Slow cardio and 12-3-30 workout – how healthy is the fitness trend?

Cologne/Miami. She actually didn’t like going to the gym, explains US influencer Lauren Giraldo in a YouTube video. The devices made her nervous, as did her own demands. But the 26-year-old with one million Instagram followers had an idea: slow down.

In doing so, she “invented” a trend in 2020 that is gaining more and more followers: the 12-3-30 workout. The special version of a type of training that has been popular for a long time and is known by many names: “Slow Cardio”, “Slow Running” or “Low Impact Cardio”. What is behind this approach? Who is it suitable for and how healthy is it?

What you should know about the “Slow Cardio” fitness trend

What is cardio training?

In addition to strength exercises, endurance sports are one of the most important types of training. The latter is also called “cardio training” because of its effects on the cardiovascular system. This refers to the cardiovascular system – from the ancient Greek “kardia” for “heart” and Latin “vasculum” for “small (blood) vessels”.

Regular endurance training – such as swimming, jogging, dancing or hiking – ensures better blood circulation and stronger breathing, increases the ability to concentrate and mental well-being, reduces body fat and strengthens the immune system. The healthiest, explains Christine Joisten, RND columnist and professor of exercise and neuroscience at the German Sport University in Cologne, is a combination of endurance and strength sports or hybrid training such as jumping rope.

What counts as slow cardio?

If you design your endurance training in such a way that there is no intensive but constant strain, you are doing slow cardio. If it is possible to have a conversation with the other runner while playing on the treadmill, be sure to move at the right speed.

If you prefer to keep to yourself, you can also devote yourself to the podcast, a favorite series or – like influencer Lauren Giraldo – audio books and YouTube videos, while you constantly trot or walk lightly.

What is the 12-3-30 workout?

The 12-3-30 workout is currently one of the most famous fitness trends and reaches more than 350 million people on Tiktok under the hashtag “12330workout”. The numbers contain information about the incline, speed and duration of the running exercise. The incline of the treadmill should be set to 12 percent. Three miles (i.e. almost five kilometers) per hour is the speed you should maintain for 30 minutes.

Giraldo completes this training five times a week, which helped her lose unwanted pounds on a diet rich in salads: she lost 20 to 30 pounds, or nine to 13 kilograms, on her “Weight Loss Journey”. And if you want to tone your butt, the influencer recommends simply walking backwards every now and then.

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How useful is the 12-3-30 workout really?

From the point of view of sports medicine specialist Christine Joisten, the trendy workout has one major benefit: “It sounds cool and seems to get a lot of people onto the treadmills.” A twelve percent incline is quite steep because you usually start at one percent.

In combination with the slightly faster walking pace and duration, it is precisely this incline that makes the difference: “Walking five kilometers per hour for half an hour is hardly a challenge for many people, just as it is not a short hike up a slight incline.”

But taken together, it works because the incline increases the strength aspect, while the duration and pace strengthen endurance. However, you don’t have to strictly follow the values: “A gradient of 11 or 13 percent would also do the trick,” says Joisten.

Exercise in the morning or in the evening: Which training promises the best results?

When is the best time for exercise? That depends on what you want to achieve with the training. And the internal biological clock also plays a role. In any case, late sleepers can postpone exercise sessions until the second half of the day.

But one thing is crucial: you have to stretch afterwards. “Anyone who has ever hiked up a mountain knows the feeling of their muscles shortening, which is always a danger when exposed to long-term inclines.”

The sports doctor doesn’t want to say whether doing the exercise backwards really tightens the buttocks. She doesn’t want to rule it out. “But the main thing I would be afraid of is losing my balance.”

Is slow cardio healthier than jogging or fast running?

The WHO recommends that adults do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate endurance exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. Joisten sees no reason to rate one better than the other: “Over a longer period of time, slow cardio and more intensive exercises such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) promote health in approximately the same way.”

Who is slow cardio particularly suitable for?

If you have knee problems or even underlying illnesses, it is important to “start slowly,” emphasizes the sports doctor. Slow cardio is particularly suitable here and if you want to try the 12-3-30 method, you should, above all, lower the incline.

Last but not least, the psychological effect speaks in favor of moderate training: if you have to overcome a long time to go to the gym, slow cardio offers a low-threshold option. Because in a time when we spend nine hours a day sitting, according to Joisten, one thing applies above all: “The main thing is to move!” The sports doctor also recommends “Exercise Snacks”, small exercise units such as stair sprints, on the Instagram page “GesundToGo”. fast walking and jumping jacks that can be integrated into stressful everyday life.

Can I just go for a walk?

Walk on the treadmill for half an hour on a slight incline? Some people ask themselves: “Can’t I just go for a walk?” Joisten’s answer is clear: “Yes.” Especially if the terrain is a little steep or one or two stairs are part of the path, The same health effects can be achieved.

“You usually walk around 1,000 steps in ten minutes,” says the sports doctor. She recommends walking the same number of steps in six minutes to do something good for your body. And she refers to a study with a humorous title but serious results: “How fast does the Grim Reaper walk?” asked Fiona F. Stanaway and her team. They examined the walking speed of men aged 70 and over and compared it with their death rate over years.

Their result appeared in the “British Medical Journal” (BMJ) in 2011 and gave the answer: around three kilometers per hour. If you take a brisk walk at the pace of the 12-3-30 method – this is what you can conclude from the study – you could perhaps delay the end of your own life a little.

10,000 steps per day? The risk of death decreases with significantly less exercise

Smartwatches and pedometers have often set the famous fitness goal of 10,000 steps per day. However, experts do not consider this round target to be a scientifically based guideline. And a study has now come to the conclusion that your health benefits from less exercise.

How many calories are burned during slow cardio?

110 calories for half an hour of walking, 200 calories for Nordic walking and 200 to 300 for the 12-3-30 method. Such information can be found, for example, on the websites of “Women’s Health”, “For You” or “Fitbook”.

Sports doctor Joisten is skeptical about such blanket statements. The most reliable data on calorie consumption is in the “Compendium of Physical Activities”, published since 1993 by the US researcher Barbara Ainsworth. Accordingly, walking at 4.5 kilometers per hour would consume around four kilocalories per minute.

“If you walk for half an hour, this would mean 120 kilocalories, probably more if you walk uphill,” says Joisten. However, as is often the case with such information, the weight must be taken into account. If you weigh 60 kilograms, you burn fewer calories during any physical activity than if you weigh 90.

“If a 55-year-old woman who weighs 60 kilograms goes for a walk for half an hour, she burns not 120 kilocalories, but almost 90.” That corresponds to less than 20 grams of dark chocolate, so not very much. But that alone is not decisive, says Joisten: “It is better not to pay attention to the rather low calorie consumption, but rather to the immense health benefits.” There is no doubt about that.