The "12-3-20" Workout

The “12-3-30” Workout

Madison LaVoy

July 24th 2021

The workout trend, known as the “12-3-30” workout, is pretty straightforward. To do this workout you must change the settings on your treadmill. You must change your treadmill to an incline of 12 and set your speed at 3 miles per hour and then walk for 30 minutes.

This trend originated from social media influencer Lauren Giraldo, who shared it on YouTube back in 2019. The trend has recently picked up traction as Giraldo posted a TikTok about the workout in November 2020. The TikTok explaining how to do the workout has nearly 12 million views and over 2.7 million likes.

The gym can be extremely intimidating, but for creator, Giraldo, this workout was the perfect way to get her in the gym and stay motivated. As stated in interviews, Giraldo just went in the gym one day and played around with the settings on the treadmill. The speed of 3 was perfect for the exercise as it felt just like walking and as for the incline, well the treadmill she was working out on had an incline max of 12, so that’s what she decided on. The amount of time allotted for the workout came from her grandmother as she always said that all you need is 30 minutes of exercise a day. The “12-3-30” became the perfect combination and was a quick and fairly easy workout that not only helped her feel amazing about herself, but also helped her lose 30 pounds.

The real question is, does this workout really work?

The “12-3-30” workout centers around walking and in general walking is a great way to get in some exercise. Low-impact walking workouts offer many health benefits, including strengthening your bones and muscles, boosting balance and coordination, and preventing or managing conditions like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

For most people, walking is typically a light to moderate workout, but with the incline of the “12-3-30” workout, it can feel a bit more intense. Many experts say that to go at the pace and incline that this workout requires, you may need to be in pretty good shape. The incline is what truly makes this workout more difficult as it forces you to work extra hard compared to walking on flat ground. The incline creates more resistance and forces your body to use more muscles and as a result your heart has to work harder, making the workout a cardio challenge as well.

So if you are looking to spice up your normal treadmill workout and add more intensity, the “12-3-30” is perfect for you! It can also be great for those who can’t do higher impact workouts like running, but still want a more vigorous routine.