Comparación
Gravity Stretching vs assisted stretching (StretchLab, Stretch Zone): who does the stretching
Explicado por el fundador del metodo
Assisted stretching studios like StretchLab and Stretch Zone have made a simple promise popular: lie down, and someone stretches you. It works, and a lot of people love it. We get asked whether we are the same thing with a different name. We are not. In assisted stretching a person does the stretching with their hands. In Gravity Stretching nobody pushes or pulls you: you hang on the lianas, the lianas carry your weight, and gravity lengthens the body while you breathe. Two different answers to the same wish, which is to stop fighting your own tight muscles.
Both in one sentence
Gravity Stretching
Gravity Stretching is a stretching method in which you hang on soft lianas with handles for the hands and straps for the feet, the lianas carry your weight, and gravity, not a person, gently lengthens the spine and opens the joints while you relax and breathe.
Assisted stretching
Assisted stretching is one-on-one stretching in which you lie on a table and a trained practitioner moves and holds your limbs into a stretch with their hands, often using contract-and-relax techniques, as offered by studio chains such as StretchLab and Stretch Zone.
The differences, side by side
| En qué se diferencian | Gravity Stretching | Assisted stretching |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the stretching | Gravity. You hang, and the weight of your own body does the lengthening | A practitioner, with their hands, one limb at a time |
| Your position | Hanging in the lianas, hands in the handles, feet in the straps | Lying on a padded table, often with a strap holding one leg down |
| What happens to the spine | It hangs free between your hands and feet. The weight comes off, space comes back, pressure eases | It rests on the table while the arms, legs and hips are worked |
| How deep you go | As far as the body lets go today. Nobody takes you further | As far as the practitioner takes you, guided by your feedback |
| Format | Small group up to six, about an hour and a half, a trainer beside you | One-on-one, usually 25 or 50 minutes |
| What you learn | To hang, breathe and let go. A practice that becomes yours, through seven levels | Mostly you receive. Some studios add homework |
| Feeling after | Lighter and taller, the whole body at once | Looser in the areas that were worked |
Who each one suits
Gravity Stretching is for you if
- the heavy part is the spine itself: a compressed, tired back after the desk, the scooter or the waves
- you would rather not be handled, and you want the body to open at its own pace
- you want a practice with a ladder to climb, not a service to book forever
- you want to feel lighter after the first session and keep that feeling with a weekly hang
Assisted stretching is for you if
- you want a specific muscle worked precisely, one-on-one, by someone's hands
- you like lying down and receiving, and a table feels safer to you than a hang
- you are an athlete with a targeted tightness in a hip, hamstring or shoulder
- you want a short session that fits into a lunch break
When it is better not to come to us
If you need one exact muscle found and worked by skilled hands, a one-on-one table session does that better than a hang. Our method works with the whole body at once, and the spine most of all. It is not a tool for one tight hamstring.
If you cannot or do not want to hold on with your hands, even lightly, a table is the kinder option for now. In the lianas the hands and feet are your points of contact; we start with the gentlest level and support, but some holding is part of it.
If the pain is sudden, sharp, or comes with numbness or weakness, see a qualified professional first, not a stretching studio of any kind. Once you are cleared to move, come and hang, softly, little by little.
Preguntas frecuentes
Is Gravity Stretching a type of assisted stretching?
No. In assisted stretching a practitioner stretches you with their hands while you lie on a table. In Gravity Stretching nobody stretches you: you hang on the lianas, and gravity lengthens the body while you relax. The trainer stays beside you and guides, but the work is done by your own weight.
Which one is better for a compressed lower back?
For the feeling of a squeezed, heavy lower back, the hang tends to work faster, because it takes the weight off the spine. On a table the spine rests while the limbs are worked, so the muscles around it can soften, but the vertebrae themselves are not given space. Most people feel lighter after the first hang.
Is a group class less personal than one-on-one?
It is a different kind of personal. There are at most six people, the trainer walks between the lianas the whole time, and every person is at their own level. Nobody is doing the same thing as their neighbour. But if you want a full hour of one person's hands on you, that is assisted stretching, and it is a fair choice.
Can I do both?
Yes. Some of our people keep a table session for a specific tight spot and come to the lianas once a week to unload the spine and the whole body. The two do not get in each other's way.
Conoce el método y luego siéntelo en un estudio
Profundiza
Esto es educacion de bienestar, no es un consejo clinico. Si el dolor es intenso, repentino o viene con entumecimiento o debilidad, acude primero a un profesional cualificado.