Despite continually mounting evidence to the contrary, you continue to hear recommendations to stretch before activity.

Study after study shows that pre-workout stretching does nothing to prevent injury. Yet somehow, the myth that you should stretch before activity persists.

Of course, it is best to warm up before activity. But warming up is not stretching. A warm-up is a specific physiological state in which you have increased blood flow the muscles about to be worked and even more specifically that the tissue temperature has been raised two degrees.

You need to be warm BEFORE you stretch, and here is any easy way for you to remember why.

Think of your connective tissue and muscles like taffy. When taffy is cold it is brittle and resistant to stretch. When it is warm it stretches much more readily.

The best warm-up is simply a lower intensity version of the activity you are about to perform. Yes, it can be that simple. Fitness is not as complicated as we make it seem sometimes.

Another problem is what to stretch.

Many people simply stretch everything or follow a general stretching poster showing stretches for the major muscles of the body. This makes about as much sense as painting every room in your house because one room needs painting.

Simply, you should stretch what is tight and strengthen what is weak. A well-designed stretching program should be just like a well-designed strength and cardiovascular program: It should be personalized to you.

Your flexibility training should be spent only on those stretches designed to address areas where you are tight and that tightness is causing a muscular imbalance.

This should result in your performing only a handful of stretches designed to specifically address areas of tightness in your body. You can get the benefit of flexibility training without adding another 30 minutes to your workout.

And remember: Warm-Up to Stretch, Don't Stretch to Warm-Up