If you’ve ever worked out with a personal trainer you know that the 10 minutes they spend stretching you at the end is worth the previous 50 minutes of being told — lovingly — that you’ll never amount to anything.
It’s the deep stretch. The professional stretch. The one that provides that near-mesmeric extra bit of flexion you could never achieve on your own.
Stretch Lab, a new store on Rose in Venice, does that kind of stretching exclusively.
With eight stretching beds in the house, their trainers help you open up all those tight spots. You can walk in and out on a lunch break and still have time to snag a to-go dish from a nearby eatery (here are some options).
Sessions last 20-40 minutes (we found the half-hour session to be the sweet spot) and each stretch is designed by a trainer and a physical therapist.
They target your IT band, inner thighs, hamstrings, hip flexors, outer hips, quads and upper torso in ways you’ll notice for a day or two afterward — much longer and more beneficial than the effects of a massage.
You can do it post-workout, but they tell us it’s best to go on your off-days to help muscles recover faster.
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