If you want to lose weight and feel fitter in just a few weeks, all you need is 30 minutes, a treadmill, and a determined attitude. The 12-3-30 method created by fitness influencer Lauren Giraldo is a viral walking routine designed to torch fat and build muscle in the most time-efficient way possible. Giraldo lost 30 pounds with her method, which consists of getting on a treadmill, setting the incline to 12 percent, and walking for 30 minutes at 3 miles per hour. “I'm not a runner, and running on the treadmill was not working for me,” Giraldo told TODAY. “I started playing around with the settings, and at the time, my gym's treadmill had 12 incline as the max. The three miles per hour felt right, like walking, and my grandma had always told me that 30 minutes of exercise a day was all you needed. That's how the combination started.” Here’s how to make this viral walking routine work for you.
RELATED: 9 Fat-Burning Walk Tricks.
30 Minutes Is All You Need
ShutterstockPeople live busy lives and don’t always have hours to dedicate to working out, which makes the 12-3-30 method idea. “I think the 3 mph for speed is good for most people, but the incline is a critical piece,” certified personal trainer and physical therapist Vijay A. Daryanani tells TODAY. “When I’m training someone, I will adjust the incline safely and with guidance to maintain posture, balance and stride. Inclining a treadmill is similar to walking up hills, which places different stresses on the musculoskeletal system.”
Walking Workout
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Walking is one of the most accessible exercises, with physical and mental benefits. “The faster, farther and more frequently you walk, the greater the benefits,” says the Mayo Clinic. “For example, you may start out as an average walker, and then work your way up to walking faster and walking a mile in a shorter amount of time than an average walker, similar to power walkers.”
Incline Benefits
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Walking on an incline immediately gives your workout more intensity. “Walking or running uphill changes the activation of the muscles you use because of the wider range of angles at which your hips, knees, and ankles are working,” Dr. Todd Buckingham, a triathlete and professor of exercise science, tells Runner’s World.
RELATED: 8 Easy Ways to Make Walking More Fun.
Listen To Music
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Take your mind off the workout by listening to music or a podcast—the 30 minutes will be over in no time. “Studies show that faster-paced music tends to help improve athletic performance when a person engages in low-to-moderate level exercise, either by increasing distance traveled, pace, or repetitions completed,” according to the National Center For Health Research.
Start Slow
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The 12-3-30 method is simple but not easy, especially for fitness beginners. "Walking on an incline can be very taxing on your body," Beau Burgau, C.S.C.S., tells Shape. "And doing it on a level-12 incline for 30 minutes straight is a lot. You have to make sure that you're building up to such intensity in order to avoid injury and overstraining your joints and muscles. You should be able to walk on flat ground for 30 minutes straight before adding any kind of incline on the treadmill.”
