I Tried the TikTok Famous 12–3–30 Workout

You might have seen this challenge on TikTok. At first glance, it seems pretty simple. You walk on a treadmill at a twelve-degree incline and a speed of 3 miles per hour for a total of 30 minutes. The appeal is pretty obvious. You don’t have to run, you don’t have to lift weights, or jump or balance. You just have to walk for 30 minutes. As workouts go it seems very accessible.

It also seems to be backed up by science and has been praised by the experts for increasing endurance alongside improving heart health and providing a good calorie burn.

The 12–3–30 workout is beneficial for someone who is looking to make a positive impact on their health. It is also great for anybody who is training for an event that requires endurance, such as a race.

Finding myself with not much to do one evening and energy to burn after a few too many chocolate bunnies, I decided to give this a go myself. I’m not usually one for exercise challenges. Outside of my annual 30 days of yoga, I just try to stick to a pretty steady routine of 2–3 weekly HIIT classes and make sure I get 10,000 steps a day. I’m not the sort to be attempting marathons, 1,000 squat challenges, or climbing mountains. This challenge appealed to me though, probably for the same reason it appeals to others on TikTok. It’s just walking, right?

I arrived at the gym full of confidence and got myself settled on my treadmill. My first challenge is that the treadmill I found myself on (along with the majority I have seen in the UK), operates in kilometres rather than miles, so I had to Google the conversion. If you’re trying this yourself 4.8kmph is the speed you want to go for. Slightly less catchy.

Overall the workout was quite a bit more difficult than I had originally thought. The first 5 minutes or so passed with relative ease. I was watching some YouTube videos and basically just plodding along. I was convinced this was going to be too easy, and I might have to add on some additional work at the end.

By 10 minutes my legs were beginning to ache. I realized that 12% is a pretty heavy incline. I really started to feel it in my calves, which were having to stretch to get heels on the ground.

By 15 I wondered if I should quit and by 20 I was pouring with sweat. The tricky part was the relentless steady pace of it. There was no respite. Usually, with a run, I would run vary the speed and take a bit of recovery. This was half an hour of unrelenting torture. Only TikTok could come up with something so evil.

I also felt slightly awkward “hogging” a treadmill for a whole half hour when I was just walking. I go to a small gym which only has two treadmills and I wondered if others were judging me for taking up space when I wasn’t even running. That said the sweat on me after 20 minutes should have been enough proof to anyone that I was working hard.

I watched the clock for the last three minutes of the workout, begging for it to end. I was tired, sweaty, and hungry. I hit the shower and got some dinner and I have to say the recovery was pretty quick, and after eating I felt pretty good again, though I did fall asleep very quickly, usually a sign of a strong workout.

I think this workout had the potential to be great with a highly distracting TV show. It’s kind of a consistent long slog that you could probably just zone out of, as you don’t have to remember any routines or move around. Unfortunately, I’m watching Bridgerton with my husband, and I’m not really into any other Netflix shows right now (feel free to leave me suggestions in the comments) so I just caught up on a few YouTube videos, which weren’t quite distracting enough.

Another great benefit of this workout is that it is simple. You don’t need any fancy equipment, apart from a treadmill with a slope, and you don’t need to be constantly changing a timer, or checking what move is next. Your treadmill will probably count the 30 minutes for you also. It’s a good workout for those new to the gym environment who just want something simple to do while they settle in.

While this is a nice cardio workout, don’t fool yourself into thinking that the incline is enough of a strength builder that you don’t need to do any weight training. If you want to see any real changes in your body, you’re still going to have to add in some strength training.

Overall I think I will probably end up doing this workout again. I’m writing this the following day, and my body has recovered well, with none of the usual aches of a HIIT workout, and could probably hit the gym again today if I felt like it. I’ll fit this into my routine when I’ve got some great TV to pair with it and it’ll help me look forward to getting my workout in.