The 12-3-30 workout was coined by 24-year-old social media maven and YouTuber Lauren Giraldo. It consists of setting a treadmill to a 12% incline and walking at 3 miles per hour for 30 minutes. Sounds easy enough.
It's very straightforward — get on the treadmill and set the incline to 12. Then walk at three miles an hour for 30 minutes. Giraldo says it made her feel more confident about going to the gym, and that she lost 30 pounds doing exclusively this workout five days a week.
So, depending on your fitness level (and whether this workout is moderate or high intensity for you), doing the 12-3-30 treadmill routine about 3 to 5 times per week meets those benchmarks, Metzl says.
Scientific research from 2020 shows that exercising around 300 minutes a week can lead to weight loss and a reduction in body fat.4 The 12-3-30 workout, unfortunately, doesn't quite meet that standard—even if you do it every day (which the experts don't recommend; more on that in a minute).
The 12-3-30 workout is pretty straightforward: You set a treadmill to a 12-percent incline and 3.0 speed and walk for 30 minutes. “I found 12 percent incline, 3 speed, for 30 minutes on a treadmill was easy enough for me to do frequently but still challenging enough for me to feel accomplished after,” Giraldo says.
Weight loss and health benefits
Bassett estimated a person who weighed 150 pounds would burn 283 calories per “12, 3, 30” workout. In comparison, walking at that speed for 30 minutes without the incline would burn 113 calories, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that healthy adults do a minimum 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week. Since the 12-3-30 falls within this category, it's safe to do the workout five times per week to meet the minimum recommendation.
Speed Matters When Walking for Fitness
If you're walking for your health, a pace of about 3 miles per hour (or about 120 steps per minute) is about right. That's a 20-minute mile. To walk for weight loss, you'll have to pick up the pace to 4 miles per hour (or 135 steps per minute), a 15-minute mile.
For best results, stick to 12-3-30 a couple of days a week and use the remaining days to engage other muscles through strength and mobility training, a fitness class you enjoy or a walk around the block. You know your body best, so stay in tune with yourself and go at your own pace.
Thirty minutes on the treadmill is excellent exercise. Depending on the speed, you can easily burn calories, improve cardio fitness, or meet other goals. But just like other exercise programs, it's essential to pay attention to your health condition and not overdo it.
Frequency: Once you are used to treadmill walking, you can do it every day of the week. Walking at a brisk pace for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week, or a total of 150 to 300 minutes per week, is recommended to reduce health risks.
All in all, the 12-3-30 TikTok trend is definitely worth trying if you are looking for a new workout that does not involve running or joining a fitness class. It's something you can do on your own, and you'll probably start to notice a difference in your body and overall relationship with the gym after the first week.
The steep, 12 percent incline forces your body to work harder than walking on a flat surface, which will burn more calories, she says.
They have shred belly fat and cinched their waists, and credit it entirely to the basic routine. Lauren said: “Literally all you need is a treadmill. You put it on an incline of 12, a speed of three, and walk for 30 minutes as many times as you can a week.”
Not only does using a treadmill burn belly fat, but one of the long-term effects of regular treadmill sessions is that visceral fat will go away for good. Plus, even if you end up gaining some weight down the road, treadmill running not allow the deep belly fat to return.
Brisk walkers had a 35 percent lower risk of dying, a 25 percent lower chance of developing heart disease or cancer and a 30 percent lower risk of developing dementia, compared with those whose average pace was slower.
Conclusions: Total body fat is lost through walking at all speeds, but the change is more rapid, clear, and initially greater with slow walking in overweight subjects. A longer exercise impulse at a lower speed in our study initially produced greater total fat loss than a shorter one with fast walking speed.
Ideally one should walk 300 minutes a week on the treadmill for extensive health benefits, including weight loss. One can reach this goal by walking 43 to 44 minutes each day. This will help your burn 1 kilo in a week. But if you have just embarked on the weight loss journey then start with 20 minutes a day.
Using the incline on the treadmill effectively burns belly fat, even if it's a 30-minute walking workout at a moderate pace.
The best types of cardio to aid in weight loss are either low-impact, low intensity cardio like rowing, incline walking, and biking, or HIIT workouts implemented in small doses such as kickboxing, interval training, and weight training.
When your treadmill is set to a 10% incline, you'll feel as though you are walking up a relatively steep hill. The gradient or treadmill grade equating to incline percentages is a measurement of the height distance for every 100-horizontal distance.
Anyone new to an incline treadmill should begin with a 1% to 4% incline. An incline of 1% - 2% is thought to mimic the natural changes in elevation of outdoor walking or running. It's important to note the greater you set the incline, the harder it will be on your hips and low back.