Arm Ergometer
What Is the Arm Ergometer?
Arm Ergometer is a cardio exercise that improves cardiovascular endurance and overall fitness. It is considered a beginner-level activity, depending on intensity and personal capabilities. It is done on an upper-body ergometer, a machine with two handles on a crank that you turn with your arms, much like pedaling a bike with your hands. Here it is performed perched on a high seat with the feet on the foot platforms, halfway between sitting and standing.
The arm ergometer is a fixture of physical therapy clinics and a common sight in gyms. Because the legs only brace and never drive the crank, it keeps cardio training going through a foot, ankle, knee or hip injury, and it gives wheelchair users and people with limited leg function a way to train the heart and lungs. Clinics also use it for exercise testing when someone cannot walk on a treadmill or ride a bike. In a regular program it works as a warm-up before upper-body training, a steady conditioning block, or an interval station alongside the Rowing Machine and Assault Bike.
The handles sit on opposite sides of the crank, so one arm pushes while the other pulls. The shoulders drive the whole circle, the triceps and chest help push the handle away, and the biceps and lats help draw it back, while the forearms hold the grip and the trunk braces against the alternating pull. Since the arms are a much smaller muscle mass than the legs, the heart rate and oxygen uptake you can reach stay lower than on a bike or treadmill, and the arms often tire before breathing does. Cranking in reverse changes the timing of the push and pull, and higher resistance shifts the work toward muscular endurance rather than breathing.
The arm ergometer suits beginners, older adults, people working around a lower-body injury, and athletes who want extra conditioning without more pounding on the legs. Anyone recovering from surgery, a heart condition or a neurological condition should follow the plan their doctor or physical therapist sets. Beginners do best starting with short bouts at light resistance and a smooth cadence, adding time before adding resistance.
Muscles Worked
- Deltoid
- Primary
- Biceps Brachii
- High
- Brachioradialis
- Medium
- Latissimus Dorsi
- Medium
- Pectoralis Major
- Medium
- External Oblique
- Minimal
Instructions
- Adjust the seat or the crank so the crank axle sits level with or slightly below your shoulders.
- Perch on the high seat with your hips above your knees, feet flat on the foot platforms and knees bent.
- Position yourself so you can reach the far handle with a soft bend in the elbow without leaning forward.
- Hold both handles with a neutral grip, palms facing in, and keep the grip relaxed.
- Sit tall with your chest up, shoulders down away from the ears and your midsection lightly braced.
- Set a light resistance and start turning the cranks forward, pushing one handle away as you pull the other back.
- Reach to a soft elbow at the far point and draw the handle back until the hand is beside your lower ribs.
- Keep a smooth, steady cadence while your torso stays upright and still.
- Breathe steadily, and raise the resistance or cadence only as far as you can keep the stroke smooth.
- Finish with a minute or two of easy cranking before letting go of the handles and stepping off.
Common Mistakes
Crank at the wrong height
A crank axle well above the shoulders pinches the shoulder at the top of each circle, and one well below them pulls you into a slump.
Shrugging the shoulders
Letting the shoulders creep toward the ears hands the work to the upper trapezius and leaves the neck tense.
Locking the elbows
Snapping the arm straight at the far point loads the elbow joint instead of keeping a soft bend that the muscles control.
Rocking the torso
Leaning and twisting with each stroke steals work from the arms and strains the lower back, so the trunk should stay upright and still.
Gripping too hard
A tight grip tires the forearms early and stiffens the whole arm, when a relaxed hold is enough to turn the crank.
Resistance too high
Setting more resistance than you can turn smoothly makes the stroke jerky and turns a cardio session into a short arm fatigue drill.
Injuries
Arm Ergometer is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. There is no impact and no heavy load, so problems usually come from a poor setup or from doing too much too soon. The shoulders take the most strain: a crank set too high pinches the front of the shoulder at the top of the circle and makes the upper trapezius take over, while a crank set too low pulls you into a slump that rounds the shoulders forward. Locking the elbows at the far reach and squeezing the handles hard can also irritate the elbows and forearms over long sessions.
Set the crank axle level with or slightly below your shoulders, and position yourself so the far handle is reachable with a soft bend in the elbow without leaning forward. Keep the shoulders down away from the ears, hold the handles with a relaxed grip, and let the torso stay still while the arms turn the crank. Build up session length gradually, since the shoulders and arms tire faster than the legs do on a bike.
To make it easier, lower the resistance, slow the cadence, shorten the bouts or take more rest between them. To make it harder, add time, raise the resistance, or move to intervals of harder and easier cranking. If your legs are healthy and you want a gentler full cardio option, the Recumbent Bike shifts the work to the lower body.
Stop if you feel sharp shoulder pain, numbness or tingling in the hands, chest pain or pressure, dizziness, or breathlessness that is unusual for the effort. People using the arm ergometer as part of rehab should stay within the limits their clinician has set.
Other Names for the Arm Ergometer
The Arm Ergometer is also known as:
- Upper Body Ergometer
- Arm Bike
- Arm Crank Ergometer
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Should I sit or stand on an arm ergometer?
Either works if the machine allows it. Sitting, or perching on a high seat as shown here, keeps the work in the upper body and is the steadier choice for beginners, while standing lets the legs and trunk brace harder and suits more forceful intervals.
- Q: Should I crank forward or backward?
Both directions are fine, and many machines let you switch. Reversing changes the timing of the push and pull and the coordination it takes, so mixing directions adds variety, but neither direction isolates a separate set of muscles.
- Q: Can I use the arm ergometer with a leg injury?
Yes, that is one of its main uses. It keeps the heart and lungs working while a foot, ankle, knee or hip heals, as long as you can get on and off the machine safely and your clinician agrees.
- Q: Will arm ergometer training improve my fitness on a bike or treadmill?
Partly. In a 12-week trial in healthy men in their late 60s, arm-crank training raised peak oxygen uptake on both an arm test and a leg-cycling test, but the gains on the cycling test were less than half of those on the arm test.
- Q: Why do my arms give out before I get out of breath?
The arms are a small muscle mass, so they fatigue locally well before the heart and lungs reach their limit. Lowering the resistance and turning the crank a little faster usually lets you work longer and get more cardio benefit.