Exercise 12-3-30: All the hype or worth a try?

In today’s Dear Mark post, I’m addressing a question from a reader regarding a new exercise that’s going viral on social media. I don’t like jumping on viral fitness trends myself, but I’ve always been interested in keeping an eye on the pulse of what people are doing for health, strength, and weight loss. You never know when the next great thing will come, right?

Let’s dive into it:

Beloved,
I’m seeing a new fitness trend on my TikTok: “12-3-30”. Other users claim it changed their bodies in just a month and I wanted to try it, but as far as I can tell it’s just… walking uphill? Is this trend too good to be true or worth trying? Do you think things like this can be considered “primitive”?

Thanks for asking — and for thinking I might be savvy enough to know about TikTok trends! As a general rule, if a “quick exercise” plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is. However, don’t discredit the actual value this trend can hold without closer examination.

What is 12-3-30?

Google Quick Learn Explains “12-3-30” aka Treadmill routine 12,3.30, is walk at a 12% incline at 3mph on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Credited to influencer Lauren Giraldo, the short time frame and relative ease of this exercise caught everyone’s interest. I am sure that the testimonials from people who claim to have achieved great physique in a short time also do not matter.

To answer your question: yes, from what I can tell, the 12-3-30 exercise is basically just walking uphill. From a Primal perspective, I would support it qualifying. Here are a few reasons why:

Advantages of the TikTok 12-3-30 exercise:

The biggest pro is simply that it gets people moving. As you may know, I especially love walking. This is the ultimate Primal exercise and one of the best ways to combat the multitude of health problems caused by a modern, mostly sedentary lifestyle. If I were a skeptic, could I say something about how disconnected we are from Primal patterns of human movement if a TikTok trend goes viral to get people to walk in 30 minutes, but I’ll get rain in everyone’s parade. If this is what drives people to move, then who am I to argue?

Walking uphill can also be easier on the joints because of less impact and slightly different muscle action than flat walking.

Potential disadvantages of the 12-3-30 exercise:

My biggest concern is that this could become another form of chronic cardio depending on how challenging this exercise is for you. In general, I define chronic cardiovascular disease as exercise continuously, over and over to keep your heart rate fixed in the “black hole”. It’s the middle ground where the exercises are too difficult to be considered truly aerobic and not hard enough to reap the benefits of high-intensity exercises like sprinting.

The best way to know if you’re in a black hole is to use a heart rate monitor. To keep your effort level in the aerobic zone — which is what I’d recommend here — you want your heart rate to stay below the MAF threshold of 180 minus age. For example, a 50-year-old would not exceed a heart rate of 130 beats per minute at any point during exercise.

From what I read online, people often find the 12-3-30 process quite difficult, especially at first. If you’re panting on the treadmill, that’s a good sign your heart rate is in a black hole. Primal’s recommendation would be to adjust the treadmill speed so that you can keep your heart rate below 180 minus age. That will provide more overall physical benefits than a moderate – and therefore overly intense – workout intensity. Instead of wearing a heart rate monitor, try breathing through your nose only. Nasal breathing serves as an appropriate proxy of the aerobic threshold.

Some other notes:

Being in the gym all the time is not most of Primordial. Like I said, I don’t want to discourage people from going in any way. However, I also encourage you to go out and find an actual hill, if possible. Part of what I love about walking is that it takes you out of your home or office, ideally into green space and fresh air.

In the end, do I think the 12-3-30 workout is enough to “melt the pounds” and deliver all the health, physical and fitness benefits you could ever wish for? Is not. Even if you commit to doing this exercise regularly, you’ll still want to supplement it with heavy lifting, high-intensity sprints (or something similar), and maybe occasional machine training. microwave.

So what do you think, would you try the TikTok 12-3-30 workout? Are there any other workouts you’ve seen on social media that you’d like me to consider? Let me know in the comments!

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Information about the Authors

Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather of the Primitive food and lifestyle movement, and New York Times best-selling author of Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with the Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is also the author of many other books, including Preliminary designis credited with driving the growth of the primal/palo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating people on why food is the key ingredient to achieving it and maintaining optimal health, Mark founded Primal Kitchen, a food company that creates Primal/pale, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.

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