Anyone use Arc Trainers? (Read 1244 times)

Since I am coming back to my training in a slow safe way, I have been doing some cross training to work my endurance back to where It was pre-Injury. I discovered the Arc Trainer at the gym, and have been doing Dreadmill running/Arc trainer. I really like this machine, and wondered if any of you have ever used one, and if so, if you felt it worked your quads/glutes like I feel it is doing for me? Of course nothing is better than real running, but I think this is a great option for me at this stage, and may even help with those hills in the future. Appreciate your thoughts.... Thanks, Cheffy

I used it when I was coming back from a knee injury. Unlike the elliptical, it lets you use a longer stride, which I liked. Downside is feeling like that pony-tailed geek Tony Little on the Gazelle?

LOL! That guy is a FREAK for sure! After talking to one of the trainers at my gym, I found out some information on this very cool gizmo. When used properly, and with good resistance, your legs Arc up, and it is just like running hills. There are some hill interval programs, and resistancce from 0-100. I am still so new with skinny legs, that my resistance is set at 30 most of the time, and that machine totally kicks my butt. I get an excellent glute/quad workout, as well as hip flexors. This machine has been a welcome change from the traditional eliptical that makes my feet go numb after awhile, and has allowed me to really build some cardiovascular endurance as well. While I keep working on getting my feet/shins to HTFU, this machine has been a great addition to my workouts allowing me to burn an extra 500-700 calories per session. Running will take some time to get to a level where I am doing it enough to achieve calorie burn like that so many days per week. I do remain though, very committed to getting the running where I want it to be..... Lots of long relaxing runs