What’s Wrong With the 12-3-30 Workout Program (and What’s Right With It)
The 12-3-30 workout has taken TikTok by storm, demonstrating the algorithm and some influencers’ skill at tricking it. Essentially, it’s just walking on a treadmill with specific parameters and lofty promises. Let’s explore the pros, cons, and nuances—and create a workout plan that’s right for you .
What is the 12-3-30 workout?
This is walking on a treadmill at its maximum incline. In other words, you’re walking uphill. You set the incline to 12% (the maximum for many treadmills), the speed to 3.0 mph (a fairly typical walking speed for most of us on a flat surface), and walk for 30 minutes.
Lauren Giraldo , the promoter of this program, said she does it five times a week. She also noted that this is her main workout, and that she does other exercises less regularly. She also shared before and after photos of other women who believe this workout helped them lose weight.
Is the 12-3-30 workout good for weight loss?
Trick question! No single workout promotes weight loss. You lose weight by consuming slightly less than you burn , measured as an average over a period of time. Exercise can help you burn more calories, but the body often compensates by burning fewer calories at rest , so you can’t simply rely on walking on a treadmill to burn a certain number of calories every time.
To determine whether the 12-3-30 program is more effective for weight loss than other treadmill workouts, this study compared the results of people using the 12-3-30 program with those using a treadmill on their own. These workouts were compared based on the number of calories burned, so the question wasn’t “Which program burns more calories?” but “What are the pros and cons of using this program to burn a given number of calories?”
The good news for fans of the 12-3-30 program is that it burns slightly more calories from fat. But this is perhaps the least important part of the workout for weight loss, as your body is constantly storing and burning fat, storing and burning it throughout the day. What matters is the overall fat loss, or the total number of calories burned over the long term. So I wouldn’t base my decisions on this data.
But there was some bad news: the 12-3-30 program took longer to burn the same amount of calories as running on a treadmill on its own. The researchers concluded that for effective calorie burning, you should run on a treadmill rather than the 12-3-30 program. And if you want to burn more calories from fat, you should choose an easier workout, lowering the incline and staying on the treadmill even longer.
Is the 12-3-10 workout suitable for beginners?
Listen, this workout is tough . It’s often recommended for beginners, but if you’re not used to walking uphill, your calves will burn and you’ll be out of breath for the first few minutes. Giraldo herself says she was out of breath after just two minutes of her first attempt, and in an interview with Today, she revealed that she had to stop and rest after the first 10-15 minutes.
If you’ve never walked on a treadmill, let’s break down the numbers a bit. Three miles per hour is a perfectly normal walking pace on a level surface; if you ask Google Maps for directions to a place a mile away, it will calculate it will take 20 minutes, which is three miles per hour. So that’s a perfectly reasonable pace.
But then you start going up a slope, and everything changes. A 1% slope is noticeably more challenging than walking on level ground. 2% is already pretty steep. Keep pressing the “increase slope” button, and by the time you reach 12%, it’s simply impossible. (For comparison, riding lawn mowers are generally not recommended for slopes of 15%. Imagine looking at a hill and thinking, “Hmm, I don’t know if I can mow there safely”—and you’re pretty close.)
Such a steep incline will be a serious cardiovascular challenge, and you’ll likely experience muscle soreness the first time you do it. (Think calves, hamstrings, glutes, and quads. And maybe even your back.) If it’s too challenging for your muscles, you probably shouldn’t do this exercise for 30 minutes the first time, and you definitely shouldn’t repeat it four more times within a week.
Is the 12-3-30 workout really so good that you don’t need strength training?
No. Once your body gets used to this workout, it becomes cardio . Cardio is very beneficial, but it’s not the same as strength training, which is another important component of any workout program .
So, if you want to do this and your body is ready for it, great! Just be sure to add a strength training program before, after, or instead of walking on the treadmill at least two days a week.
What does the 12-3-30 workout give?
Firstly, incline treadmill walking is a truly excellent alternative to running. Choose a speed and incline that keeps your breathing slightly more intense than at rest ( but not out of breath), and your heart and lungs will work about as hard as jogging at an easy pace. If you hate running but want to use the treadmill as your primary cardio machine, incline walking is a great option.
Secondly, it’s simple. This is appealing to beginners because you know exactly where in the gym you’ll be working out and what settings you’ll be using. This removes many of the barriers people often face when starting a new workout program. Just go and do it.
Finally, if you stick to the schedule—30 minutes, five times a week—you’ll be well on your way to meeting the U.S. and World Health Organization’s exercise recommendations , which call for at least 150 minutes of cardio per week (along with at least two days of strength training).
What to do instead of the 12-3-30 workout
If you like the idea of a simple treadmill workout for cardio throughout the day, you can do that, but you don’t have to start with 12-3-30. There’s no one-size-fits-all workout, and you need to find the workout that works best for you .
So, start by finding a treadmill speed that you can run at for at least 20 minutes. If you need breaks or can’t manage the full 20 minutes at first, that’s okay. Set the speed to 3.0 (or slower if needed) and aim for 20 minutes. Once you can run for 20 minutes, increase the time to 30 minutes. If you’re out of shape, this whole process may take several weeks.
In the meantime, work on consistency. Can you do it three times a week? Again, start with what you can and gradually increase. Right now, you’re at the 0-3-30 mark and doing it three times a week. Perhaps that’s enough for now.
When you’re ready for a more challenging workout, start increasing the incline. Can you last 30 minutes on a 1% incline? What about 2%? You get the idea: use the most challenging setting that allows you to step off the treadmill feeling like you’ve had a good workout and ready to do it all again tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1% or 12%. And if you hate walking on a treadmill, there’s nothing magical about it—you can hop on an elliptical or spin bike instead.