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How to do it
- Step onto the footplates with your feet flat and rest your hands on the fixed console handlebar.
- Set the incline for your target: low to bias calves, glutes and hamstrings, high to bias quads.
- Dial resistance in separately from incline so effort and muscle emphasis stay independent.
- Press one foot down and back along the arc while the opposite plate rises into position.
- Keep your torso tall and let the legs set the rhythm instead of pulling on the bar.
- Wind resistance down for the last minute, then step off once the plates have stopped.
Common mistakes
- Hanging your bodyweight on the fixed handlebar, which unloads the legs and flattens the training effect.
- Leaving incline on the default, so the machine only ever loads one part of the lower body.
- Chasing stride rate with a short, choppy range instead of completing the full arc.
- Stepping off before the plates stop moving, which is how ankles get caught.
Muscles worked
- Primary
- Quads
- Secondary
- CalvesGlutesHamstrings
Same movement, other equipment
Similar exercises
Good to know
- What muscles does the Arc Trainer work?
- Mainly the quads. It also works the calves, glutes and hamstrings.
- What equipment do you need for the Arc Trainer?
- It uses a machine. Without it, the Cycling Intervals and the Cycling Sprint train the same muscles the same way.
- Is the Arc Trainer good for beginners?
- GymVim rates it beginner.