Interviewer's note: I have been a client of Kyle’s since 2014 and Chris since the beginning of Stretch Affect in 2019--so you can say I’ve been there from the start. The biggest thing I am grateful for is how they have taught me to prepare, or prime, my body prior to exercising allowing me to reach full range of motion. Because of this, you will find me every Saturday morning before my long run doing banded walks, A and B skips, and hamstring scoops (to name a few). On rare occasions people will ask me what I'm doing and I explain it to them. Which is the whole point, right? Sharing the message of physical literacy.

Even though I see them every week, and know a lot about their history, it was still fun for me to learn how a series of unfortunate events landed them in their beautiful new facility.

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How did you become business partners?

Kyle: We were both in the personal training/performance training realm individually and then we kept running into each other on our educational journey.

We were running to each other at seminars and certifications and randomly being at the same ones in other states.

And then from that just started having organic conversations around concepts, theories, and challenges that we face in the industry.

We met for two hours, twice a week for like a year before we really started doing anything formidable. And then that's when we determined that we needed to have a singular location with everything we offer under one roof.

So we started Stretch Affect in December of 2019 and opened our doors in July of 2020.

In your discussions, what are some of the challenges facing the industry that you would discuss? And what were the solutions Stretch Affect would provide?

Chris: The assessment process was probably the most eye-opening thing for us. A lot of places kind of feel around a little and prescribe “heavy hitter recipes” where these things typically work on people regardless of injury. But truly doing an assessment that tells you if you should treat where they're feeling it or should I be going somewhere else? Meaning there is an underlying cause somewhere else in the body that is causing pain and that should also be a focus.

In the six years that Stretch Affect has been in business, in what ways has it grown?

Kyle: I would say its definitely evolved. The offerings and the capacity of what we can handle has grown fundamentally. We now have 6 providers who are all exceptional within their own right and have been able to add value to our services. We’ve streamlined our assessment and internal training model to help create congruency for clients. So regardless of the practitioner you see, even though everybody will have their own style and the way in which they do it, there's a fundamental basis that everyone works from.

You moved into a bigger space this year, how did that come about?

Kyle: So that's kind of one of those Lemony Snicket series of fortunate events, not unfortunate events, but it started unfortunate.

We signed a lease in December of 2019 and shortly after our building was acquired by a new owner who leased the space to a research group.

So we kind of stood our ground to a certain degree and ultimately there was a provision in our lease that allowed them to move us within the property. So they paid to move us within their property, as we move in there though, they also lease out the secondary building.

And we now are no longer welcome.

So we have to negotiate a buyout of the lease and relocation ultimately again, so this would be our third facility that we would be moving into over this short period of time.

Now, as we were moving into our third location, the new owners were starting to notice our business and how it looked a little bit different and acted a little different and we had some different type of clientele coming in and out of there.

And they asked if gym design is something we do, they were building some new buildings, and would that be something we could consult on?

So we said yes, for sure, and we joined the project in 2022. And we got to be part of this, you know, huge $650 million biotech campus development as part of their amenity building.

But we are now going to be operating out of this beautiful 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that offers a very rare experience for corporate fitness and the surrounding areas.

Chris, you designed the space, what kind of atmosphere or experience did you want people to have at Stretch Affect?

I wanted it to feel premium. You want to go into a gym that’s clean and feels new and everything works well. I would hope people would say, gosh, I wish my home gym had this stuff. So for me that was kind of the goal, I didn’t want to put a bunch of the same stuff as usual, but unique, high-quality equipment that people are going to enjoy using and add diversity into their training.

For recovery I wanted to create more of an experience. Now you don't feel like you're doing cold plunge or sauna around everybody. You can have personal space. You can actually enter the mindset of recovery and feel like you have a private moment to get into that headspace and chill.

What is your favorite piece of new equipment?

