The -122c freeze box driven more than 700 miles to jolt England into life

Jude Bellingham says he always feels better after having one. His England team-mates queue up for their turn and look refreshed at the end of another 150-second endurance session. All have been using a cryotherapy mobile van at the European Championship and putting their bodies through extreme sub-zero temperatures in an attempt for maximum fitness at the tournament.

‌The key to England’s player recovery in Germany over the last three weeks has been inside CryoLabs’ converted van that has been driven 700 miles from Poole, Dorset, to the German spa and golf resort in Blankenhain where Gareth Southgate’s squad are based.

Players wear shorts, a mask, gloves, a woolly hat and nothing else before going into the van as music blasts out for their two minutes 30 seconds in a chamber that looks as if it is filled with dry ice. It is actually just pure cold air, piped into the confined space at -122c.

“Physically-wise I always feel better after a cryo,” says Bellingham, who is pictured in the social-media accounts of CryoLabs. “There is something about it, I’m not sure if it feeds the mind beforehand with how cold it is but I always feel really good after.”

‌Southgate has admitted his squad has “limitations” physically which has prevented them from pressing high up the pitch at the Euros. While sleep and nutrition are also seen as key components of players recovering between matches, cryotherapy has been helping Southgate’s 26 players regenerate between their four matches so far.

‌Why are England players enduring their 150-second sessions in such conditions? Cryotherapy is hailed as a tool to help recover faster from fatigue, reduce muscle inflammation and pain. It is used to reduce injury recovery time and is said to increase muscle strength and energy levels. For a few minutes of pain, there are marginal gains.

‌It has been “proven to kick-start the post-exercise recovery process,” according to the CryoLabs website. “The treatments stimulate blood circulation, relieve swelling, and ease muscle pain, so you can get back in fighting form in no time.”

‌While the company has been used by the England squad, rugby league teams and singers such as Lewis Capaldi, it takes pride in being available to the public and sessions are on sale at around £40 for an hour.

‌The sessions are overseen by Chris Banks. A former footballer at Cheltenham Town at the same time as Bellingham’s father Mark, Banks was a physio at Stoke and Port Vale before working for CryoLabs as their mobile operations manager for the last 18 months.

‌During their time in Germany, players have “warm-down” sessions on electric push-bikes around the grounds of their hotel, although Anthony Gordon ended up with grazes on his face and hands after trying to send a video to his family and crashing.

‌There have also been yoga sessions and players also took part in a breath-work session led by Stuart Sandeman, the author and BBC Radio 1 DJ, the day after their win over Slovakia on Sunday.

Sandeman, a breathing expert and performance coach, is officially a “Nike coach” so came to the camp as part of the Football Association’s partnership with the sportswear giants. He has shared how changing his breathing techniques helped him while grieving the death of his girlfriend from cancer in 2016.

“I don’t think many of them will do much over the next couple of days,” said Southgate after the Slovakia win. “They don’t need to, just refreshing will be enough.”

Other light exercise has included the racket sport padel, with Southgate and kit-man Pat Frost reaching the final of the staff competition, where they meet FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and technical director John McDermott. During the day off on Tuesday some of the squad watched the England staff defeat a media squad in a match played in Blankenhain, near the team base.