My New Favorite Machine at the Gym

This is my new favorite machine at the gym. It is the Arc Trainer and like the elliptical before it, it intimidated me for a long time.

I had only ever seen really fit girls using it and I figured it was out of my league. Then I noticed they were using them on this season of The Biggest Loser and thought I might be wrong.

During one of last week's cataclysmic winter weather events I went to the gym and it was practically empty. It was the perfect time to risk injury and humiliation (you know which one hurts more right?). So I hopped on, fiddled with the buttons, selected a 20 minute "Weight Loss" workout (do the others not help you lose weight?) at level 3 of 10 and turned up my Ipod.

I am pretty sure you are not supposed to hang on for dear life like I did and I probably mitigated some of the benefit by not going hands-free, but the second I took my hands off the multiple sets of handles (why so many handles if you aren't supposed to use them?) I nearly toppled over.

There is a great variety of both resistance and incline, which apparently works different large muscle groups creating a better calorie burn than the treadmill or even my newly-beloved elliptical machine. I definitely got a good workout, I was challenged but not debilitated (which is the fine line I try to walk at the gym).

So far 20 minutes is my limit, but I burned as many calories (if those things can be trusted) as I did in 25 or 30 on the elliptical and treadmill respectively. I am all for efficiency!