Two common pieces of exercise equipment available for home or gym use are the Arc trainer and the Elliptical trainer. Both of these machines are designed to give an aerobic workout. There are a few design elements that may be more or less appealing to some users on the two machines.
Physical Description
Both the Arc trainer and Elliptical trainers are pieces of upright cardio equipment. They both have gliding foot pedals and sometimes moving hand grips. They often include a workout screen that details aspects of the workout, such as calories burned, heart rate and resistance levels met. There are many makes and models of both, so their specs can vary. The average size of an Arc trainer is 36.75L x 62.5W x 77H inches, weighing in around 400 pounds. The average size of an Elliptical trainer is 59L x 26W x 68H inches, weighing in around 170 pounds. The Arc trainer, depending on model, has a maximum user weight of 400 pounds, and the Elliptical, depending on model, has a maximum user weight of 250 pounds.
Purpose
The Arc trainer and the Elliptical trainer are pieces of cardio equipment. They are both designed to aerobically challenge you during use. Through consistent usage you can strengthen your cardiovascular system, lower your blood pressure, burn calories that will allow you to lose weight and increase your aerobic capacity.
Usage
To utilize either piece of equipment, you simply grasp the handles or sidebars, and then place your feet on the foot pedals. Most brands of the Arc trainer and Elliptical trainer are self powered, so the workout screen in front of you will not turn on until you being to move your feet. Some of the workout screens can be very detailed, including predesigned workout plans and heart rate monitors. All of them include a manual workout mode, also known as the Quick Start mode which allows you to tailor your workout in regards to speed of movement, resistance, and in the case of the Arc trainer, incline of movement. Some are built with moving handles where you may place your hands during exercise that are meant to incorporate your upper body into the workout.
Benefits
The one major benefit of both of these machines it is that they are both impact-free by design, due to the soft cushioned stroke that the gliding pedals provide, therefore protecting the knee and hip joints. Both the Elliptical and Arc trainers are adaptive pieces of cardio equipment that allow you to continue to challenge yourself through increased resistance as you get stronger. The one dimension that the Arc trainer features that the Elliptical does not, is the ability to increase not only your resistance, but also the angle of your leg stroke on the machine. You are able to move your incline both up, and down, which imitates a cross country skiing motion. Both machines are excellent alternatives to traditional aerobic work.
Speculation
In a study done by Florida Atlantic University, the Arc trainer was shown to be more effective at activating the major muscle groups in the lower half of the body, due to its ability to incorporate incline changes into the workout. This correlates into the Arc trainer causing a higher heart rate in the user, which challenges the cardiovascular system more efficiently than the Elliptical trainer, and therefore also burns more calories than the same amount of time spent on an Elliptical trainer. This machine has also been shown, through a study by the University of North Carolina, to be a more biomechanically efficient machine. This dramatically affects your ratings of perceived exertion during usage, which will allow you to workout longer and harder.
Member Comments