For a year-and-a-half, I’ve been a full-time Personal Trainer at a place called Stretchlab. 

There, we do partner-assisted stretching…we literally stretch people out!

The jokes make themselves…

And after working with hundreds of clients, it’s become clear:

I’ve learned a thing or two!

And it is those things that I will share with you here!

MCDONALD’S VS. RUTH’S CHRIS STEAKHOUSE 

Stretchlab is a pretty unique place. It’s unique because they’re not just taking any Joe Blow in off the street. 

To work there, you’ve got to have a Personal Training Certification, a Yoga Certification, a Pilates Certification, or have a degree in Exercise Science, Physiology, or Kinesiology. Massage Therapists are great too1

But that’s just to get your foot in the door. 

Once you’re in, you go through an intensive 60 hour, hands-on certification course…the only Nationally Accredited Certification Course on PNF Stretching in the United States. 

When I was hired, the training was 60 hours; in the time I worked there, it was now upped to 70. 

In short, working at other fitness establishments is like working at McDonalds. 

When you’re working at Stretchlab, it’s like working at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse of Physical Training. 

HITTING THE WALL 

In the immediate period prior to working at Stretchlab, I felt as if my training knowledge had hit a wall. 

I had done independent research for Ben Patrick, the Knees Over Toes Guy, from October 2019-January 2022, ultimately working as a Form Coach for his company from February-April of 2022. 

I told this tale in detail in “Years of Study for You: Knees Over Toes Secrets Revealed!” 

I had learned all I could from that outfit, and began working to fill in the missing gaps in my knowledge myself. 

This culminated in getting my Personal Trainer Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine in August 2023, a learning experience I recount in “That Magic Piece of Paper: 7 Years of NASM PT Test Prep Revealed!”  

I was particularly interested in David Weck’s Coiling Core, Head Over Foot Training, as well as Chinese Olympic Weightlifting techniques and its connection to Chinese Qi Gong.

But in training myself from August 2023-January of 2024, I knew I had taken myself as far as I could go.

That’s when Stretchlab came knocking…

TRAINING WHEELS AND WHEELIES  

I started my adventure at 10 AM on January 18th, 2024. 

The night before, I had driven across-country through a snow storm to make it into the studio, so I could do the necessary prep work to go through the hands-on training taking place from January 20th-21st. 

There, I learned the basics of PNF Stretching…Propioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. It syncs up the client pushing and breathing in to rewire the neurological system to increase their  flexibility. 

A lot of people don’t know it, but the neurological system is what controls flexibility. A lot of people think they are either born flexible or they are not–but it’s not true. 

Flexibility is a skill set that anybody can learn, like riding a bike or driving a car. 

Now some people, they may spend a little more time on the training wheels. Other people, they may be popping a wheelie within a day or two. 

But wherever the client’s speed, we meet them where they’re at, and take it from there. 

I was officially certified in February of 2024, and was let loose upon the world!

A NASTY, DARK LITTLE ROOM  

After about a month-and-half of this, I felt like I had pretty well gotten the hang of it. 

And I had hit a wall again. 

The studio I was in was very “by-the-book”. They were resistant to any manner of principle-based experimentation or customization to the client’s needs. 

It was a corporatized assembly line of robots giving the same cookie-cutter kind of treatment to everybody and his brother… a factory-like mill out of a dark Dickensian dream. 

To quote Lawrence of Arabia:

It had become “a nasty, dark little room”.

And I was not happy in it! 

Lucky for me, things were about to look up…

WHIPLASH AND SPECIAL DUTY 

On March 6th, 2024, I nearly died in a snow-induced car crash. 

By the Grace of God, I walked away, and the car was alright too save for a nasty dent in the tailgate and bumper from a telephone pole that saved my life. 

I came away with a nice towing bill and a nasty case of whiplash on the left side of my neck.  

The next day, March 7th 2024, I was on special duty. 

Our Sister Stretchlab Studio needed somebody to fill in, and being a gung-ho fella willing to prove my worth and desperate for a change of scenery, I volunteered. 

Working on a client, business as usual, I heard a thickly-accented Asian voice come from across the room… 

“Why can’t you move your neck?” 

The voice came from the Studio’s lead trainer, a Filipino Physical Therapist with considerable experience, something of a maverick in the studio and a legend who I had heard of. 

“Well,” I said as if it were nothing, “I was in a car crash yesterday.” 

I said it as if it were nothing, because to me it was nothing…sure, I was in pain, and my head was killing me. I felt nauseous and wanted to throw up. 

But I wasn’t dead!

“Come over here when you are done,” the Oriental voice said, “And I will fix you.” 

For the next 25 minutes, I was on the Fillipino Lead Trainer’s bench, and she began working on me with fingers and wooden tools that looked like medieval torture devices I would later chronicle in my September 29, 2024 article, “Acupressure & The Wooden Tool: What the Ancients Knew About Joint Bulletproofing!”…

Suddenly, I could move my neck!

