A high-tech fitness center is about to open in State College with oxygen therapy and more

With their latest business venture, wrestling legends Kyle Dake and David Taylor want to do more than cater to athletes — the goal is to create a space where any person can socialize, recharge and enhance their bodies.

Vitality Wellness Club, located at 114 S. Garner St., takes a holistic approach to wellness, boasting a diverse array of health-related treatments and equipment. From a 15-bike cycle studio just steps from Penn State’s campus to Kaqun water therapy, the club looks to transform downtown State College’s fitness scene.

The center also sits just below K2 Roots, another Taylor business that sold cold-pressed juice and smoothie bowls at its original downtown location before relocating to Garner Street. It’s one more feature making Vitality Wellness Club a place where members of the community can gather, like a coffee shop or bar — but with the added benefit of boosting their health.

“When you come here, your next day is better than the day before,” Dake said. “We want everyone to start spiraling upward, rather than spiraling downward.”

The business encourages this by bringing all seven of its wellness and optimization services under one roof, limiting the need for athletes to travel across town, or sometimes the country, to train at different facilities.

But the target audience for Vitality Wellness Club isn’t just athletes. It’s “anybody with a body,” said Leanne Miyasaki, the center’s general manager.

A high school football player recovering from an injury and a 70 year old with a bed sore both might benefit from a dip in the Kaqun tub. A soon-to-be bride trying to drop a dress size can do so through a treatment that helps drain their lymph nodes. Even a college student or stay-at-home mom looking for a burst of energy can benefit, either through a workout or cold plunge.

With Dake in the middle of training for the Paris Olympics and Taylor recently taking over as head coach of Oklahoma State’s wrestling team, both owners plan to stay involved but move back into new roles. The business was set up so they could step away as needed, Dake said.

“What was really important to us was having a strong team of people who are here from day one and who want to see this thing grow,” he said. “It’s a big team effort.”

Vitality Wellness Club plans to open its doors within the next few weeks, just in time to greet athletes running Happy Valley’s Ironman triathlon June 30 and people visiting State College for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in July.

For now, the center’s hours are planned for 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but the team is open to expanding based on community response, Dake said. The center offers monthly memberships ranging from $249 to $379 and wellness and optimization packages the range in price. Customers can also buy individual services, starting at $19 for a 60-minute cycle class and reaching $129 for Kaqun water therapy. Day passes are $59 for those who want to test out treatments before committing.

Unique health services and amenities

One feature of the business is Kaqun water therapy, which combines oxygen therapy, light therapy and heat therapy into one treatment. The technology isn’t offered anywhere else on the east coast, Dake said, with two of the closest facilities being in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

On the surface, stepping into Kaqun water looks and feels like getting into a hot tub: the warm water relaxes your muscles, and different light settings prompt different results in your body. Red light encourages collagen production, reducing wrinkles and smoothing skin. Blue light has an energizing effect.

But most of the magic of Kaqun water therapy lies in oxygen — particularly, its ability to help users increase the amount of oxygen in their bodies by absorbing it directly through their skin.

The body is a “self-healing machine,” Dake said, but it can only prioritize recovery once it’s fully energized.

“We just want to help that natural beauty come out, and the way you do that is from the inside out,” Dake said. “So, if we can help all of your systems on the inside, then your skin will start to show that.”

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of Vitality Wellness Club’s more futuristic looking treatments. Like Kaqun water therapy, the chamber increases the amount of oxygen within the body — but instead of a tub, users spend sessions within a hard-shell enclosure.

The technology allows people to breathe in a high concentration of pure oxygen within a pressurized environment, encouraging the body to heal at a quicker pace. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help fight bacteria, reduce inflammation and enhance the immune system.

Vitality Wellness Club’s compression lounge offers two services geared toward reducing swelling across the body: NormaTec compression therapy and the Ballancer Pro.

The former is a simpler tool, using compression therapy boots to stimulate the circulatory system through pressure. The Ballancer Pro, a two-piece set similar to a snowsuit, focuses on lymphatic drainage.

Where the circulatory system pumps blood throughout the body, lymph nodes drain excess fluid from body tissue back into the bloodstream. People can speed up this process either through movement or manual drainage, gently massaging areas of the body to reduce swelling.

In 40-minute sessions — 20 for the upper body, 20 for the lower — the Ballancer Pro does this task for you.

The center also includes a selection of cold plunging tubs and custom-built cedar plank saunas. Both communal and private sauna suites are available, giving people the chance to either unwind solo or chat with others while simultaneously relieving muscle pain and improving circulation.

At the opposite temperature extreme, cold plunge tubs go as low as 45 degrees. Taking a dip in the icy water causes your blood vessels to quickly constrict and dilate, boosting your immune system, increasing alertness and building resilience.

There’s also a community aspect to the activity, said Werner, who’s been cold plunging with friends in Spring Creek for two years.

Miyasaki expects the cycle studio to be a particular hit in downtown State College.

It will offer classes every hour — some taught by instructors and others guided through Swerve, a fitness app that hosts classes, shares analytics and allows users to compete with other cyclers across the country.

For more information, visit www.vitalitywellnessclub.com.