Anyone ever heard of the ARX Machine?

bowsontoes
bowsontoes Posts: 44 Member
edited November 17 in Fitness and Exercise
There is a new studio by me that offers a 20-minute, once a week workout on the ARX machine. It seems rather dubious, but I haven't heard of this before and I was wondering if anyone in MFP has.

I am mostly interested in the studio to get a body scan done on their Fit3D scanner (also curious about this_, but I'm wondering if it is worth trying a free class just to see what is about or if I'd risk injury and miss out on a better workout on my own.

FWIW, I do 4-5 resistance training sessions and 2 moderate cardio sessions in a week.

Replies

  • Lizarking
    Lizarking Posts: 507 Member
    Neat gimmick. Might be fun to do hypertrophy or assistance work on. No replacement for real ohp, squat, deadlift.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    yeah sounds like just another gimmick to get people exercising, which is a good thing, but just one of many ways to get a resistance training working. Take the class and let us know what you think. I'd probably try it for fun, but wouldn't rely solely on it as my only workout.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,984 Member
    Gimmick. This is just a souped up version of "slow resistance" training. You can do the same thing for free with dumbells and barbells, or even cables. You just push/pull slow and return slow. Studies on this show there is some strength increase, but it's more about muscular endurance. Doing a slow push up isn't the same as hoisting up 225lbs on a bench press.

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  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    edited April 2017
    I especially like how they hype how "technologically advanced" they are, but basically it's just a new wrapper on a lot of old exercise ideas (e.g. Super slow, variable resistance).

    For a beginner anything will work, and it might be fun to see all the stuff on the screen, and you might actually learn some muscle awareness from the slower movements.

    However, nothing is unique about the specific movements or the way the resistance is applied. The biggest distortion/lie they are pushing is the idea that you can somehow "do the same work in less time" because of the unique characteristics of the machines. That just is not true--it was the same claim made by the old Nautilus machines in the 1970s and it was disproved long ago.

    From what I can tell that, while there is not going to be much long-term benefit to working out on these machines, the injury risk should be low. You may experience some DOMS from doing something different, but no real injury. Also, if you do experience more fatigue or DOMS after trying this work, do not be fooled into thinking that means it is "better" than what you are currently doing. It just means it is different.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Oh, and I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the Fit3D scan that was mentioned is an orgy of woo as well.
  • VegasFit
    VegasFit Posts: 1,232 Member
    If it's a free class I would try it especially to get the scan. I have to admit my goal is to try every gym in town :)
  • bowsontoes
    bowsontoes Posts: 44 Member
    Ah I thought so, glad to hear it isn't worth it! I do solidcore (megaformer)3x a week so I already do some of that push/pull resistance. That plus my 2 weight days and cardio are probably much more effective in the long term. Thanks for weighing in!
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