How we research studios

Where listings come from

Studio pages start from public operator sites and booking pages: addresses, phones, modalities, pricing, ClassPass notes, and booking links when those details are published. We do not scrape private member portals or invent missing contact fields.

No invented addresses or phone numbers

Address and phone appear only when an operator page clearly publishes them. If a street, phone, zip, hours, map coordinate, or image is missing or ambiguous, we omit the field rather than guess. Schema markup follows the same rule: empty optional fields stay out of JSON-LD.

Closure policy

When an operator or reliable public notice shows a studio permanently closed, we soft-remove it from live city picks and mark the detail page closed instead of deleting history overnight. The Cove on South Broadway in Denver is the pattern: reported permanently closed, kept on record with a clear closed note so searchers are not sent to a dead booking link. Hours, prices, and plunge access still change for open studios, so always confirm on the operator site before you go.

Guides are fact checked, not medical advice

City and studio guides summarize what operators publish and what we can verify from open sources. They are practical booking notes, not clinical guidance. Contrast therapy stresses your body on purpose. If you have health questions, talk to a clinician.

Affiliate disclosure

Studio listings are editorial and are not pay to play. Some home gear links may become affiliate links later. That never changes how we describe tradeoffs, and we say so when a link may earn a commission.

Valid primary sources

We prefer operator websites, official booking pages, publicly posted menus or rate cards, and (when relevant) ClassPass venue pages. Secondary writeups can help us find a candidate, but they do not replace a primary source for address, phone, pricing, or hours. If a primary source conflicts with a directory scraper's copy, the operator site wins.

Conflict rule

When two public sources disagree, we keep the more conservative field: omit the disputed detail, or label uncertainty, rather than invent a blended answer. We never invent NAP (name, address, phone), hours, map pins, or images to fill gaps.

Recheck frequency

Live studio pages carry a last verified date. We recheck booking links, pricing, and ClassPass notes on a rolling basis, with priority on cities Ben is actively visiting (Los Angeles first). Prices and inventory still change between checks. Always confirm on the studio site or in the app before you go.

Studio correction path

Operators and readers can flag a wrong address, closed location, or stale price via the contact details on About. We verify against a primary source before editing, then update the last verified date.

Sponsored listing policy

Editorial rankings and Quick picks are never sold. Sponsored placements, if we ever accept them, will be clearly labeled and visually separated from editorial lists. Paid placement never ranks a studio higher in our picks, tables, or "best for" framing.

Home gear research

Gear pages use a separate method focused on public specs and research picks (not fake personal tests). Read how we research gear.

Photography

Studio listings mostly carry no photo, and that is deliberate. We do not lift operator marketing images, we do not use stock photos dressed up as a specific studio, and we do not generate images of places we have not been. A studio page gets a photo when Ben has visited and taken one, which is why very few have them so far. City and guide pages use clearly labelled illustrative photography that is never presented as a particular studio.

Corrections

When we get something wrong we fix the listing and log it publicly, including what we originally said, what the operator actually publishes, and why the error happened. Read the corrections log. Listings are also re-checked on a rotating schedule rather than written once and left alone, because a wrong fact that nobody re-reads stays wrong.

How to use this site

• Start with a city index for neighborhood and price context.
• Open a studio detail for modalities, booking link, and any verified address or phone we have.
• Read guides for first-session basics, then verify live details with the studio.