more than a splash of water. In a perfectly-dosed load of laundry, the detergent all rinses away and the final rinse water is indistinguishable from tap.

Nobody’s load of laundry is perfectly dosed. We either tolerate some residual detergent or we don’t have clean clothes. Further, alkali residues in laundry contribute to skin irritation and texture problems in fabrics.

A lot of detergents have time based delay acidic ‘laundry sours’, but they’re generally not enough. You will be surprised at how much adding an acidic rinse will help. It will make your towels feel softer than you thought was possible.

Try to use the right amount of detergent, and add an acidic rinse aid to your fabric softener dispenser. By far, the cheapest option is citric acid. It is shelf stable, cheap, and doesn’t make your clothes smell like vinegar (for real vinegar does not work well it’s not very useful in laundry). You can use a more expensive product like Downy Rinse and Refresh that is scented if you want more scent for your laundry.

Builders and chelators

Builders and chelators are ingredients that support detergents - not by cleaning directly, but by removing water hardness minerals that interfere with cleaning.

What they do

Bind (or remove) calcium and magnesium in hard water
Prevent those minerals from blocking detergent performance
Keep soils suspended so they don’t redeposit onto fabric
Often raise pH slightly, helping detergents and enzymes work better

Why this matters in Golden

Golden’s water is moderately hard (~100–120 ppm). Hard water makes it harder to remove:

body oils
sweat residues
detergent buildup

Builders help prevent “waxy” or stiff-feeling rash guards.

Common builders & what they do

Sodium citrate - gentle chelator; ties up minerals without lowering pH
Sodium carbonate (washing soda) - raises pH and helps remove oils
Zeolites - used in many detergents; swap mineral ions out of the water
Polycarboxylates - keep minerals and soil suspended
(Formerly) phosphates - extremely effective but no longer widely used for environmental reasons

Builders vs chelators

Chelators (like sodium citrate) bind minerals directly
Builders may chelate, raise pH, or keep minerals suspended

So: All chelators can be builders, but not all builders are chelators.

When builders help

Use them if you notice:

stiffness even after a citric acid rinse
gear that feels coated or doesn’t fully rinse
whites turning gray
you have a high‑capacity top‑loader

Most people do not need extra builders every load.

When not to add more

Avoid adding builders if:

you’re already using a strong detergent like Tide Ultra Oxi powder
clothing is odor‑free and rinsing well
you’re troubleshooting smell that’s oil‑related (builders don’t remove oil)

What builders don’t do

They don’t kill odor‑causing bacteria
They don’t replace enzymes or surfactants
They don’t fix end‑of‑life fabric stink

They simply give detergent the best possible conditions to work.