WATCH: A look inside Balance Wellness Club in Waterlooville - a home for contrast therapy in Hampshire
The owner of a new health club is looking forward to opening its doors after inviting the community in for a tour at a pre-opening.
Sean Cole, 51, of Waterlooville, is one of the owners of Balance Wellness Club which is set to open soon in Wellington Way in Waterlooville. The News were invited to have a look around at the facilities that will be on offer to the community and discuss the benefits of contrast therapy, which the new club will be championing.
On Saturday (November 16) the business held a pre-opening with around 50 people coming down to grab a coffee and have a tour of the club. It was a promising start, giving Sean and his fellow owners the belief that they have a good chance of success.
Contrast therapy, which uses hot and cold treatments, is growing in popularity with a number of locations across the UK offering it. It is also prevalent in the USA.
Balance Wellness Club is home to four ice plunges which can be set at two, four, six, or eight degrees. There is also a 12 person Finnish sauna which is set at 85 degrees.
Sean, who also runs his own personal trainer business, has been using the therapy for years and he is excited to share its benefits.
He said: “The basis of contrast therapy is to use hot and cold to get a dopamine response. Evidence can suggest that it can help with immunity, longevity and health. Anecdotally, myself, I can say that is what I look for in it.
“Some of the evidence is quite woolly but what I say to people is come and try it yourself and then you can make a decision. Make the decision by coming up and giving it a go.”
Sean added: “There are various different ways to use contrast therapy and lots of people will tell you all these different ways. For me, it’s however much you can handle in the cold to get that little bit of shock. You don’t necessarily need to be in there for minutes and hours. It’s the same with the heat, it’s whatever you can handle until you get that feeling of needing to get out of the heat.
“At first that’s what I will advise, see what you can do and see what you can handle and use that as your protocol. The more you get into it and the more you get a feel for it we can have the conversation to see what may work best for you as an individual.”
Alongside some of the health benefits listed above, Sean believes one of the main benefits is that it can help with sleep and “increase dopamine response “. Dopamine is a chemical which can give you feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. It is certainly something that Sean takes from it saying it can make you feel more “alert and buzzing”.
Having been to a number of places around the country for contrast therapy, Sean is looking to make the perfect space to build a community in Waterlooville. To do so they have focussed on providing everything under one roof. An area to undergo the therapy as a group, while also providing a coffee shop next door to socialise in.
Sean said: “We have put together something that is based on the community of doing cold plunge and sauna together. What I have noticed when going around the country using facilities is the best ones are the larger facilities that enable communities to grow within it and that is what we are trying to do here.
“What we always noticed was when we were going to these places is we would have to hunt for a coffee shop in the morning, or if it was in the afternoon, somewhere for a smoothie, and there isn't anything. We decided, to make the community even better, why not lash a coffee shop onto the side of it.”
That is where the name of the club come in. Sean said: “The company is called balance because that is what life is about. Do the contrast therapy from a health perspective then why not have coffee, a smoothie, or even a beer afterwards, and get that balance back into your life.”
Further details on Balance Wellness Club, including membership and session costs, can be found on its website.