Kick Your 12-3-30 Workout Up a Notch with These Variations
Modify the incline, speed, and duration of the workout to get the results you want.
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It may look like the date from the future, but 12-3-30 is a specific walking workout beloved by exercise-minded scrollers. Coined by lifestyle influencer and YouTuber Lauren Giraldo, the routine involves manipulating certain settings on the treadmill in order to ramp up intensity. More specifically, it involves walking on a treadmill at a 12 percent incline, at a 3-mile-per-hour speed, for 30 minutes. Seems simple enough, right?
While the internet celeb first posted about the protocol in 2019 on YouTube, it wasn’t until she shared the routine on TikTok in 2020 that it went viral. (Currently, it has more than 2.8 million likes). At this point, it’s been more than three years since it first made real rounds around the interwebs, and yet it’s still incredibly popular. “The workout has continued to gain so much attention because it is simple, while still being effective and increasing strength and cardio capacity,” says certified personal Andrew White, co-founder of Gym Garage Pro, an at-home fitness community. That’s right, this workout protocol offers some real health and fitness benefits.
Ahead, learn exactly why the walking workout continues to earn so much hype. Plus, 5 variations on the workout that make it accessible to beginners and people without treadmills alike.
The Benefits of the 12-3-30 Workout
At its most distilled, the 12-3-30 workout is a walking workout — and walking has a number of health and fitness benefits. For starters, the movement practice helps work all the muscles in your legs, primarily your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and feet muscles, says White. Walking also helps improve joint health, reduce mental stress, combat the risk of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of heart issues.
However, the 12-3-30 workout offers far more benefits than a walk in the park might, according to running coach and professional obstacle course racer Kris Rugloski, an athlete with HYROX. That’s because it's a higher intensity type of walking, she says. “The workout has you walking at a much faster pace and much steeper incline than most people would typically be walking at,” says Rugloski. These edits, in turn, help you earn more muscle-building, cardio-improving perks for each walk.
“The steep incline forces the muscles used during walking to work even harder,” says White. Your glutes and calves, in particular, are forced to turn on and stay on all walk long. “The 12-3-30 workout essentially makes walking a resistance training workout for your lower body,” he says.
Furthermore, because your muscles are working harder, your heart has to work harder to keep fresh blood pumped to them, says White. For people who typically walk slower than 3 miles per hour, the combination of speed and incline makes for a much more cardiovascularly demanding workout, he says. “Ultimately, this makes the workout excellent at boosting heart health and stamina.”
Oh, and depending on your current health and fitness goals, it may help you lose weight. The creator, Giraldo, claims to have lost more than 30 pounds by doing this workout 5 days per week.
Related: 7 Ways to Add Intensity to Your Walking Workout
Is the 12-3-30 Workout Safe?
Yes, for most people the 12-3-30 workout — or some variation of it — is very safe. After all, it simply involves doing a movement pattern most people are already doing (walking), just under slightly different conditions.
That said, if you are brand spanking new to walking at an incline, White recommends increasing your incline over the course of a few weeks to give your calves, glutes, and legs time to adjust to the changing demand. If you jump right to a 12 percent incline after exclusively walking (and/or running) at a 0 percent incline, you risk injuring your calves and Achilles tendon, he says.
Plus, gradually increasing the incline gives your core muscles time to adjust to the increased demand. Assuming you are not holding onto the handlebars, your core has to do extra work to keep you from falling forward or backward off the treadmill, explains Rugloski. If you increase the incline before your core can handle it, there is a great risk of injuring your lower back, she says.
To help protect the health of both your lower legs and lower back, Rugloski recommends doing a proper warm-up. To start, she suggests doing a core warm-up. “Core work that requires you to hold a neutral spine, such as a high plank with a plate pull, is a great way to prepare your body for this workout,” she says.
After that, she recommends dynamically warming up your valves through a variety of calf stretches, exercises like wall calf stretch and cross-over calf stretch. “Finally, get on the treadmill and spend 5 mins walking on a flat incline, stopping to do 10 calf raises every minute, to get everything moving and prepped.”
Is the 12-3-30 Workout For You?
It could be! The 12-3-30 workout helps improve lower-body strength and cardiovascular capacity, so it could be incorporated into the routines of anyone with those particular goals.
More specifically, Rugloski recommends it for anyone whose current primary form of exercise is walking, and who is interested in making their workout more challenging. “This workout is also a great way for beginners who aren’t comfortable running to get moving and to get some intensity in whilst keeping it a walking workout,” she says.
Just keep in mind that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults strength train two or more days a week. So, while the 12-3-30 workout regime can help improve your overall health and fitness, you should incorporate additional strength training into your routine twice per week to maximize well-being.
Related: The 14 Best Walking Shoes of 2023, Tested & Reviewed
5 Variations of the 12-3-30 Workout
While the 12-3-30 can be enjoyed by a wide range of exercisers, there are variations to the walking routine that may be more exciting, accessible, or enjoyable for you. Ahead, a round-up of the best variations on 12-3-30.
