Thoughts on the BFL cardio method?

[Jihad]

Well I'm supporting my GF's current program by doing it with her, the Body For Life program, and although really skeptical at first (I'm very experienced and I felt this program was more oriented towards the unexperienced), I'm really liking it so far. Without getting into the weight regimen, the Cardio portion has really piqued my curiosity and I think that it has been extremely effective so far.

For those of you that don't know, the BFL program promotes a fairly standard interval approach to training. It takes a couple weeks to figure out what your max is, but if you're true to it, it is kick ass. You measure your output from 1 to 10, and your cardio is a 20 minute interval fit that changes every minute and looks like this:

5 5 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 10 5

4 weeks ago my "10" was a 9.0 mph on a treadmill, and now its an 11.0 mph. I weigh about 230, so that's haulin' some serious ass and, IMO, a pretty serious improvement. Even though its only a minute, I get up to near-passing-out level. Again I don't want to talk about the weight routine or the diet, but I think that the combination of all of it is wonderful, specifically the cardio. What do you guys see as the advantages and disadvantages to this intensity and intervals in general. I think the biggest advantage of it for me is the basic concept of never peaking, and always improving.

-Jihad

[thirddan]

jesus, that is pretty brutal...if you do 1minute of each intensity you are not really doing intervals anymore cuz you are never really at a low intensity speed...

[Jihad]

Yeah definitely hit low intensity, a 6 is low enough to allow regaining breath and reduce heart rate.

[lozen]

Ever try bumping it to 30 minutes and making the intervals about 1.5 minutes.