A Japanese netizen has shot to fame after he showed his body transform from a portly, round shape, to chiseled muscles by allegedly engaging in ultra-intense exercise in his cramped apartment for only four minutes per day over the course of five months.
In March of this year, the man, who goes by the online handle "Hiiragi Sensei" (Teacher Hiiragi), posted a photo of his blubbery looking pot belly and promised to show his attempt to burn off fat and gain muscle. Five months later, Hiiragi posted a photo of himself having dramatically lost weight and gained significant definition with his musculature, allegedly after only having done four minutes of high-intensity interval training per day.
Over the course of five months, Hiiragi claims he religiously followed the Tabata regimen, which consists of maximum intensity training for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for a total of eight sets. The theory is to achieve the benefits to muscle strength and endurance of one hour of training within only four minutes of ultra-intense exercise.
In a video Hiiragi uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 2, he demonstrated his purported routine of doing a set of eight burbees (squat thrusts) for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest, before repeating the cycle for a total of eight sets and 64 burbees. Hiiragi claims that after five months of doing burbees with the Tabata regimen, he has lost 13 kilograms and reduced his body fat to 18.2 percent.
On Sunday (Aug. 25), Hiiragi shared his before and after photos on Twitter and has since gained 29,000 retweets and 10,500 likes. Although Hiiragi says that he achieved these results only by engaging in this specific series of exercises each day in his home and claims that he did not modify his diet, his Twitter stream shows images of low-calorie meals consisting of vegetables and small amounts of raw fish.
Experts advise that before engaging in such intense exercise, a person should first engage in a warmup routine and loosen their joints to avoid injury. Those who are considering trying the Tabata regimen or other high-intensity interval training workouts should ideally do so under the supervision of a professional fitness instructor.
By Taiwan News
