I'm wondering if I fatigue my legs by repeatedly twatting them with a lump of oak, is it the same thing as doing hill repeats?

Not even close, cute though. I'm talking about dermal thermal stress for a thermal adaptation to the skin through increasing surface capillaries. You are suggesting this is equivalent to blunt trauma creating latic acid handling ability? You don't need to know anything about physiology to know this isn't even close to similar.

However, I get the point that it is perhaps a silly/ impractical proposition. It is more of a thought exercise. Curiosity -----> Innovation

Not to mention dead cats.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

While I'm not sure about pouring boiling water on my legs to increase their dermal capillary density....I'm all for more dead cats.

Stress is a word that covers a lot of ground. Does capillary density increase due to all forms of stress? If muscle fibers are repeatedly over-stretched, is increased capillary density one of the responses? If muscle fibers are chilled, is cap density increased?

Certainly there are stresses that increased cap density would be a logical way for your body to respond. But is increased cap density a logical response that evolution would have created to the application of really hot immersion? How often are mammals immersed in really hot water for a useful response to breed true? I figure that the body has a long list of adaptations to help it control core temp. In that context, what kind of response would evolution likely have programmed into us? Increased cap density would help reduce skin temp, but it would also increase core temp. Think about how the circulatory system acts to protect core temp from cold. It shuts down circulation to the skin and extremities. It essentially sacrifices those parts of the body trying to save the organism. So it follows that the body might respond in a similar fashion to immersion in hot water, but only if that was a common enough issue to create evolutionary adaption.

This is, of course, all conjecture. I've no background in this sort of thing.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

I have to say I tend to agree. It seems pretty illogical that the body would have evolved a feedback loop to adapt to surface heat alone. It would seem more likely if the body had the ability to increase surface caps it would be in response to chronic high core temp. That is basic heat training that has been well studied and as far as I know doesnt increase surface caps either.

DIdnt think it through too long, thank you for humoring me ;)

Lol. That was a quite gracious response. I was expecting to have my ass handed to me. I pulled all that shit completely out of my butt. Which is a really bad idea around here because no matter how obscure the subject matter, there's an expert here somewhere.

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

Funny, my first thought was how much skin lotion you'd have to invest in to return your dried out skin to normal hydration. Hope you have a Costco or Sam's Club card, it's cheaper there by the gallon. ;-)

Not as crazy as you might think- http://app.stitcher.com/...80984/74003/episodes (Episode 56)

However, their goal is to improve performance at altitude through heat acclimatization

So what you are talking about is how many athletes cut weight. The really freaking hot bath for 3-5 minutes will strip multiple pounds each time you enter.

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-- Aaron Davidson