Technology, innovation, and results. These are the three significant words that best describe the exercise trainers we have today, whether elliptical or arc trainers. But why is there a serious debate going around everywhere about whether to choose an elliptical trainer or an arc trainer? First, let’s take a look at the differences between elliptical vs arc trainers! What exactly are they?
Difference Between Elliptical vs Arc Trainer
| Elliptical Trainers | Arc Trainers | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories Burned | A (185 lb) person will do a 30-minute workout will burn around 300-400 calories depending upon the level of intensity of a workout. | Arc trainer burns around 7.7% more calories as compared to an elliptical trainer for the same 30-hour workout set. |
| Effect on endurance | Low-impact complete workout trainers who just don’t focus on a particular body region. Hence, not a great option for endurance building. | Arc trainers are considered in the category of ‘aerobic workout’, will exhaust your lungs out for sure, a great way of gradually building endurance and stamina. |
| Bone strengthening | Once again, being a low-impact complete body workout trainer, they aren’t much effective for bone strengthening. | When you’re working out using an arc trainer, it will not only slim you down. But all the extra weight will be distributed on your skeletal system evenly, strengthening your bones to the core. |
| Maintenance | Probably the major reason behind all the hype. Well, in terms of maintenance, it is highly efficient both in terms of money and time. | Being a bit more advanced and complex than an elliptical trainer, maintenance is an issue indeed that arc trainer designers need to resolve asap. |
| Portability | They are not much portable either, as compared to an arc trainer, elliptical trainers are superb with all the portability features. | As disused before, arc trainers are bulky and complex trainers which aren’t easy to transport very often. |
| Joint impact | With the signature magnetic flywheel technology, the elliptical trainers are well known for their low-impact workout schematics. | Being a bit more advanced than an elliptical trainer, arc trainers are a better option for a smooth and low-impact workout. |
| Muscle Movement | Move the muscles in elliptical path, making it stressful on leg and lower abdomen muscles when trying to work out for a long time. | On the other hand, an arc trainer gives Maximum control and comfort to the user himself/herself. An arc trainer moves the muscle down and back, more like a to and fro motion. Making sure that your muscles don’t get stressed even after long workout hours. |
| CVS impact | Being a complete body workout trainer, a great choice for improving and stabilizing the Cardio Vascular System (CVS) of the body. | Being technologically advanced as compared to an elliptical trainer, arc trainers are probably the best CVS regulators available in the market today. |
The Best elliptical machine for seniors is our recent publication. We recommend elliptical for seniors while keeping in mind the problems and requirements of seniors who wish to work out at home.
Which is Better For Muscle Movement? Elliptical or Arc?
Muscle movement is the way of how your body muscles are moving while you’re working out, either using an elliptical trainer or an arc trainer. Moreover, a slight stressed or damped muscle movement can have drastic long-term effects on your muscles for sure.
In the case of an elliptical trainer, not much effort has been put into designing a muscle-friendly design. Indeed, it’s is a low-impact trainer, but the footplates are practically moving in an ellipse path, making it so much aching and stressful for the muscles if working out for a long time.
On the contrary, being more technologically advanced than an elliptical trainer, the arc trainer has an almost perfect design for maintaining a smooth and comfy muscle movement. With an arc trainer, the footplates are moving down and back moving according to the weight shift of the user at multiple points.
Hence making the arc trainers the best choice for maintaining steady muscle movements. These considerations are most significant while considering elliptical vs arc trainer.
Which One is Easy to Set Up? Arc or Elliptical?
In the case of setting up, both are complex machines that eventually require some technical support. So, it’s always a better idea to hire a professional in the first place.
Talking about an elliptical trainer, the trainer has transport wheels and other standard transport features. But the bulky and complex design of the trainer is a massive problem if you want to transport or set up your trainer very often.
Compared to an elliptical trainer, an arc trainer has way more moving parts that are very difficult to configure. So, moving the arc trainer or setting it up in your room as you need often is not an option.
Which One Comes with a Better Cost-Performance Ratio?
Well, remember one thing, if you need quality instead of quantity, your budget can get out of your range. But in our opinion, it can be worth it if you know how to wear these trainers.
Elliptical trainers are considered more efficient in terms of money when we compare them with arc trainers. But in terms of performance, they may get you in some trouble. That’s why elliptical trainers come with an average cost-performance ratio.
Now, let’s talk about the arc trainers. First things first, we know arc trainers are massively influential. But comparing them with elliptical trainers and the number of features these trainers offer, arc trainers, have a pretty impressive cost-performance ratio indeed.
We make another comparison of elliptical vs spin bike because many athletes prefer spin bike instead of elliptical, we put our efforts into knowing the facts. So please visit to know more about the cons of the spin bike and its advantages over elliptical.
Elliptical vs Arc Trainer — The Comparison
With all that being said, now let’s take a look at some standard features of elliptical vs arc trainer and how these trainers deal with them,
i) The Number of Calories Burned
Well, both elliptical and arc trainers are simply remarkable to burn out a maximum number of calories if you’re looking for a workout that acts thoroughly on your entire body regions, choose elliptical. But the low-impact and low-intensity workout machine schematics allow the user to burn around 350-400 calories after a 30-minute set, which is still relatively low compared to other commonly used trainers.
On the other hand, arc trainers are something else in an arc trainer. There’s just too much technology involved, which allows maximum body movement even for long strenuous sets—resulting in almost 7.7% more calories burned as compared to a 30-minute workout using an elliptical trainer.
ii) Effects on the Neuromuscular System
The neuromuscular system within our body through which nerve impulses finally reach every single muscle of our body. In short, whatever motor functions we perform through our body are caused by the neuromuscular system.
Talking about neuromuscular system regulation, elliptical trainers are indeed the best choices to do the job. As we already know, these trainers offer complete body-oriented workouts, hence regulating the neuromuscular system.
On the contrary, arc trainers have a bit advantage over elliptical trainers in this field due to the more advanced and efficient design. The advanced moving parts and workout schematics help you regulate brain-muscle coordination by soothing any neuromuscular blockade (like paralysis) with the minimum effort possible.
iii) Effect on Endurance
Endurance, or more commonly known as ‘stamina, is probably the second most common reason after weight loss why any one of us will go and get an elliptical trainer or an arc trainer.
In the case of elliptical trainers, endurance building isn’t something these trainers work on much. Elliptical trainers are more directed towards distributing the workout strain throughout the body evenly; hence targeting a specific region or part is not a specialty of elliptical trainers.
On the contrary arc, trainers will exhaust your stamina for sure. The advanced workout schematics of the arc trainers allow the users to put their maximum lung capacity on the line. Hence gradually and effectively improving the lung-body coordination, eventually resulting in increased endurance/stamina.
Wrap Up of Elliptical vs Arc Trainer
Which one of these two excellent trainers will suit you the best? Both of these trainers come with unique features indeed, but are they compatible with your workout requirements and plans?
Let’s take a short review. Both elliptical and arc trainers are top-notch workout machines available in the market quickly. At the same time, arc trainers may be better for burning calories, while elliptical trainers have great portability features compared to arc trainers.
Do these trainers provide practical support to people suffering from neuromuscular or cardiovascular disorders? Sure they do, as physicians commonly refer to most trainers across the globe for steady and effective patient recovery.
We understand, with so many unique features, the decision will be a hard one for you. But only you know what’s best for yourself.
Elliptical cross trainers are best for low-impact cardio workouts compared to other exercise machines. Our recent comparison of elliptical vs stair climber proves that the possible benefits with ellipticals are not possible with arc trainer. Still, yes, one can save money while going in favor of a stair climber.