UK's first 'mental health club' prepares for launch in Manchester

A health and wellbeing club which combines exercise and physical activity classes with mental and emotional health sessions is marketing itself as the "UK's first mental health club".

The 10,000sq ft hero Training Club, which opens its doors in Manchester during October, aims to cover every aspect of a person’s health and wellbeing.

There will be four separate training zones to reflect a quartet of health and exercise disciplines – Athletic, Cardio, Rejuvenate and Stronger.

Each zone will host a selection of classes, ranging from boxing, HIIT, indoor cycling, circuits and combat training to yoga, pilates and barre. In total, the club will offer more than 250 classes each week.

The exercise zones will be accompanied by a dedicated wellbeing hub, offering a programme of complementary services – such as one to one and group counselling, hypnotherapy, sleep workshops, mindfulness sessions and resilience classes.

Members will also have access to hero’s bespoke technology platform called Navigator, which offers personal health insights based on tracking the users activities and habits – from sleep, mindfulness and exercise levels to diet. The data can then be used to devise improvement strategies with the help and support of trained specialists.

The launch is part of a partnership hero has signed with developer Moda, which will look to create "the UK's healthiest rental communities".

The Training Club is located within Moda's scheme Angel Gardens development, a 35-storey, 466-home build-to-rent project.

"Many health clubs in the UK, and indeed globally, talk about the positive impact exercise has on our mental health – and rightly so," said Joe Gaunt, hero CEO.

"But we recognise that it takes a certain person, with a certain mindset to feel strong and able enough to come to the gym in the first place for help and support.

"The hero Training Club will offer guests and members the choice of how they improve their health.

"We recognise everyone’s health and fitness journey is personal and unique; some people will need more physical, mental or social support, whereas others might want more specific help and advice around sleep or nutrition, and another person might just want to enjoy our awesome fitness classes.

"We purposely don’t want to offer a very narrow and short-sighted health offer.

"The word 'health' is more than what we see on the scales or how far we can run. It’s made up of emotional, social and physical health and we believe it’s time to give people truly holistic support, with very real and achievable solutions to tackle the health issues we as a nation face."

Gaunt, a former managing director of US-based shared workspace specialist WeWork – who has also held senior roles at Virgin Active and Fitness First – founded hero in 2017.