Fat-burning and "Fran"

The 10 second countdown before "Fran". 

Metabolic Analysis of “Fran”

Since we did “Fran” at NOX yesterday I decided I would share this video posted below, which was published on CrossFit’s Youtube Channel on the analysis that a body goes through while performing Fran and also what the body goes through during the recovery from a high intense workout such as fran. Fran is a CrossFit benchmark workout that is extremely high intensity and short compared to workouts people perform at globo gyms. This video analyzes athlete Julie Foucher during Fran but this analysis applies towards any other HIGH INTENSITY workout. This video  not only the analyzes of the body during Fran, but long after as well. At about 8 minutes into the video is where they discuss the scientific parts of working at HIGH intesityy. 

“…Elite athletes have very little body fat on them…because when they train like this for 2-3 hours a day, day after day; during this recovery period where your metabolism is still elevated, you have this very high rate of fat use...".

While performing Fran (or any other extremely high intensity workout/program) an athlete burns primarily stored carbohydrates and almost no fat. However, during the athletes recovery from Fran the athlete starts to burn more fat and less carbohydrates…there is a switch. These results only occur if you attack the workout with 100% HIGH INTENSITY. If you don't go 100% you are only burning a little bit of stored glucose and almost no fat and also almost no fat on the recovery phase that this video talks about…meaning your workout was not as productive as you hoped it to be. So just because you workout 3-5 days a week doesn't mean you are going to burn the fat that you hope to burn…the fat burning comes with INTENSITY, rather than just going through the motions such as a ‘CARDIO’ workout. This is the biggest reason why we are always yelling at each other to "stop resting" and to push harder and faster…because that is where the health gains are made. So remember this next time you want to slow down or stop on your 20 minute EMOM, or 9 minute AMRAP, which were made to attack 100%. 

Watch the full video to get the full info. 

NOX Training compete team did heavy front squats, heavy thrusters, and pull-ups just a few minutes before hitting "Fran".