ASA guides
Learn Assisted Stretching.
ASA publishes long-form guides to assisted stretching: what the service is, what the words people search for actually mean, how professional certification works, what it costs, and what it takes to deliver the work well. They are written to be read rather than skimmed, and they are free.
Every guide below answers one question properly, in one place. They overlap as little as possible: where two of them touch the same subject, one is the canonical explanation and the other links to it rather than repeating it. Start wherever your question is.
What applies to all of it
One thing that applies to all of it: assisted stretching as ASA teaches it is a non-medical professional service. Nothing in these guides is medical advice, none of them diagnoses or treats anything, and certification does not determine what any individual is legally permitted to offer. Anyone with an injury, a health condition or any uncertainty about whether stretching is appropriate for them should ask a qualified healthcare professional.
The guides
Every ASA Guide, in Reading Order.
Grouped by where you are rather than by how the site is built — from never having had a session, through training for the profession, to what comes after it.
Start here
The Service, and the Words People Use for It
For anyone who has not had an assisted stretch, or who has and is not sure what to call it. These two guides define the service and the vocabulary around it, including the terms that get used interchangeably and the ones that mean something more specific. If you are deciding whether to book a session rather than whether to train for one, both of these are written for you.
What is assisted stretching?
Practitioner-guided stretching: a trained practitioner positions and supports you, moves you through controlled stretches, and adjusts from what you tell them. The canonical explanation — components of a session, what it should feel like, how it differs from massage and physical therapy, and what responsible practice depends on.
Read the guideWhat is stretch therapy?
A common search term for the same kind of session. It has no single universal legal definition, the word “therapy” in it does not by itself indicate healthcare, and ASA calls the service assisted stretching and its credentialed professionals ASA Certified Stretch Practitioners. Includes a terminology guide separating the six terms people use most.
Read the guide
Becoming a practitioner
Certification: How It Works and What It Costs
For people considering the profession. The first guide explains what certification is, what a serious program contains and how to compare providers — questions worth asking ASA as readily as anyone else. The second answers the one that comes last before a purchase, and answers it in full rather than as a price list.
How do I get certified in assisted stretching?
Through education, in-person hands-on training, knowledge assessment and a practical competency review — in that order, with the credential last. Covers what a quality program includes, why the hands-on part cannot be skipped, and how ASA's 24-module pathway is structured.
Read the guideHow much does assisted stretching certification cost?
It depends on what a program includes, and the guide explains what drives the difference: online-only against a full pathway, hands-on instruction, practical evaluation, included resources. It states what ASA charges for each of its two options, what separates them, and what to ask any provider before paying.
Read the guide
For your profession
Adding Assisted Stretching to Work You Already Do
For professionals who already hold a credential and are asking whether a second one lets them do something new. That is the question this kind of guide most often gets wrong, so the answer here separates two things that get mixed together constantly: what you can learn, and what you may actually offer.
Beyond certification
What Comes After the Credential
For practitioners thinking past the qualification. Certification is a beginning rather than a business plan, and where the work can be delivered depends far more on requirements than on skill. ASA guarantees no clients, no employment and no revenue, and the pathway below is still being designed.
Start in the right place
Which Guide Do You Need?
Six situations people actually arrive in, each pointed at one guide rather than three.
I have never had an assisted stretch and want to know what happens.
What is assisted stretching?I keep seeing “stretch therapy” and “stretch therapist” and want to know what they mean.
What is stretch therapy?I am considering training for this and want to know what a real program involves.
How do I get certified?I am comparing programs and trying to work out what I am actually paying for.
What does certification cost?I am a personal trainer and want to know whether I can offer this to my clients.
Assisted stretching for personal trainersI am certified, or nearly, and thinking about where the work could be delivered.
The Partner Studio Pathway
The structure
How These Guides Relate.
Two pairs of these guides sit close together, and it is worth saying which is which. The assisted stretching guide is the canonical explanation of the service; the stretch therapy guide explains the vocabulary and links there rather than repeating it. The certification guide explains how certification works; the cost guide answers what it costs and sends anyone ready to buy to the certification page itself. Nothing here is duplicated to fill space.
Reading order
Start With the Question You Have.
- Read the guides.
- Ask the questions.
- Compare properly.
- Then decide.
Ready to look at the program itself? View ASA certification.