Using SilverSport products for yoga in West Palm Beach

Six months ago, I traded my usual yoga mat and towel for products treated with antimicrobial silver.

That’s a mouthful, I know. But when Franco Harris, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back who’s now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, sent me a Silver Towel and SilverMat to try, that’s what I did.

I have fond memories of Harris and the Steelers from my days as an undergrad at Pitt.

Harris now has a Pittsburgh-based company, SilverSport, that produces a line of sporting goods treated with antimicrobial silver ions.

Communal yoga mats have long been connected to germs, including those that cause staph, plantar warts and the dreaded MRSA. Research has not determined an actual link in the scientific sense where dirty yoga mats are found to cause diseases, but enough doctors were seeing a connection in patients who were treated for infections and used communal yoga mats.

Long-time devotees of yoga buy their own mats and don’t lend them to anyone. It’s what Yoga Living magazine calls yoga hygiene. Cleaning one’s mat is about ”being self-reliant and improving your health any way you can.”

Here’s what I noticed after using the SilverSport products:

1. Extra thick mats. I like the extra cushion of the SilverMat, ¼ inch compared to the usual 1/8-inch thickness. The added padding helps ease my aging joints. The SilverMats are slightly more expensive than the thinner, standard yoga mats.

2. Stops sliding. Because I sweat during yoga, I found I needed to use a towel under my hands to keep my hands from sliding in a downward dog pose. Took me awhile to realize that putting the SilverTowel under my hands allowed me to hold my downward dog pose with the rest of the class. But I still can’t get my heels on the ground!

3. Easy cleanup. I simply wipe off the mat when I get home. The antimicrobial treatment remains embedded into the mat.

The towel, made of highly absorbent viscose bamboo, can be washed with my regular bath and kitchen towels. It still smells as fresh as the day I received it.

SilverSport products are available online or at Dick’s Sporting Goods retail locations or online.

And now, for the numbers:

I had my best walking day last week on Friday, June 17, 2011 when I walked:

Steps: 10,993
Miles: 5.5