Once an ignored end of a workout, stretching is the whole point of this fitness trend
At StretchLab in Venice, Calif., the calming whines of Bon Iver echo in a space filled with cushion-topped tables and abstract art. A “flexologist” (a StretchLab term for trainer) pushes my leg across my torso to open up my hip in a way I haven’t in years, before contorting my limbs into a number of other positions that soothe my quads, calves, back and shoulders, with the aid of a foam roller that’s flat on one side.
I’m enjoying a stretch session, a wellness activity once relegated by some to the end of workout sessions, now emerging as a national fitness trend in its own right.
StretchLab opened in 2015 in Venice as one of the first places to offer one-on-one sessions that strictly focus on stretching; it is like a massage where the therapist moves your limbs instead of kneads your muscles. That location, according to flexologist Sarah Gittler, sees plenty of clients with “discretionary incomes” who come to feel better after a flight or to get something similar to a post-workout stretch session from a personal trainer.
