Exercise Equipment Review


Cybex Arc Trainer

Cybex Arc Trainer

With so many home fitness machines on the market, you might wonder how fitness centers stay in business. For many people, two significant benefits of working out in a gym in comparison to working out at home is the level of workout you receive and the opportunity to use different machines to obtain a complete body workout. Manufacturers of fitness machines are designing more fitness machines for the home that are quickly closing the gap between commercial and residential equipment. For many years, the elliptical has been a top machine that offers cross training for people who prefer to workout at home. The Cybex Arc Trainer is an exercise machine that may join the ranks of the elliptical.

What is an Arc Trainer? It is basically a machine that is designed to move your lower body in an arc motion so that your toes never go behind your knees. This form of movement places more work on the lower-body muscles and allows you to burn a lot of calories while at the same time protecting your joints and muscles from strain and stress. An interesting feature of the machine is that it automatically adjusts the resistance according to your weight. Another unique feature of this machine is that your feet and arms are designed to move in the same direction. This is the complete opposite of other machines. Cybex maintains that moving the arms and legs this way results in less stress on the body.

All Cybex Arc Trainers include the Glide, Stride, and Climb exercise zones, which equate to low, medium, and high positioning respectively. You can also vary the resistance and incline for a total body workout that meets your own personal needs. The Cybex Arc Trainers include 20 programs. You can choose from eight preset programs, two advanced, one heart rate (based on user settings), and up to nine custom programs. You can monitor your progress on the Arc Trainer from the full-size, split-level display. The equipment also includes a holder for a water bottle and magazines.

Cybex offers four ARC trainers. The 750AT Total Body Arc Trainer is considered the top model in this series of cross-trainers. This machine has 21 incline levels, a stride length of two feet, a maximum of 900 watts of resistance, and is able to support about 400 pounds. The 750A Arc Trainer features the identical stride length, incline levels, and resistance power as the 750AT. The main difference between these two models is size. The 750A model is smaller than the 750AT mode. The 425A Arc Trainer is designed for light commercial use. It offers 11 incline levels, a stride length of 23 inches, and up to 600 watts of resistance. The machine is able to support 300 pounds. The 360A Arc Trainer is considered the "home" model. It offers 11 incline levels, a 24-inch stride length, a maximum of 450 watts of resistance, and support for nearly 300 pounds.

People who have used a Cybex Arc Trainer have very few complaints about the equipment. What people appreciate most about this machine is that they can have a good workout in a short amount of time. There is also a significant amount of praise for the machine being vey difficult to outgrow. The most common complaint is the weight of the equipment, which precludes frequent movement and easy storage.

EER gives the Cybex Arc Trainer a thumbs up. There is very little that is new in the fitness equipment market. This machine is innovative in its reverse arc motion technology, which seeks to help the user obtain more results in a shorter period of time and with less potential of muscle and joint damage. The price range of the Arc Trainer series ($3000 - $6000) may scare some potential customers off. Potential customers should realize that that each model is an investment that should produce returns in the long-term.