I also felt all the aching in my head relieve itself instantly!

I no longer wanted to throw up!

I needed to learn how to do that with my clients. 

The crew in this studio knew something I needed…

THE EASTERN MASTER AND THE WESTERN HERO    

It wasn’t just the Lead Trainer of this Sister Studio who knew a thing or two. 

The General Manager was a legend herself who would become a close mentor to me. 

And this mentor was Pilates and Qi Gong Royalty….literally! 

She had been trained in classical Pilates by Ramona Kryzanowska, heir to the Pilates Empire who was trained by Joseph Pilates himself! 

After that, she was trained by the late Dr. James Michael Wood, who was the second highest ranked Qi Gong practitioner in the United States. He in turn was trained by the first highest ranked, Dr. Jeffrey Alan Johnson, a name widely respected in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) circles. 

And what’s more, her husband was an Air Force PJ in the GWOT…and if you know anything about the GWOT and the PJs, then you know they saw some serious sustained action!

An Eastern Master married to a Western War Hero? 

My kind of people…Pulp Fiction indeed!

SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE AND EVERYDAY KNOWHOW 

I liked this Sister Studio a heckuva lot better than my Home Studio…and worked out an arrangement to work at each one part time, the Sister Studio in the Morning and the Home Studio in the evening .  

Ultimately I would transfer full time to the Sister Studio in October of 2024.  

And there, I learned a heckuva lot! 

In my first month on the job, I had set the goal of learning how David Weck’s Coiling Core, Head Over Foot System worked in the context of PNF Stretching. 

I wanted to use it to help my clients get out of pain and help myself improve my Combat Sports capabilities! I recounted the details of this goal in my February 8th, 2024 article, “Head Over Foot is the Key: The Big Picture Secret to Combat Sports Success!” 

Well, the staff at the Sister Studio would be the ones to help me meet that goal! 

The General Manager’s specialized knowledge of Pilates and Qi Gong, along with the Lead Trainer’s holistic knowhow that is everyday knowledge in the Phillipines, gave me the hands-on training I needed to take theory into practice!

I recounted these lessons learned in my September 27th, 2024 article, “ABCs or Hieroglyphics Whose Teaching You Movement Literacy in Combat Sports?” and my November 19th, 2024 article,  “Apollo Slaying the Serpent: The Secret to Patterning the Fight, Flight, and Freeze Response for Combat Sports”. 

I would work all day, experiment and train in between sessions with the General Manager and Lead Trainer, and at night go to the oldest dive bar in the State to chronicle what I learned and study further videos and articles to increase my knowledge. 

And I didn’t just learn…I put into practice…

On my clients and on myself! 

But there was one thing I learned that tied the whole thing together…

Literally!

WHAT THE STEAK REVEALED 

My late night dive bar-induced research and in-studio testing and practice netted me one of the most important concepts in Strength and Fitness that I could’ve learned… 

The Fascia Train Lines.

Just what’s the big deal with Fascial Train Lines, you ask? 

Fascia is a seran-wrap like substance that covers the entire of the human body…all the muscles in the body, and all the internal organs as well. 

If you’ve ever been cooking a piece of meat like steak, the red part is the muscle…the white fatty-like substance is the Fascia 

Fascia is made out of protein collagens, stretchy rubber band-like elastin, connective tissues called fibroblasts, and a liquid called “the matrix” that is composed of water and sugar molecules.

Put all those things together and you’ve got Fascia…and this has some interesting implications for your body. 

Two in fact…

WHAT THE NERVOUS SYSTEM KNEW  

The first interesting implication about Fascia is that it has more nerves and more nerve endings in it than your Muscles do. 

Because Fascia has more nerves and nerve endings in it than Muscles do, it becomes even more important than Muscles when it comes to doing any kind of movement…

Basic standing, walking, running, throwing, fighting…you name it!

That’s because movement is caused and controlled by the brain sending signals down the spinal cord to all the nerves and nerve endings in your body.

That means that Fascia is more responsible for your movement than Muscle is!

And the specific way this Fascia is organized in the body is key for making all this movement happen…

RIDING THE RAILS 

Fascia is organized along a predictable series of patterns throughout the body called Fascia Train Lines.

These Fascia Train Lines are like the railroad tracks of the body that allow for locomotion…both figuratively and literally!

These Fascia Train Lines are organized along X-shaped, circular patterns that cross both sides of the body contra-laterally. 

That’s just the fancy term meaning they start on the right side of the body, cross the left, and do the same thing on the other side. 

X-shaped. In a circle. 

Others are a little simpler…they exist on each side of the body, running up and down along the same side, from the head to the toes.

And the way these Fascia Train Lines are organized leads us to the second interesting implication it holds for your body…

SPINNING YOUR WHEELS 

The second interesting implication for the body is that the Fascia Train Lines hold up the bones of the body, as well as the muscles. 

