About Lastics Stretch Technique
LASTICS STRETCH TECHNIQUE is the brainchild of Donna Flagg, a trained dancer holding a BA in dance and MA in education from Rutgers University and New York University, respectively.
As a dancer, there was constant pressure on Donna’s body - pressure that balanced strength and flexibility because unlike most athletes, the training itself requires dancers to be as strong as they are stretched. When that balance was disrupted later in her career, a major knee injury requiring partial reconstructive surgery was the result.
Her own personal healing process was the beginning of turning Lastics Stretch Technique into a codified method.
In her research, alongside PT, rehab and personal training, something struck Donna as unusual. It was the combination of inconsistencies in the science, which was then also reflected in what she perceived as similar contradictions in her hands-on training and therapy.
For starters, there was ample technical, specific, useful theory that informed strength training. Furthermore, the application of those theories was evidenced in the practical sense as well: Donna’s strength came back in a steady, noticeable way.
She was as tight as she was flabby from the injury/surgery. The relationship of stretch to strength became core to the development of her technique. The contrast between healing and rehabilitative modalities was glaring. The return to flexible could not have been more different than her return to strength.
This raised a question: Why are muscles being treated so differently when addressing flexibility versus strength? It made no sense: muscles are muscles. Improving them, developing them, challenging them, should rely on the same principles regardless of whether you are trying to stretch or strengthen them. Weak and strong are on the same continuum, just at opposite ends. So, it follows that tight and flexible should also share the same continuum.
IN PRACTICE
Lastics’ first client was, Randy Foye, an NBA point guard. After his first session with Donna, he said that he’d never felt anything like it before and discovered parts of his body that he didn’t even know he had!
Shortly after, because of Donna’s dance background, the technique prospered in the major NYC dance schools for professional and pre-professional dancers, then in gyms and spas all of which expanded the method to serve the broader fitness population.
Ten years+ and thousands of students later, Lastics Stretch Technique has helped people from around the world, ranging from 10 to 94 YO, safely and significantly improve their flexibility, increase range of motion and reduce/eliminate pain.