Gym shoes take more abuse than any other pair you own. Sweat soaks into the insoles, gym-floor grit grinds into the soles, and the same shoes that helped you hit a PR can smell like a locker room by week three. Good news, though. Cleaning gym shoes is faster and easier than most people think.

This guide walks you through a simple routine for cleaning white, mesh, leather, and rubber gym shoes at home. A SneakERASERS sponge handles quick touch-ups in seconds. A few extra steps cover the harder stuff like yellowing whites, smelly insoles, and whether you can ever throw a pair in the wash. Quick, easy, effective. That's the whole point.

Most shoes have it easy. Gym shoes don't. They take sweat from the inside, friction from gym floors and rubber mats, grit pulled in from chalk and dust, and the bonus of being worn harder than your everyday pair. Combine all of that and you end up with scuffed soles, dingy uppers, and a funk that hangs around well past the workout.

Research from the University of Arizona, led by microbiologist Charles Gerba, found that the average shoe carries hundreds of thousands of bacteria on the outside, much of it picked up from public floors and surfaces. Gym floors and locker room tile fall squarely in that category.

Cleaning gym shoes is mostly about hygiene, smell, and how long the pair holds up before you have to replace them. Looking sharp is a bonus on top of that. The rest of this guide walks through the routine, then the trickier stuff like white-shoe yellowing, mesh, and odor.

Keep your supply list short.

• A SneakERASERS sponge for soles, midsoles, and non-porous uppers.

• A bottle of SneakERASERS SOAK for mesh, knit, fabric, and stubborn laces.

• A soft, dry cloth for wiping.

• Baking soda for odor.

• A roll of paper towels or newsprint for stuffing shoes while they dry.

That's the whole kit.

A few things to leave in the cabinet.

• Bleach on colored uppers.

• Harsh chemical degreasers.

• Anything that blasts hot air on the shoe.

Bleach yellows whites over time, degreasers strip protective finishes, and heat warps the foam in your midsoles. No harsh chemicals, no complicated kits.

The routine below is the best way to clean gym shoes that are dirty from a full week of training, whether they're all white, all black, leather, mesh, or some combination. Each step takes a few minutes. None of them require a sink full of water or a dozen different products. Walk through them in order and you'll have clean shoes by the time your laundry finishes.

Remove the laces and pull the insoles out. This sounds basic, but it's the step most people skip. Cleaning each piece separately gives you better access and lets everything dry at its own pace.

Got heavily soiled laces? Drop them in warm water with a small amount of SneakERASERS SOAK. Let them sit while you work on the rest of the shoe.

Insoles hold most of the sweat and smell, so they get their own attention. Set them aside on a paper towel until you reach Step 5.

Take the shoes outside and tap the soles together over a trash can. A soft-bristled brush helps for stuck-on grit. The point is to get rid of any dry dirt before you add water.

Dry grit is what scratches uppers and pushes deeper into mesh during cleaning. Knock the loose grit off first, or you'll just smear it across the shoe. The same goes for sports cleats caked with field dirt; a quick knockoff before any water saves the material from grinding damage.

Quick habit worth building. Tap the soles in the gym parking lot after each session. Less work later.

Lightly wet the white side of a SneakERASERS sponge and swipe along the rubber soles, midsoles, and white toe boxes. Light pressure, smooth strokes. Swipe, don't scrub. You'll see the scuff lines and gray shadows lift in a few passes.

Use the orange side to wipe up any residue the white side leaves behind, and as a grip when you need to hold the sponge in tight spots. The orange side is for cleanup and control, not for tougher stains.

A sponge will get smaller as you use it. That's the eraser doing its job, like a pencil.

For non-porous uppers, like synthetic leather, smooth plastic overlays, or painted panels, keep using the SneakERASERS sponge with light pressure. Same swipe, same gentle motion.

Mesh, knit, or fabric uppers need a different approach. Switch to SneakERASERS SOAK. It's the only product in the line built for porous materials, and the sponge alone won't get them clean. Use SOAK per the instructions on the bottle.

A couple of limits to keep in mind. Avoid the sponge on suede, and go light on real leather. The sponge isn't a leather conditioner, so for leather gym shoes, a damp soft cloth paired with a real conditioner is the safer route.

Wipe the insoles with a damp cloth for a quick clean. For a deeper clean, drop them in a basin with diluted SneakERASERS SOAK and let them sit per the bottle's directions.

For odor, baking soda earns its place. Sprinkle a thin layer across the top of each insole, leave it overnight, then tap or shake the powder out in the morning. It pulls moisture and absorbs the smell.

Let insoles dry all the way through before you put them back in the shoes. Damp insoles are an open invitation for the smell to come right back.

Stuff each shoe loosely with paper towels or balled-up newsprint. The paper absorbs moisture from the inside out and helps the shoe hold its shape. Swap it once if the shoes are soaked.

Stay away from direct heat. No dryer, no hair dryer pointed inside, no propping them on a radiator or heating vent. Heat warps midsole foam and loosens the glue that holds the shoe together.

