Static stretching can be active, involving voluntary force, or passive, involving relaxation into a range of motion.

“As is always the case, there's always a naming and renaming and claiming of territory with these things. For the time being, I'd like to just emphasize that static stretching can be both active, where there's a dedicated effort on the part of the stretcher, you, to put force behind the hold to kind of extend or literally to extend the range of motion. And then, there's also passive static stretching in which it's more of a relaxation into a further range of motion, and that can be a subtle distinction.”