The New Equipment has Arrived

If you remember, I was given the honor of finding a new piece of equipment for our corporate gym. I have it narrowed down to the Matrix Ascent and the Cybex Arc. These are not your normal elliptical. In fact the Arc isn’t at all like an elliptical. Basically I ended up with two sales guys saying that their product is better and the other guys stuff sucks. So I told them each to bring their equipment and let us use it for a couple of weeks in order for us to decide which we liked better.

Thursday, two sets of big burley men rolled in the new equipment. These things are huge! The Matrix is the size of a small car, I swear. I couldn’t wait to work out. Yesterday I used the Matrix for 30 minutes. I won’t say I didn’t like it, but I felt like the elliptical motion and the momentum generated made it do more of the work than I was doing. My top heart rate was only in the 120’s. (When I do hills on the treadmill, I keep it in the high 140’s) I think that I’ll need to play with the resistance and incline the next time I use it. I am really sore in the front of my quads and a little in my triceps. So, okay workout for the first try.


Today I hopped on the Arc. I AM IN LOVE!!!!!! I did 30 minutes on it and went about a mile and a half and it said burned 300 calories. (I don’t put much faith in the calorie readouts of any machines) What amazed me most was the amount of sweat I generated. I have never sweat so much during a 30 minute workout. My heart rate was in the high 130’s low 140’s. I had rivulets of sweat running down my cheeks. I even drank my entire water bottle to stay hydrated. I was soaked when I finished. Now that is a good feeling. It was fun. The movement of this machine is between an elliptical and a Stairmaster. It does not have a continuous movement that propels you. You do the work. Nothing is sore as of this moment so I can’t tell you for sure what muscle groups it worked.

I’ll let you know which piece of equipment we end up with. I’d love for it to be my decision, but considering I’m not the one writing the check for it, I’ll be happy with what the owner decides to purchase.