Does the 12-3-30 workout really work? Experts weigh in on the treadmill fitness craze

The #12-3-30 treadmill workout has become one of the most popular routines of fitness influencers and healthy TikTok girlies with 431.1 million views on TikTok — but does it actually work?

The 12-3-30 workout is fairly simple: set the incline on the treadmill to 12%, the pace to three miles an hour and walk for 30 minutes.

The workout was first posted on YouTube in 2019 by social media influencer Lauren Giraldo and again on TikTok in November 2020, when the video went viral as the #HotGirlWalk craze inspired fitness fanatics to ditch intense workouts and just walk.

“I’m not a runner, and running on the treadmill was not working for me,” Giraldo told “Today” in December 2020, explaining that her formula helped her to shed 30 pounds.

“I started playing around with the settings, and at the time, my gym’s treadmill had [a] 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.”

This seemingly simple workout is a low-impact exercise, meaning it doesn’t put a lot of strain and weight on your muscles and joints, but does it do anything?