Walk into most commercial gyms on a cardio day and you'll see the usual crowd around the treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and stair climbers. Tucked nearby, often underused, sits the arc trainer, a machine plenty of people walk past simply because they're not sure what it does.
That's a missed opportunity. The arc trainer is a genuinely effective, joint-friendly cardio machine that suits everyone from beginners to seasoned athletes. Here's a clear look at what it is, what it actually does well, where its limits are, and how to get the most from it.
This article is informational and not a substitute for individual medical or training advice.
What Is an Arc Trainer?
The arc trainer is a low-impact cardio machine made by Cybex. It's often compared to an elliptical, but the key difference is the motion path. Where an elliptical moves your feet in an elliptical loop, the arc trainer moves them along an arc-shaped (arcuate) path, somewhat like a cross between an elliptical and a stair climber. Your feet stay on the pedals throughout, so there's no jarring impact.
It looks more complex than it is. Once you step on, it's intuitive to use, and the smooth, gliding motion makes it accessible even if you've never touched one before.
The Main Benefits of the Arc Trainer
1. Easy on the Joints
This is the arc trainer's standout quality. Because it's low-impact and your feet never leave the pedals, it puts far less strain on your ankles, knees, and hips than high-impact activities like running. The design generates force mainly during the weight-bearing part of your stride, which keeps stress off the joints. For anyone managing joint sensitivity, recovering from certain injuries, or simply wanting a gentler option than jogging, the arc trainer is an excellent choice.
2. Effective Calorie Burn for Fat Loss
The arc trainer is a strong calorie burner. A 45-minute session can burn somewhere in the region of 400 to 600 calories depending on your effort, resistance, and bodyweight, which makes it a useful tool for fat loss when paired with sensible nutrition. As with any cardio, your overall diet ultimately determines results, but the arc trainer pulls its weight on the activity side. For more on getting lean and defined, our guide on getting more vascular covers the fat-loss principles.
3. Great for Heart and Cardiovascular Health
As a cardio machine, the arc trainer strengthens the heart and improves your cardiovascular system. Regular cardiovascular exercise supports circulation, helps with healthy blood pressure, and is one of the best things you can do for long-term heart health. Given that heart disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide, that benefit alone makes the machine worthwhile.
4. Boosts Aerobic Fitness and Endurance
Train on the arc trainer regularly and your aerobic fitness improves, including your VO2 max, a measure of how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise. Better aerobic capacity means more stamina and the ability to exercise longer before fatigue sets in, which benefits both everyday energy levels and athletic performance.
5. Works the Lower and Upper Body
The arc trainer engages more muscle than some cardio machines. The adjustable resistance challenges your legs and glutes through the stride, and many models include moving handles that bring the upper body into the movement. To set expectations honestly: this builds muscular endurance and tone rather than significant size or maximal strength. It's a cardio machine first, so for real strength and muscle you'll still want resistance training like squats and deadlifts. As a complement to that work, though, it adds useful conditioning for the legs.
6. Adjustable Training Zones
One of the arc trainer's nicest features is its built-in intensity zones, typically labelled glide, stride, and climb, running from easiest to hardest. Glide is gentle and great for warming up or beginners, stride is a solid steady-state effort, and climb ramps up the challenge for a serious burn. This lets you dial the intensity precisely to your goal and even build interval-style sessions similar to HIIT.
7. Suitable for All Fitness Levels
Thanks to those adjustable zones and resistance, the arc trainer genuinely suits everyone. A complete beginner can set it to glide and ease in, while an experienced athlete can crank up the resistance and tackle climb intervals for a punishing workout. That scalability makes it one of the more universally usable machines in the gym.
8. Lower Injury Risk Than High-Impact Cardio
Because the motion is smooth and your feet stay planted, there's less risk of the kind of impact-related strain you can get from a treadmill, provided you use it correctly. Combined with the reduced joint stress, this makes the arc trainer a sensible option for sustainable, long-term cardio that's kind to your body.