Without the protective, saran-wrap-like substance holding the whole thing together, the bones of the body would collapse into a dis-jointed heap upon the ground…

And the muscles would follow suit. 

That means that when it comes to all manner of movement…standing, walking, running, throwing, fighting…the alignment of the bones and X-shaped, circular positions of the Fascia Train Lines go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. 

And after working on hundreds of clients as well as myself, I can confirm…that if you don’t get the Fascia Train Lines and Bone Alignment squared away? 

Well, you’re just spinning your wheels!

OFF TO THE RACES 

The position of bones for standing, walking, running, throwing, fighting comes down to two big things…

The first is the Spine. Because it controls the hips and the shoulders, the Spine is the Strategic “Center of Gravity” as Clausewitz called it.

This is what the Head Over Foot, Coiling Core Training is all about. 

That leads us to the second point…the feet.

Just like you’ve got to get all the vertebrae squared away in the spine to work the hips and shoulders, you’ve got to get all the individual bones in the feet squared away so you’re not just spinning your wheels. 

You’re off to the races!

THE RAINS AND THE WINDS  

The key to all of this is David Weck’s Two Arches Thesis…everybody knows the arch of the foot, what he calls the “Inside Arch”.

But the “Outside Arch” is just as important…the “Outside Arch” consists of the Fourth and Fifth Metatarshals that connect to the Calcaneus Bone…aka the Heel bone..

 Meanwhile, the “Inside Arch” that everybody knows consists of the First, Second, and Third Metatarsals that connect to the Talus Bone…it’s the bone that connects the Tibia and Fibula of the lower leg muscles into the ankle!

These guys are your foundation, and like Jesus said…

If your foundation isn’t solid, well when the rains come and the winds blow, you’ll be in trouble!

But if it’s solid, you’ve got nothing to worry about!

IN THE TRENCHES, WITH THE TROOPS! 

Working at Stretchlab has been a heckuva a time, and it’s taught me a heckuva lot. 

It’s name isn’t just a gimmick…it’s given me the living laboratory to be able to test my research and theories in real time on hundreds of clients. 

There, as David Weck has said about his own training approach, I combined the Therapeutic track with an emphasis on and intensity toward performance. 

The Performance of Life.  

But at the end of the day, as I always tell every one of them: 

“I’m not gonna do anything to you that I haven’t done to myself or had done to me.”

At the end of the day, if you sell Cadillacs, you gotta drive a Cadillac. 

You gotta lead from the front…in the trenches, with the troops!

And that’s something I’ve always done, to the best of my ability! 

Thanks for the fun, guys! 

It’s been a heckuva ride! 

Sincerely,

Richard Barrett

07-11-2025 

Written at 6:09 PM, somewhere in the USA…

Sources Cited 

David Weck (@thedavidweck). Instagram Account, 2025. https://www.instagram.com/thedavidweck/. 

David Weck (@thedavidweck). “It’s Mathematically Precise…”. Instagram Post, June 21, 2025. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLLB20UP7I9/. The Two Arches in action. 

David Weck (@thedavidweck). “The Path to Athletic Training Redemption…”.  Instagram Post, June 23, 2025. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLP-8MyxaTN/. An excellent visual overview of the Two Arches. 

Dr. Jessica Stavale (@thefasciamovement). Instagram Account, 2025. https://www.instagram.com/thefasciamovement/. An excellent scientific account on Fascia from a Therapeutic perspective. 

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Schliep, Robert; Bayer, Johanna; Parsi, Bill; Allen; Jonathan. Fascial Fitness: Practical Exercises to Stay Flexible, Active and Pain Free in Just 20 Minutes a Week. Chichester, West Sussex, UK; Lotus Books, 2021. An authoritative academic work from the driving force behind Fascia Studies. Note that Robert Schleip notes that Fascia Training is the magic behind systems like Dr. Isaac Ampsov’s 1000 Movement, Bob Hoffman’s Daily Dozen, and Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning…systems I chronicle in my March 5, 2024 article, “By Order of the King: My True Tale of the 1000 Movement!” 

Smith, Joel. “Episode 361: David Weck and Chris Chamberlin on Rotation, Side-Bending and Tensional Balance in a High-Performance Training Program”. *Just Fly Performance Podcast*, podcast,  1:46:47. https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-361/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExREh3VTQybHJJYUg0MlR1dAEeKL2EqmDAKMVMWPvDXMDTwxiC01rQi1oCyG85LdQ472E6jsaoke1MfZRafvw_aem_gAP8jIRTFPbRpK-4YglynA. Here, David Weck and his Number 2 Man Chris Chamberlain lay out the thesis of the Two Arches. The part where this is discussed begins at 54:22 under the title of “Thoughts on the inside edge of the foot and the outside of the foot as it pertains to athletic performance”.