The rounds
Four rooms
90 minutes, 3 rounds, the same four rooms each time, always in the same order. Here is what each one is for, and how long you stay.
Hot room
80–90 °C
Three tiers of aspen benches. The higher you sit, the hotter it is: 80 °C at your feet on the bottom tier, 90 °C at the top.
Every ten minutes one of us puts water on the stones. The steam comes off them as a wave, rolls along the ceiling and comes down on the top bench first. If that's too much, move down a tier; nobody minds.
12 minutes is a round. If you need to leave sooner, leave sooner.
- Heat
- 80 °C bottom tier, 90 °C top
- Time
- 12 minutes a round
- Places
- 16 on three tiers
- Quiet
- Low voices; no phones past the lockers
Rinse
38 °C
Four open showers between the heat and the water, held at 38 degrees.
A minute is plenty. The rinse keeps the plunge clean for the next person and takes the edge off the step from 90 to 4. It is the only rule we are strict about.
- Water
- 38 °C
- Time
- 1 minute
- Rule
- Every time, before every plunge
Cold plunge
4 °C
2 steel tubs, 1.2 metres deep, chilled to 4 °C and filtered between every session.
Step in, sit down, shoulders under. The first ten seconds are the hard part; your breath will try to run away from you. Let it out slowly. First round, stay 1 minute. After that, up to 2.
There's always someone from Hollin on the floor by the tubs. Nobody plunges alone.
- Water
- 4 °C
- Time
- 1 minute first round, then up to 2
- Tubs
- 2, 2 people in each
- Depth
- 1.2 m
Rest room
21 °C
A long low room at 21 degrees, 14 loungers, a blanket on each, and water on the side.
This is where the round actually happens: lying still while your skin warms back up from the inside. Give it 10 minutes. There is no music and no screen, and the lights stay low.
- Air
- 21 °C
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Loungers
- 14
A whole session
90 minutes
Times are a guide, not a rule. You can sit out a round in the rest room, or stop after two.
Before you book. Contrast bathing isn't for everyone. If you are pregnant, or have a heart condition or high blood pressure, ask your doctor first. Don't come after drinking. We make no medical claims for any of this.
| Minutes | Where | Temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 | Arrive, change, rinse | 21 °C |
| 10–22 | Round 1: hot room | 90 °C |
| 22–23 | Round 1: rinse | 38 °C |
| 23–25 | Round 1: cold plunge | 4 °C |
| 25–35 | Round 1: rest room | 21 °C |
| 35–47 | Round 2: hot room | 90 °C |
| 47–48 | Round 2: rinse | 38 °C |
| 48–50 | Round 2: cold plunge | 4 °C |
| 50–60 | Round 2: rest room | 21 °C |
| 60–72 | Round 3: hot room | 90 °C |
| 72–73 | Round 3: rinse | 38 °C |
| 73–75 | Round 3: cold plunge | 4 °C |
| 75–85 | Round 3: rest room | 21 °C |
| 85–90 | Shower and dress | 21 °C |