In recent years, the fitness and wellness industries have become increasingly intertwined, with recovery becoming a key focus for professionals in both fields. Once seen as separate groups—fitness focused on performance and strength, and spas dedicated to relaxation and rejuvenation—the lines are now blurring. Recovery and wellness rooms are emerging as fundamental spaces where athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and those seeking relaxation and pampering can recover and re-energize with enhanced technologies.
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In recent years, the fitness and wellness industries have become increasingly intertwined, with recovery becoming a key focus for professionals in both fields. Once seen as separate groups—fitness focused on performance and strength, and spas dedicated to relaxation and rejuvenation—the lines are now blurring. Recovery and wellness rooms are emerging as fundamental spaces where athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and those seeking relaxation and pampering can recover and re-energize with enhanced technologies.
The growing recognition of these spaces is reshaping how both fitness centers and spas operate. Recovery areas are gaining terrain over the cardio space at gyms at the forefront of the fitness spaces, and the wellness zones are taking over lounging areas and massage rooms at the spa. Whether it is helping clients bounce back from intense workouts or offering technology that can provide benefits that a hands-on treatment couldn’t, these new spaces are here to stay.
The Rise of Recovery and Wellness Rooms
Recovery isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a critical part of any comprehensive wellness routine. Professionals have long emphasized the importance of recovery to optimize performance and prevent injury. Similarly, spa professionals understand the rejuvenating power of relaxation and its benefits for overall well-being. Today, both industries are embracing the idea that recovery is not just about rest—it’s about strategic therapies that target the body’s need to repair and regenerate.
Enter recovery and wellness rooms: dedicated spaces designed to recover, relax, transform and re-energize. These spaces often feature a variety of technologies that can be used as stand alone, in a sequence or stacked. Overall, both worlds have collided and clients can now find that missing part of the puzzle that completes the wellness experience in these spaces.
Wellness Equipment’s Role in Recovery Rooms
The backbone of any successful recovery room is the equipment that supports muscle recovery, pain management, relaxation, mental and overall well-being. Equipment selection is key, and so is a well trained team. Technologies can be adapted to serve individual concerns and a professional team will be key when tailoring the guest journey with these types of solutions. Here are a few types of equipment gaining traction:
Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy is a fast-growing trend in fitness recovery. By exposing the body to cold temperatures for short periods, cryotherapy helps reduce inflammation, decrease muscle soreness and accelerate recovery. When considering cryotherapy, all establishments should keep in mind state regulations for cold plunges, the costs associated with cryo chambers and the logistics of adding a cold plunge. Watch out for new technologies that can provide cryo and heat experiences in the same unit, new and emerging technologies can now offer seamless contrast therapies within the same contained space.
Infrared Heat
Infrared heat is well known for its ability to detoxify the body by promoting deep sweating. The heat penetrates deeper into the body providing multiple benefits: recovery, hyperthermic conditioning, relaxation and detox between others. Consider saunas, multi-treatment pods, blankets and mats, and do not forget the power of bio-stacking. When adding multiple sources of energy within a single unit 1+1 no longer equals 2. Look for enclosed body units that include infrared combined with other technologies. My personal favorite combinations are full body infrared + LED + tourmaline + jade + pink quartz +oxygen + Himalayan Salt, and of course, sound healing, all at the same time!
Related: Skin Care Ingredients and Treatments to Encourage Recovery
The Wellness Room Experience
The wellness room has different shapes and forms. Every week we get requests to consult on these spaces, some requests are as simple as clean spaces with a few pieces of portable technology like led mats used over a lounger, others are more advanced and they enhance these rooms with sound healing, colortherapy, pressotherapy, pemf, LED face masks, etc. Within the group of clients that request consulting, we note that more and more requests come from the residential market. As some technologies become more affordable, it is important to mention that commercial clients need to start considering the next level of experience.
Today, we are seeing the emergence of full body and mind experience rooms, sometimes enhanced by the human touch and sometimes fully automated. These rooms can offer solo, couples or group experiences. These spaces often provide multiple opportunities. Consider, for example, a wellness room with LED light. In summer, these rooms can offer enhancing red LED skin treatments, and in winter, full spectrum light treatments to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). By adding complementary sound healing, the space becomes a powerful environment for healing.
As these spaces become more and more sophisticated, there is always two thoughts on all our clients' minds: How much do we need to invest to offer a full body experience? How do I make sure that I don’t end up with a white elephant in the room? For us, the answer is clear, consider multi-treatment technologies that grow with you, and timeless solutions that will offer something “new” to all your demographics.
Pre-built rooms with multi-stacked technologies have been a great solution. These pre-built spaces are affordable, easy to put together and can include multiple technologies that interact with each other to enhance the results of each other. This is the power of bio-stacking. Consider a heated room, as the temperature rises, the LED lights contained within the same space will offer enhanced results, as the skin is now more hydrated. The stones within that space filter infrared and EMF, and emit different wavelengths that enhance the original infrared heat. All at the same time, the Himalayan Salt and Bian stones will release negative ions, and all of this can be combined with enriched oxygen for sound healing sessions, workouts, assisted body therapy and more. The power of bio stacking will allow you to offer multiple benefits to different types of clients for both fitness and wellness guests.
The fusion of the fitness and wellness industries is reshaping the way we approach recovery. As both well trained fitness professionals and spa experts embrace recovery rooms equipped with state-of-the-art wellness tools, they’re providing clients with a comprehensive experience that enhances performance, alleviates stress and promotes long-term well-being.
We always suggest to work with consultants when putting together these solutions. Whether you're looking for a simple space or a room with cutting edge technology, selecting the right solution for your demographics will be key to attracting and retaining a loyal, wellness-conscious clientele.
Dafne Berlanga is the Vice President of Global Business Development, Equipment for Universal Companies.
