It is a common misconception that warming up before stretching is essential.

The reasoning for this is often that stretching can produce a dramatic change in the body, and it is best for the body to be as prepared as possible to receive this change. Hogwash. Think about the most dramatic change the body can undergo: surgery. Before surgery, does the doctor guide us through calisthenics? Is cardio performed before an operation? Of course not. For surgery, the most drastic change a body can experience, anesthesia is administered.

Anesthesia is used because for surgery to be successful, it is imperative that we are unaware of what is happening. The surgeon may be cutting away skin and splitting apart bone, but in the end we are put back together in better health than when we started out.

If we want similar success when stretching, we must be similarly unaware of what is happening. Anesthesia, therefore, is the goal for any serious stretcher, and the best way to anesthetize a muscle is to make it extraordinarily cold.

It is a well known fact that Sir Edmund Hillary perfected his splits on the summit of Everest

If geographically possible, try stretching outside in the snow. Investigate the possibility of using dry ice when stretching. Above all, experiment. Leave comments with your success stories below.