Kyle: I would have to say the Reaxing board is probably my favorite. That thing is wild when it comes to three-dimensional training. Standing on flat ground but add a floor that's moving 3D at the same time. Like does that become 4D? It's very unique, you just put a person on there and it inherently creates all the proprioceptive, multidimensional stuff. There are no repetitive views, they don't have to know what to do, they just have to respond.

Chris: I would say the hip trainer. It's not something you're going to see at most places, it's quite unique. You can work abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, pelvic rotation. You get multi multi-dimensional hip training while standing, which is how we move most of the time.

You are calling this phase SA 3.0, what does that mean to you?

Kyle: We feel that now the space is of the caliber of service that we offer, which we feel to be very appropriate. And so I think that's something that is beautiful and the fact that in combining with Sterling Bay and their resources and the way they like to build beautiful spaces for people to want to come to work.

Chris: It's just our way of embracing the hardship of having to move as many times as we have—the fact that we made it through a pandemic and that many moves in five years is kind of crazy.

We were on the dance floor, and we got an opportunity. So that's the significance of 3.0…it happened because we put ourselves out there.

And now we are in such a beautiful place, and we have a lot more capacity to serve more people.

What are some of your future goals for Stretch Affect, where do you continue to see avenues for growth?

Kyle: A goal of ours would be to scale within Sterling Bay and be able to see more of these corporate fitness amenities turn into wellness centers. Being able to actually implement more of the wellness concept versus fitness I think would be huge. We've always had a corporate nature. We've always worked with executives and entrepreneurs who have the most musculoskeletal injuries of any worker. So, it's like they need this almost more than anybody, it's interesting.

If it's a facilitated experience with everything under one roof, I think it's much easier to participate.

Chris: When it comes to the performance side I’d like to offer high-level analysis for athletes. We are equipped to analyze form and technique and share insights they haven't heard before. There is a level of curiosity among athletes to search for and adopt ways to make them perform better.

I’d also love to start something that gets a little nugget of physical literacy or physical knowledge into kids brains so that they can evaluate what they're doing through life a little bit better.

You work with Challenged Athletes Foundation and Adaptive Athletes at San Diego State, why is giving back to the community important for you?

Kyle: I think that the clients that we work with to a certain degree are privileged and do have financial resources. And I do understand that there are people that also need this type of service that cannot afford them. We chose to partner with San Diego State Adaptive Athletics and with the Challenge Athletes Foundation for some of our fundraising and volunteer work to be able to really understand that there are people that have physical challenges that are not getting access to the care that would provide them the best therapeutic intervention. And so while we can't solve that as a whole, I think we can touch it where we can.

Chris: From the beginning we wanted to create a culture of impact. So partnering with challenged athletes and people with disabilities was a way to provide a facility where they feel comfortable and help them with different types of treatment.

If somebody wants to come in because they see there's a fitness facility, do they have to become members with Stretch Affect or can they just sign up for the place (AVNU Wellness) itself? How does it work in terms of partnering up with Stretch Affect?

So essentially our business is harbored within AVNU Wellness. Our business is separate. It's an additional offering that does have an additional financial cost associated with it. Ultimately, you would go through an assessment process with us and from that we would be able to determine the next best steps and how we would proceed.

Say I start working out at AVNU Wellness and I see all the cool things Stretch Affect does, can I just go over and ask somebody for information?

Yes. The front desk staff is where you would be able to schedule that appointment so you can schedule a 15 minute consultation to see if you’d like to proceed.

OK, I want you to give me your 60 second elevator pitch for Stretch Affect...

Kyle: We are a holistic wellness company that combines coaching and physical therapy with an individualized approach that starts with orthopedic assessments, breathing, mobility, and corrective manual therapy. We evolve over time into cardiovascular endurance, strength training, and performance training with an understanding of recovery and nutrition. We teach you those things and we help you along the way.

Simple, but not simple.

Chris: You're not going to a place to just get physical therapy, or to just train, or to just do recovery. We are a complete wellness system that allows you to work on your priorities at the moment, but become an overall a better person, a better version of you. A healthier version of you.

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