Shine OnMan claims he lost 28 pounds from Long Breath Diet
Miki Ryosuke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iJCGcDmygo
Random guy on YouTube practicing the exercises: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZW_p9mdUgc
Move over Long Beach Diet, there is a new contender in town, and it's probably the most wacky diet you'll hear of all year. Introducing the Long Breath Diet, which involves specific breathing patterns over a two-minute period to lose weight.
Former Japanese actor Miki Ryosuke, 55, is convinced he lost 28 pounds and five inches off his waist in 30 days by following it. He claims he stumbled upon the weight-loss technique by accident, as he was originally practicing breathing techniques to relive back pain. And now, he has created two specialized breathing techniques that require intense concentration for just 2-5 minutes a day.
By standing in a certain way and breathing in for three seconds then exhaling with gusto for seven, Ryosuke demonstrates the technique in a YouTube video.
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Oddity Central describes the two exercises like this:
1. Tighten the buttocks and place one foot in front of your body while placing 90 per cent of your body weight on your back foot. Once you’re in position, breath in for 3 seconds while lifting your arms above your head. Then exhale contracting all the muscles in your body to help you get all the air out, for 7 seconds. It sounds easy enough, but most of the air comes out in the first couple of seconds, leaving you to flex your abs as you run out of breath.
2. The second method requires you to stand up straight and tighten the buttocks. Place one hand on your abdomen and another on your lower back, and breath in for 3 seconds while sucking in your midsection. Finally, exhale for 7 seconds and suck in your stomach even more.
The scientific claim behind the Long Breath Diet is that it works because the more oxygen an individual inhales and carbon dioxide they exhale, the more fat they burn. However, medical experts are skeptical of this claim.
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Ian Macdonald, the director of research at University of Nottingham Medical School, tells the Daily Mail that he doubts simply breathing will turn a significant amount fat into fuel.
"Contraction of muscles caused by exercise mobilizes fat stores," he says. "But it is only vigorous aerobic sport that triggers enough energy to turn fat into fuel. Deep breathing alone will burn up fat by two per cent at best."
He also warns that there can be negative health effects of breathing too deeply.
"Inhaling and exhaling too deeply can disturb the balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen in the body needed to neutralise the blood. This can cause light headedness and even make someone faint."
