Some of you trainers have known me for a long time, some of you for more than two decades. A few of you even go back about 25 years.
And I always been after the biomechanics of a thing, whatever that thing May be.
So back in 2004 when we first saw the arc trainer, I was intrigued but surprised. Because Cybex actually revamped their hiker product and created more of a non-impact motion, using some of Ray Gianelli's patents, but it was not an elliptical machine.
I think they wanted to call the Archimedes at first.
But even though it was not an elliptical machine, because it didn't have a circular motion, it was so clearly superior that those of us who represented the brand were able to sell a ton of them, even versus the dominant paradigm of that time.
To start with, the motion is an arc, that you can actually adjust how far up the arc you're going. And the first version, like the first version of ellipticals, didn't even have the upper body. But the cool thing about the motion was that first of all, the knee never passed over the ankle. It was amazing that no matter how far up the incline, or really how big the arc was, your knee always stayed right over your ankle, so your patella-femoral stress was lessened, 
It's the circular motion, when one foot this traveling above the other that you have to have some level of knee over toe, and repetitively at that.
Also, as a side benefit, because you don't have that going on you don't have the same movement in the hip, The hip stay at exactly the same vertical plane at all times. So the machine while being easier on the knee is also easier on the hip.
So that was one of the first things that was amazing to us, that the machine was easier on both the knees and the hips. And when the machine inclines, all is really doing is increasing the hip and the angle. So you could actually determine what exact knee and hip angle you wanted to create, and at the same time it fit different sized people better.
And while many machines were created to copy this, it is still true that when a circular machine inclines, it increases the knee over toe angle, and you end up with hip moving up with the knee. So those circular machines still are harder on the knee and hip.
The arc is also the only piece that changes the resistance based on the weight level of the user. All the other machines just change the calorie counter, but the arc is built to create the same exertion and watts output at the same level of resistance whether the user is 120 lbs or 320.
I will probably go into the upper body of the arc trainer and some of the other features, like the Weight Addition feature, but I'll end with the fact that the Arc Trainer was also shown to burn 16% more calories at the same RPE as an elliptical machine, albeit a first generation machine. And one of two non-impact machines that matched a treadmill for results. And there was also more research done with arc trainers than any other non-impact machine.
And while many machines were created to copy this, it is still true that when a circular machine inclines, it increases the knee over toe angle, and you end up with hip moving up with the knee. So those circular machines still are harder on the knee and hip.
The arc is also the only piece that changes the resistance based on the weight level of the user. All the other machines just change the calorie counter, but the arc is built to create the same exertion and watts output at the same level of resistance whether the user is 120 lbs or 320.
I will probably go into the upper body of the arc trainer and some of the other features, like the Weight Addition feature, but I'll end with the fact that the Arc Trainer was also shown to burn 16% more calories at the same RPE as an elliptical machine, albeit a first generation machine. And one of two non-impact machines that matched a treadmill for results. And there was also more research done with arc trainers than any other non-impact machine.
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