How to Find the Right Wellness Club to Truly Optimise Your Health

Wellness clubs have stepped into a space gyms never really filled. Somewhere to recover in public, slow down without switching off, and spend time without needing a plan. But not all of them are built the same. Pick the wrong one, and what’s meant to feel restorative can quickly feel performative, over-programmed, or oddly judgemental. The boom itself isn’t the problem. The challenge is knowing which version of “wellness” actually fits your life.

Before you sign up, it helps to ask a few basic questions. Do you want guidance or autonomy? Silence or conversation? Routine or novelty? Are you there to optimise, recover, or just sit still for an hour without anyone emailing you?

Answer those honestly and the decision makes itself.

The Rise of Wellness Clubs

This shift isn’t happening in isolation.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, Australia’s wellness economy grew 10.9 per cent in 2022–23, reaching US$126.7 billion. Growth has been strongest in areas that blend recovery with everyday life, including thermal bathing, which grew more than 21 per cent year-on-year, alongside wellness real estate and workplace wellness. In other words, the spaces expanding fastest are the ones that reduce friction, not add more to the calendar.

This lines up with how the fitness industry itself is evolving. Research cited by the Australian Institute of Fitness shows consumers are increasingly gravitating toward facilities that offer more than a traditional weights floor or class timetable. The strongest growth isn’t in new workout styles, but in spaces that combine training, recovery, and mental wellbeing under one roof, reducing the need for multiple memberships and scattered routines.

Sauna and wellness operator Neil O’Sullivan, who runs Bondi-based infrared studio Nimbus Co, has described Australia’s new wave of wellness clubs as places designed to fold recovery into daily life, not bolt it on as a luxury. The appeal, he argues, isn’t indulgence. It’s integration. Train, work, recover, repeat, all without leaving the same space.

Saint Haven

If you want cutting-edge tools and don’t mind structure

Saint Haven is built for people who like systems. Cold plunges, red light therapy, diagnostics, supplements. Everything has a purpose, and most sessions feel intentional rather than indulgent. This is wellness framed as problem-solving, where ageing and recovery are treated like technical challenges you can stay ahead of.

Services:

• Infrared and traditional sauna
• Cold plunge pools
• Red light therapy
• Compression therapy
• Guided breathwork and recovery protocols
• Health diagnostics and assessments (location dependent)
• Supplement and longevity-focused offerings

Go here if you’re motivated by data, routine, and measurable progress.
Skip it if you just want to relax without thinking too much.

Nimbus Co

If you want focused recovery without the full club commitment

Nimbus Co strips recovery back to the essentials. It’s built around short, repeatable sessions you can slot into a normal week without changing your routine or signing your life away. There’s less emphasis on optimisation stacks and more on consistency.

It’s not trying to be a social hub or lifestyle club. You arrive, do the work, and leave feeling better than when you walked in.

Services:

• Infrared sauna
• Cold exposure (ice baths or cold showers, location dependent)
• Simple recovery tools designed for short sessions

Go here if you want recovery that’s focused, time-efficient, and easy to return to.
Skip it if you’re looking for a full-service club or a strong community element.

TotalFusion

If you want one membership to replace three

TotalFusion works because it removes decisions. Train, stretch, recover, repeat. It’s large, comprehensive, and practical rather than precious. You’re not chasing novelty here. You’re building consistency.

The appeal isn’t any single feature. It’s the fact everything lives under one roof, so you don’t have to bounce between studios to cover your bases.

Services:

• Full gym facilities
• Group fitness and yoga classes
• Recovery zones and stretching areas
• Sauna and steam rooms (location dependent)
• Lifestyle amenities such as cafes and workspaces

Go here if you want convenience and structure in one place.
Skip it if you’re only interested in bathing or recovery rituals.

Aurora

If you want deep recovery without performance pressure

Aurora leans into thermal bathing as ritual. Sessions are quiet, unhurried, and deliberately low-stimulus. You’re not there to optimise or socialise. You’re there to slow down properly.

It feels closer to old-world bathing culture than modern fitness. No metrics. No performance framing. Just heat, water, and time.

Services:

• Thermal mineral pools
• Hot and cold bathing circuits
• Steam rooms and saunas
• Quiet soaking areas

Go here if you want recovery that feels restorative, not productive.
Skip it if you need training facilities or social energy.

SOMA

If you want quiet, control, and minimal distraction

SOMA is built for focus. Darker rooms, controlled sessions, low interaction. It feels designed for people who already run hot and need somewhere deliberate to come back down.

This isn’t a hangout. Recovery is treated with the same seriousness as training, just without the noise.

Services:

• Sauna and heat therapy
• Cold exposure
• Structured recovery sessions
• Low-stimulus, appointment-based experiences

Go here if you prefer privacy and structure over atmosphere.
Skip it if you want conversation or a more casual pace.

Soak Bathhouse

If you want wellness to feel social, not serious

Soak makes recovery approachable. It’s bright, relaxed, and built for groups. You come with friends, you talk, you stay longer than planned. There’s no pressure to optimise or perform. Just show up and feel better than you did an hour earlier.

It’s wellness without intensity, which is exactly the point.

Services:

• Hot mineral pools
• Cold plunge pools
• Sauna and steam rooms
• Communal bathing spaces

Go here if you want recovery to double as a catch-up.
Skip it if you’re chasing high-performance outcomes.

Choosing the club you’ll actually return to

The right wellness club isn’t the most advanced one. It’s the one that fits how you already operate. Some people want silence and structure. Others want company and atmosphere. Neither is better. They just solve different problems.

Recovery only works if it’s easy enough to repeat. Choose the place that feels natural rather than aspirational, and it will earn its permanent spot in your week.

Wellness Club Glossary: What These Places Are Actually Talking About

Cold Plunge / Cold Exposure
Short sessions in very cold water, usually between 8–12°C. Used to reduce inflammation, sharpen focus, and trigger a stress response that some people find mentally clarifying. Miserable at first. Briefly addictive after.

Infrared Sauna
A lower-temperature sauna that uses infrared panels instead of hot air. Promoted for circulation, muscle recovery, and relaxation. Feels gentler than traditional saunas and is easier to tolerate for longer sessions.

Traditional Sauna
High heat, dry air, and shorter stays. Less about comfort, more about contrast. Often paired with cold plunges as part of hot-cold bathing rituals.

Red Light Therapy
Exposure to specific wavelengths of red or near-infrared light. Commonly marketed for skin health, muscle recovery, and inflammation. You’ll see it everywhere right now, partly because it photographs well.

Thermal Bathing
Soaking in heated mineral or thermal pools. Slower, more passive, and closer to traditional bathhouse culture than modern fitness. The emphasis is on time and temperature, not output.

Compression Therapy
Mechanical compression, usually via boots or sleeves, that rhythmically squeeze muscles to promote circulation and reduce soreness. Popular with athletes and anyone who sits too long.

Diagnostics
Broad term covering assessments like body composition scans, movement screening, or basic health metrics. Useful for baseline awareness, less useful if you’re not planning to change anything.

Optimisation
Wellness shorthand for improving performance, recovery, or longevity through systems and routines. Helpful framing for some. Exhausting for others.

Recovery Session
Any structured time spent reducing physical or mental load. Can mean a sauna circuit, a soak, breathwork, or simply enforced stillness. The best ones don’t ask much of you.