Again, 30 minutes is on the longer side of a workout for beginners. The first few times I tried this workout, I found myself staring at the ticking clock on the treadmill, willing it to go faster. That said, due to the tough incline, if you do suffer from upper or lower back pain, you should be careful, as it can put more pressure on your spine. I definitely felt my calves working harder than they would on a treadmill run. I can see how doing this several times a week would increase your fitness levels. Over the month, I definitely got used to walking at this incline, but I could feel it down the back of my legs for the first few walks. I’d suggest that those not used to walking or running regularly might start a little lower, as it was a bit of a shock to the system for the first few minutes. We’re talking about hiking up a steep hill for 30 minutes, not the gentle stroll in the park I’d expected when setting out to test this workout.

The first thing that struck me when I set up this treadmill was that 12% is pretty high. Being in a taper, I was paranoid about pulling my calves walking up hill, so I've revisited this workout recently to give it a proper try over the course of a month - read on to find out what happened.ĭuring this month, I did the 12-3-30 workout three times a week, in place of my running workouts.

To caveat, I first tried this workout and wrote about it for Tom's Guide when I was ten days away from running my fourth marathon. I tried the 12-3-30 workout - here’s my results Giraldo says she holds the bars about 30% of the time and goes hands-free the other 70%. There's no firm guidance on whether or not to hold on to the bars of the treadmill.

Warm-up for 5 minutes, either walking on the flat or at a slight incline.

To follow this treadmill workout, you simply:

How do you do the 12-3-30 treadmill workout?ĭon’t panic, it’s much, much easier than it sounds.

Tread and shred workout