Air-dry in a well-ventilated spot, out of direct sun. UV slowly yellows white materials, so even sunny windowsills are a trap if you wear whites.

White gym shoes show every scuff and pick up gray shadows faster than anything else in your closet. Cleaning them is mostly about what you don't do.

Skip the bleach. Bleach reacts with white rubber and synthetic uppers and turns them yellow, sometimes weeks after you use it. Skip the sunny drying spot for the same reason. Heat and UV light both pull whites toward yellow over time.

For day-to-day clean-ups, a damp SneakERASERS sponge with light pressure pulls scuffs and shadowing off rubber soles, white midsoles, and synthetic toe boxes. Saves your soles in seconds. Swipe in one direction, wipe with the orange side, and let the shoes air-dry inside, out of the sun.

For yellowing that's already there on the rubber, the same sponge often brings it back to white in a couple of passes.

Most modern training shoes use engineered mesh or knit uppers because they breathe well and flex with your foot. Those same properties make them harder to clean. Mesh holds dirt deep in the weave, and a regular sponge won't pull it back out.

For mesh and knit gym shoes, reach for SneakERASERS SOAK. It's built to clean porous materials, including fabric uppers and shoelaces, without harsh chemicals.

Technique is simple. Soak overnight per the product instructions, rinse the shoes well, stuff them with paper, then let them air-dry. Don't run the sponge across mesh as your main cleaner. The sponge is for soles and non-porous uppers. SOAK is for the rest.

If you've been searching for how to clean smelly gym shoes, the cause matters as much as the fix. Sweat by itself is mostly water and barely smells. The funk comes from bacteria that feed on the sweat inside warm, dark shoes and release odor as a byproduct, which is the same process the American Academy of Dermatology Association points to as the root cause of smelly feet in general.

A few practical fixes.

• Pull the insoles out and clean them as covered in Step 5, since most of the smell lives there.

• Sprinkle dry baking soda inside the shoes overnight, then tap it out in the morning. Cleaning gym shoes with baking soda costs next to nothing and pulls moisture out alongside the odor.

• Rotate two pairs of gym shoes so each gets a full 24 hours to dry between workouts.

• Cedar inserts are a solid add-on if you want a natural moisture absorber that doubles as a deodorizer.

Treat smell as a hygiene issue first. Clean shoes feel like new shoes. That's reason enough on its own.

Short version on how to clean gym shoes in the washing machine: many synthetic pairs can handle a wash, but leather, suede, and anything held together with heavy glue can't.

If you decide to wash a pair, set it up right. Pull the laces and insoles out first. Place the shoes inside a mesh laundry bag and toss a couple of towels in with them so the drum stays balanced. Run a cold-water, gentle cycle with a mild liquid detergent. Skip pods, and skip hot water.

Never put gym shoes in the dryer. Heat warps the midsole foam and pops glued seams. Air-dry stuffed with paper, just like after any deep clean.

For most weekly refreshes, a SneakERASERS sponge does the same job in a fraction of the time, with less risk to the shoe.

Build a small routine instead of waiting for a deep-clean emergency. A short habit is also the simplest way to deodorize gym shoes, since odor lives in damp insoles and weekly attention keeps that moisture in check. A quick swipe with a SneakERASERS sponge after every two or three workouts keeps the soles and toe boxes from picking up permanent shadow. A deeper SOAK clean every two to four weeks handles the uppers, laces, and insoles.

Gym shoes cost real money. A consistent cleaning routine extends their life by months, and that adds up.

Quick check. If the toe box has visible scuffs, the soles look gray instead of white, or the upper has lost its edge, it's time. A few minutes now beats a new pair later.

Clean gym shoes come down to a small habit with a big payoff. You walk into the gym feeling sharper, your shoes last longer, and you don't have to replace them every six months because the soles went gray.

Keep a SneakERASERS sponge in your gym bag for quick touch-ups between workouts, and keep SneakERASERS SOAK at home for the deeper-clean nights. Between the two, you have a quick fix and a deeper reset whenever a pair needs one.

SneakERASERS got its start on Shark Tank and is now the #1 selling shoe cleaner on Amazon with more than 13,000 reviews. You can find the line at Walmart, Costco, CVS, Target, and on Amazon. Grab a 10-pack on your next order, toss one in your gym bag, and the next sweaty pair gets a 30-second cleanup before you pull out of the parking lot.

Gerba, Charles. "Petri Dishes You Can Wear: UA Researchers Study the Bacteria on the Bottoms of Your Shoes." The Daily Wildcat, University of Arizona, 9 Feb. 2011, wildcat.arizona.edu/110209/news/petri-dishes-you-can-wear-ua-researchers-study-the-bacteria-on-the-bottoms-of-your-shoes/.

American Academy of Dermatology Association. "Hyperhidrosis: Signs and Symptoms." American Academy of Dermatology, www.aad.org/public/diseases/a-z/hyperhidrosis-symptoms.