Best for Beginners
If you are new to walking workouts specifically, or exercise more broadly Rugloski suggests making the workout slightly easier on your muscles and heart by dropping the incline. “The incline is where the greatest intensity and demand is coming from,” she explains. So, she suggests dropping the incline to zero — at least the very first few times you give this workout a whirl.
12-3-30 Options for Beginners
Keep the incline at zero. Start by walking for 30 minutes at 3 miles per hour, with no incline. As you progress, slowly increase the incline.
Try intervals. Split the workout into three 10-minute sections. Walk for 8 minutes at 3 miles per hour at 12 percent incline (or whatever you can do), then rest for two minutes (or walk with no incline). Repeat two more times to complete the 30 minutes.
“If you can, keep the speed and workout length so that you’re still walking at 3 miles per hour,” she suggests. If that ends up being too much, you can lower one or both of those factors as well.
Another option, Rugloski says, is to make the total amount of working time the same, but to turn the walk into an interval workout so that there is built-in rest. “You could complete the workout in three segments so that you walk for 8 minutes at 3 miles per hour, then rest for 2 minutes, and repeat for 3 total times,” she says.
Best For Advanced
Maybe you’ve already tried the 12-3-30 workout a handful of times and are craving a switcheroo. Maybe you have a tremendous amount of walking experience. Or maybe you’re looking to sweat, and sweat, and sweat. Whatever the reason, if you’re looking to make the already-challenging 12-3-30 workout even more challenging, you have options.
12-3-30 Options for Advanced Walkers
Boost your speed. Try increasing the speed to 4 miles per hour.
Test your speed. See how high you can increase the speed (while maintaining proper walking form) before you are forced to run.
Rugloski recommends upping speed (rather than incline) the first time you ramp up this routine. “Try walking for 30 minutes, at the same 12 percent incline, but increasing your speed to 4 miles per hour,” she says. At 4 miles per hour, you’re walking a 15-minute mile which is moving and grooving and may be too fast for some people. If your form starts to falter, you find yourself needing to hold onto the handles, or your lower back starts to hurt, she suggests dialing back the speed.
If, however, you have a lot of experience with fast-walking, you could have fun testing out just how much you can increase the speed, before you’re forced to run in order to keep up with it.
Best 60-Minute Walking Workout
One of the best parts about the 12-3-30 workouts is that it gives you a solid, full-body workout in just 30 minutes. If, however, you have more time than that to spend at the gym you can definitely utilize them by doing a similar routine.
60-Minute 12-3-30 Workout
Slowly increase the incline. Start by walking at 3 miles per hour and zero percent incline. Slowly increase the incline by 0.5 percent to 1 percent every five minutes, for a total of 60 minutes.
Create a 60-minute interval session. Do 10 rounds of 5 minutes at 12 percent incline and 3 miles per hour with one minute rest.
“If you have 60 minutes to walk on the treadmill, make it interesting by increasing your incline every 5 minutes,” suggests Rugloski. So, start by walking at 3 miles per hour and zero percent incline. Then, increase the incline by 0.5% or 1% every five minutes.
“Walking for 60 minutes rather than just 30 will massively increase the work you are undertaking,” she says. “You will end up doubling the distance walks and the calories burned.” That’s why she says you might want to do a variation with built-in rest, to give your calves a chance to rest and your heart an opportunity to drop. One option is to do 10 rounds of 5 minutes on, 1 minute off, she says. Each time you get back on the treadmill, increase the incline.
Best Walking Workout For Building Strength
As is, the 12-3-30 does a great job of helping you build lower-body strength. But you can take those muscle-building benefits even further by adding additional resistance. How? By incorporating a weight vest or ruck.
12-3-30 Options for Building Strength
Try out a weighted vest.
Consider rucking (or adding a weighted backpack).
“The muscles in your wrists and hand aren’t really designed for the sort of long-distance effort that they would be forced to undertake if you held dumbbells while you walked,” says Rugloski. So rather than holding weights, she suggests wearing them. A weight vest or ruck helps distribute the weight across your entire body, which keeps from over-taxing one particular muscle group, she explains.
Best Outdoor 12-3-30 Variation
Good news: You can still hit this workout even if you don't have access to a treadmill, according to Rugloski. Actually, given that exercising outdoors offers additional mental and physical benefits, she recommends it. “The sun, access to nature, and fresh air can all make you feel even better when you’re done.”
Outdoor 12-3-30 Option
Simply take a walk outside. Gain physical and mental benefits from a 30 minute (or more) walk outside.
Do hill repeats. Find a steep hill and walk up and down it for a set amount of time. If you're feeling extra motivated, try running or fast walking up the hill and then walking slowly down.
If you live someplace flat (hey, Arizonians!) simply lace up your walking shoes, set your watch, and get your walk on for 30 (or more) minutes, she suggests.
If, however, you have access to a steep hill White recommends utilizing that. “Find a steep hill or area with a natural incline, then walk up it,” he says. To up the ante, one option is to run up the hill, then walk down, he says. “No matter your attack plan, adjust your pace and duration based on the hill's steepness and your comfort level.”
Related: The Ultimate Treadmill Interval Workout for Every Fitness Level
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