You have to burn off 3500 calories more than you take in to lose one pound. That's really all you need to know. If you can burn off 3500 more calories a week than you take in, and you do it by having short workouts, then so be it. The 30 minute mark for burning fat is completely made up.
I've been Crossfitting for over 2 years now. I am the most fit at 33 that I have ever been in my life. I even just ran my first half marathon this past weekend, training primarily on Crossfit and some extra endurance work. I can't recommend it enough. However, I strongly suggest anyone start off with a certified Crossfit trainer like your friend in order to learn the basics (e.g., proper form on the oly lifts, how to swing a kettlebell properly, how to properly work the GHD machines, etc.). Otherwise, you can easily hurt yourself in the beginning without proper training and supervision.
1) This is not all you need to know. It is not that simple. It may appear this simple to you because you have a good metabolism, but that doesn't mean it's simple. There are some exercises that increase your metabolism by building muscle. There are some exercises that increase your heart rate for the workout period. Point: it is just one example of the fact that it is not as simple as counting how much you burn at the gym plus you BMR, and subtracting that from calories you eat. 2) It is not made up at all, you are completely wrong. It is an estimation of the time it takes to burn a day's worth of glycogen on your cells, before which cardiovascular exercise won't directly start burning your stored fat.
My brother started doing this a couple of months ago. I let him try one of the easier Insanity workouts with me the other day, and he couldn't get through it without stopping
Thank you for this. I've already started doing what you're proposing, while studying the intricacies of HIIT. I must say it definitely feels much more manageable than what I used to do. Here's hoping the weight scale keeps slipping down.
Found the routine for you: Gladiator Bootcamp <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/H1NClmbml6s&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/H1NClmbml6s&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