9. Supports Athletic Performance
By building aerobic capacity, leg conditioning, and endurance, the arc trainer supports performance across many sports. It won't replace sport-specific training, but as a conditioning tool that's gentle on the joints, it's a useful addition to an athlete's routine, especially during periods when you want to maintain fitness while sparing your legs from impact.
10. A Fresh Change of Pace
If you're bored of the same old treadmill or elliptical, the arc trainer offers something different. Variety is one of the most underrated factors in staying consistent, and trying a new machine can reignite motivation. The novelty may wear off once you hit the climb zone and feel the burn, but a fresh challenge is a genuine plus.
11. Supports Mental Wellbeing
Like all exercise, working out on the arc trainer releases endorphins that lift your mood and help relieve stress. It's a positive, accessible way to support your mental wellbeing as part of a healthy lifestyle. That said, exercise complements rather than replaces professional care, so if you're managing a mental health condition or taking prescribed medication, keep working with your doctor rather than viewing exercise as a substitute.
A Note on Bones and the Low-Impact Trade-Off
You'll sometimes see arc trainers credited with strengthening bones and preventing osteoporosis. It's worth being accurate here. Bone density responds best to weight-bearing and higher-impact exercise, along with resistance training. The arc trainer's great strength, its low-impact design, also means it's less effective for building bone density than impact activities or lifting weights. So while it's superb for joint-friendly cardio, don't rely on it as your main bone-health strategy. If bone density is a priority, pair it with resistance training, and discuss any specific concerns with your doctor.
Arc Trainer vs Elliptical: What's the Difference?
These two machines look similar but aren't identical. Both are low-impact and easy on the joints, but the arc trainer's arcuate motion path is designed to keep your stride more natural and reduce strain, and many users find it allows a harder, more leg-focused effort. The elliptical tends to feel lighter and is very widely available. Neither is universally better; the best choice is the one that feels comfortable and that you'll use consistently. If your gym has both, try each and see which you prefer.
How to Use the Arc Trainer
- Start with a warm-up in the glide zone for a few minutes to ease in.
- Maintain good posture, standing tall with a light grip on the handles rather than leaning heavily on them.
- Adjust resistance and incline to match your goal, lighter for steady endurance, harder for strength and calorie burn.
- Try intervals. Alternate between climb-zone bursts and easier recovery periods for an efficient, challenging session.
- Build gradually. Increase duration and intensity over time as your fitness improves.
Is the arc trainer good for weight loss?
Yes, as part of the picture. It burns a solid number of calories and provides effective cardio, which supports fat loss when combined with sensible nutrition. Your overall diet still determines results, with the arc trainer doing real work on the activity side.
Is the arc trainer better than an elliptical?
Both are low-impact and effective. The arc trainer's motion path is designed to feel more natural and allow a harder leg-focused effort, while ellipticals are lighter and more common. The best choice is whichever feels comfortable and you'll use regularly.
Is the arc trainer good for bad knees?
Generally yes, because it's low-impact and keeps your feet planted, reducing joint stress compared with running. If you have a knee condition, start gently and check with a physiotherapist or doctor if you're unsure.
Does the arc trainer build muscle?
It builds leg and glute muscular endurance and tone rather than significant size or strength. For real muscle and strength gains, combine it with resistance training. Think of it as conditioning, not a substitute for lifting.
The Bottom Line
The arc trainer is an effective, joint-friendly cardio machine that deserves more attention than it usually gets. It burns calories, strengthens your heart, builds aerobic fitness and endurance, and conditions your legs, all with minimal impact on your joints. Its adjustable zones make it suitable for everyone from beginners to athletes.
Just keep its role clear: it's an excellent cardio and conditioning tool, not a replacement for resistance training when it comes to building real strength, muscle, or bone density. Use it for low-impact cardio you can sustain for the long term, pair it with sensible nutrition and some strength work, and the arc trainer becomes a genuinely valuable part of your routine. Next time you spot one sitting empty, give it a go.
