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Psychic: Includes emotional, spiritual, and mental

Fitness stress. Examples include divorce, difficulties on the job,


relationship issues, parental pressure, spiritual/religious
Report: disconnection, addictions. This category is a significant
contributor to stress in today’s society and one that isn’t
Holistic Health talked about in traditional health care circles as much as
and Nutrition other types of stress.

Thermal: Refers to any type of temperature change


that someone may experience, either via internal or
external stimulus. Examples of thermal stressors include
FLATTEN YOUR weather, electromagnetic stress that increases one’s
body temperature, sunburn, eating something which
ABS FOREVER! increases one’s temperature (i.e. cayenne pepper), and
(Part 3 of 3) the caffeine stacks often used to ‘burn fat’ produce
thermogenic stress.
Hopefully you’ve already read sections 1 and 2
of this 3-part report. If you’ve not already arrived at Nutritional: Refers to the quantity and quality of foods
your own conclusion from the greater than 60% obesity being ingested. For the majority of human
rate in Michigan, hopefully by now you’re getting the development, we relied on food to get the nutrients we
clear idea that the Standard American Diet of processed needed to survive and we are no different today. The
Carbohydrates, Refined sugar, Additives and many people who are not eating what, when, and how
Preservatives (S.A.D. C.R.A.P. indeed!) does not work they should are adversely contributing to their overall
for the human body! physiological stress; vitamins and supplements cannot
effectively compensate for the physiological stress of
poor macronutrient selection as many people would like
YOU ARE THE SUM TOTAL OF ALL YOUR
to believe.
STRESSORS
Stress is a very real part of our life these days
and for many of us, it’s thwarting our ability to develop
flat abdominals. There are six different types of
stress that we encounter:

Physical: Includes physical trauma, degenerative


conditions, and postural stress. If someone is suffering
from some type of physical pain or has been in an
accident, they are suffering from excessive physical
stress.

Chemical: Including any and all toxic substances that


enter our body via our mouth, nose or skin. This
includes pesticides, food colorings, chlorine, artificial
flavorings and many of the chemicals found in
deodorants, lotions, creams, perfumes, make-up,
toothpaste, air fresheners, fragrant soaps and cleaning
supplies, to name just a few! Many people are
overloading themselves with toxic chemicals every day
and are significantly increasing the amount of stress
their body must cope with.

Electromagnetic: Including x-rays, electromagnetic


frequencies, microwaves and geomagnetic stress. In
today’s technologic age and rampant use of computers,
cell phones and PDA’s, televisions and radios,
microwaves, and other electronic devices, it’s pretty safe
to say we are all taking in a considerable amount of
electromagnetic stress!
Even though there are six major categories of stress, • Exhale and push your arms straight out with the
each of the stressors individually and collectively become intent of projecting energy from your core out
a source of physiological load on our body. Though through your arms and hands.
each of us may react to stress a little differently on the • Repeat, pushing back toward the center, front
outside, it affects all of us the same on the inside. The left, front right and back left and back right.
Figure above demonstrates that all types of stress enter • As you push to the sides and back, keep your
the body and must be regulated by our control systems. feet planted and turn your body toward the
The green zone represents optimal regulation of direction you are pushing.
stressors, indicating a positive physiological response • For the back position, only go as far as you
and ideal adaptation to an exercise stimulus. Should the comfortably can. Do not over rotate your spine.
combined level of stress reach the yellow zone, our • The motion through the rib cage massages the
response to exercise becomes less favorable while our muscles and organs of digestion.
chances of averting disease begin to diminish. Should • Perform 20 repetitions at a slow, deep breathing
the total volume of stress rise into the red zone, all pace.
catabolic (tissue destructive) forms of exercise become
detrimental, serving only to accelerate the rate at which FINAL THOUGHTS
we may experience death! Even though we may want Flattening your abs forever requires much more
flat abs, our body probably doesn’t care about how we than simply exercising a few times each week, it’s a
look and is more concerned with coping with the stress multifactorial process that takes time and energy, but no
we are subjecting ourselves to. Clinically, I can easily more time and energy than going about it all wrong!
demonstrate that most of the people who can’t flatten The benefits of incorporating the nutrition and lifestyle
their abs with exercise are excessively stressed and factors discussed in this report are far reaching and
retaining fat and body fluids is one of many coping worth whatever energy you would put into it.
mechanisms.
Just as there are many types of stress, there are
many ways of reducing stress in your life and your body.
A few examples are meditation, breathing exercises, Tai The information in this Report is summarized
Chi, Yoga, and Qi Dong. These exercise systems can be from Paul Chek’s book Flatten Your Abs Forever. For
effectively used to stimulate the parasympathetic more information about Paul Chek and more reference
nervous system (PNS), facilitating anabolic activity such material which can help you in your quest for optimal
as digestion and tissue repair. After reading this series, health and wellness visit http://www.chekinstitute.com
if you think stress may be part of the reason you are not or http://www.paulchek.com. Shawn and Amy Miller
responding to exercise as you should, I encourage you are students of Mr. Chek, professionally certified
to try eliminating non-physiological stressors from your Exercise Coaches, and are fully capable of assisting you
life; try replacing one or two training sessions with one in reaching your health and fitness goals. Please contact
of the various exercise systems that stimulate the PNS them for more information:
mentioned above.
One example of a “Zone Exercise” which would
be beneficial to the overall PNS system and particularly
your digestive system would be the “Energy Push” Shawn & Amy Miller
pictured below:
FLEX Fitness Center
474 Century Lane
Holland, MI 49423
(616)396-2901

http://www.flexfitnesscenter.com
info@flexfitnesscenter.com

• Stand with your arms raised straight out in front


of you.
• Inhale and bring your hands back in towards
your body.

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