In the evolving world of wellness, recovery has emerged as the next frontier. Once an afterthought in fitness, it’s now a full-fledged category driven by a cultural shift toward longevity, mobility and preventive health. Assisted stretching, once niche, is now central to that story. By Tamara Rahoumi
Stretching the Future of Wellness
In the evolving world of wellness, recovery has emerged as the next frontier. Once an afterthought in fitness, it’s now a full-fledged category driven by a cultural shift toward longevity, mobility and preventive health. Assisted stretching, once niche, is now central to that story.
Verdine Baker, CEO of iFlex® Stretch Studios, has watched this evolution firsthand.
“The stretching vertical has been growing as more people get better education around taking care of their bodies,” he said. “From a holistic standpoint, stretching is well positioned to continue to take some market share out of that wellness dollar.”
That awareness, however, didn’t come overnight. Baker described the early days of the category as a period of education and experimentation.
“When we first started, a lot of the focus on branding and marketing was about consumer education – helping people understand what we do and how we can benefit them,” he explained. “You have to get people to experience it for them to understand it.”
According to Baker, once they do, the results speak for themselves.
“I call it the blessing and the curse,” he continued. “The blessing is that you can feel a real difference in just 15 minutes; your body moves better, feels better, almost instantly. But the curse is that lasting change takes consistency. It takes time for the body to rebuild the way it should move, just as it took time for it to lose that ability. That’s why we focus on helping people experience that difference and then commit to maintaining it.”
That balance – between quick results and lasting transformation – has become a defining strength of the category, giving franchisees a product that delivers immediate value while building long-term loyalty. iFlex Stretch Studios has also redefined what a stretching studio can look like.
“Where our service is more dynamic is where we apply different elements of wellness that round out the experience,” said Baker.
Each session combines the company’s proprietary stretching method with tools like heat, vibration and compression therapy, innovations designed to prime the body for better results. The outcome is a performance and recovery experience that feels both advanced and approachable, appealing to everyone from casual clients to high-performing athletes.
For franchise owners, that blend of accessibility and innovation translates into a timely business opportunity. Compact studios, typically 800 to 1,000 square feet, allow for efficient buildouts and strong margins, while the expanding public interest in recovery ensures a growing audience.
Baker sees even more potential ahead as wellness continues to evolve beyond workouts.
“We’re focused on helping our community perform at the highest level,” he said. “That could mean someone who just wants to move better or sleep better or an athlete training for a marathon. At the end of the day, it’s about getting people to feel better, move better and live healthier.”
He believes the space is only beginning to reveal its possibilities.
“We’re barely scratching the surface of the reach we could have,” he said.
In an industry where trends shift fast, iFlex Stretch Studios represents something more enduring: a vision for wellness that meets people where they are, connects technology with touch and makes recovery an everyday ritual.
Tamara Rahoumi