Here’s What I Learned About the 12–3–30 Workout You Should Know
Is this workout safe for you?
I’ve been looking for effective workouts to improve strength and agility at home.
Agility combines speed, balance, strength, and body control in one movement. It is an essential skill built into most types of exercise and training drills.
If you are a home-based professional and also an avid fitness enthusiast, improving your agility should be one of the starting points of your training plan.
When I heard about a “12–3–30” workout in almost every corner of the internet, I was initially confused and then eager to learn more about this viral trend.
The 12–3–30 workout is done entirely on the treadmill and involves setting the machine incline at 12 percent, increasing your speed to three miles per hour, and walking for 30 minutes.
The routine gained popularity in part because Giraldo, the creator of this workout, cited it as one of the driving forces behind his weight loss journey.
How to safely do a 12–3–30 without putting your health at risk
Even if you don’t have any limits, a 12–3–30 workout probably shouldn’t be the only exercise you do. Incorporate resistance training, stretching, and cardio into their exercise routine, performing each type of workout about three times a week.
A treadmill workout— or even a running workout on a natural slope, such as the hills near you — can certainly be a part of it, but try to follow this trainer-developed training plan to learn how to better structure each week and reach your goal.
The 3–12–30 probably worked so well for Giraldo as it’s an aerobic exercise that’s within the ideal energy expenditure for most healthy young adults. Due to its intensity, the workout may not be suitable for the elderly or those who are overweight or have chronic illnesses.
But here’s the sure way to try the 12–3–30 workout without putting your health at risk:
Don’t be fooled by the treadmill.
People think the treadmill is so safe; it’s not on the outside. Besides it’s not that different from going up a hill; you don’t protect yourself much more by being on a treadmill than you do by running on the road.
A 30-minute walk on a mountain is quite difficult when you think about it. People feel a little too confident about the treadmill.
Adjust the numbers to suit your level of experience.
Don’t incline that fast, you don’t even need to start at 30 minutes; 3 mph is reasonable. You may have to slow down the duration of your workout if possible.
Start flat on a treadmill and go 0–3–30 until are comfortable to incline higher. Don’t go straight to 12. Start slowly going up your incline for 3 weeks, maybe 10–20% a week.
If you are a beginner start on a flat surface.
When someone is out and about starting their exercise routine, be it walking, jogging, interval training, don’t go up a hill. First, get comfortable doing flat surfaces and then progress to hills gradually. Don’t advance to hills at the start of a program as this could result in serious injury.
After going through a depressing weight loss transformation with no guidance, I decided to help people avoid some of the pitfalls of losing weight that stalled my progress for a long time. This workout plan is designed to help you improve your health, reduce health risks and make you feel great. But more especially, if you want a program you can stick with for life, not a fad or quick fix, this is the program for you.
Gradually increase the incline.
Slowly increase your incline, starting at the lowest setting, and it’s a gradual increase, like any other workout, in terms of increasing mileage or intensity.
This workout starts with a 12-degree incline, so I would say you go at 4-degree intervals. So gradually increase it over a period of 3 weeks to reach those 12 degrees.
Don’t do it every day.
Whatever the routine, the general rule is that there should be a day of recovery, or at least alternated with another activity to try to avoid overuse injuries.
I wouldn’t discourage people from doing some activity almost every day of the week, but not the same activity.
Have a recovery day where you do some alternative activity, maybe that could be with Cross trainer, bike or swimming pool, whatever you have.
Mix it up with strength and stretch exercises.
The stooped posture of walking uphill puts pressure on the lower back, Achilles tendon, calf muscles, plantar fascia, and hamstrings.
These are persistent problems and you don’t want those kinds of injuries because once they happen they are difficult to treat.
Experts have advised doing core strengthening exercises and stretching these areas specifically to reduce the risk of injuries while walking or running.
Consider doing low impact workouts.
If you’re just looking to stay in good shape or getting back into a regular cardio routine after a long quarantine time, start with low-impact workouts. Cycling, brisk walking, swimming, cross-training are even safer.
These are great activities for starting an exercise routine and building cardiovascular endurance; you don’t make a lot of impacts, it’s a little more forgiving on the joints and also on the muscle tendons.
So you may be doing the treadmill 2–3 days a week and these other activities on other days; it will keep you out of harm’s way.
Final words
Even if you follow these guidelines, the workout shouldn’t be done every day, and incorporate other low impact exercises.
To get the benefits you’re looking for, be it weight loss, muscle toning, or overall health, it’s important to find a program you can adhere to.
This means it not only has to be safe, so you won’t be sidelined by an injury, but it has to be something you love, and if you only do one activity, you will burn out, not just physically, but mentally.
To reduce your risk of injury during an incline workout on a treadmill, wear proper shoes, drink water, and stretch before and after your workout.
Make sure to stretch the muscles in the legs that are likely to feel the most tension, such as the calves, Achilles tendons, hamstrings, glutes, quads, and hips.
I do something similar to this virtually every week, twice if I can. I find it an excellent workout for building up fitness. Get some energising music in the headphones and the time flies by .
I play around with it , and tend to go for a slightly lower incline and higher speed. Yesterday, I did 10-3.5-40. Hard work !