Patent Application
20060089242
The present invention relates to exercise machines which use a form of resistance to exercise specific muscle groups of the body. More specifically, the present invention is a total abdominal exercise machine employing a weighted exercise ball thrown by a user against an adjustable-position ball return mechanism.
There is an ever increasing demand for abdominal exercise machines. It is currently the most sought after area of the human body to trim, tone and tighten. There are many varieties of abdominal exercise machines on the market. Some target a specific abdominal area, such as the main abs, or the obliques. Some provide for a more comprehensive workout, targeting multiple areas.
Generally, the majority of the exercise machines which work the abs are weight or resistance based. Most of these are designed as simple, repetitive motion machines, allowing the user little stimulation beyond that of the body part being exercised. That is, the exercise does not involve the user on any but a purely mechanical level. It does not engage any of the user's other abilities or interests during the routine. It is not fun.
An exercise that is fun is more likely to be performed. This, of course will be better for the user. Thus there exists a commercial opportunity in the field of this invention for an exercise machine which tones and strengthens the total abdominal muscle group and is fun to use.
One engaging activity that is relatively fun to do is that of tossing a ball against a surface which returns it back to you. This requires concentration on the part of the person performing the activity, especially if some degree of aim is involved, and once a rhythm is established, the successful repetition tends to entice the person to continue. If this activity can be incorporated into an exercise regimen, a sporty, fun way to exercise may be achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,367 by Christopher Arsenault discloses a machine designed for exercising the abs which utilizes a ball thrown at a target. Arsenault's machine appears to be limited in its variability, having little range of physical adjustment. Adjustment to the position of operative components of an exercise machine varies the user's motion during a routine. This is important in muscle conditioning since a variation in the direction of force applied to a muscle during successive routines will help that muscle more fully develop.
Thus there remains a potential to develop an exercise machine which produces a benefit for the total abdominal muscle group, provides a significant range of adjustment for the interactive components and is engaging and fun to use.
An exercise machine is disclosed which is designed to exercise the upper body, focusing particularly on the core abdominal muscles but also on the arms, shoulders and chest. The machine comprises the primary components of a structural frame with an adjustable seating mechanism, a handlebar and one or more position-adjustable targets against which a user throws a weighted ball.
The machine provides two modes of exercise. In the seated mode the user exercises the abdominal muscles by rocking the body first backward and then forward while seated in the articulated, adjustable-resistance, back-supported seating mechanism. The back support element of the seating mechanism is adjustable such that it may be lowered into a flat position, effectively converting the seat into a bench. In bench mode, the user, laying face up on the bench and holding onto the handlebar for stability, exercises the lower abs by performing leg-raising crunches. The machine is designed to be uniquely stimulating and fun to use.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the exercise machine has a pair of trampoline-like targets. The targets comprise a taught, springy surface against which a medicine ball thrown by a user will rebound back to the user. Their positions are adjustable such that they may be spread or narrowed to the desired horizontal placement, tipped to the proper vertical alignment and rotated to face the user. A user seated on the machine throws a weighted ball toward one of the targets. The medicine ball strikes the target and rebounds back toward the user. The user catches the ball and throws it again, either toward the same target or alternating between the two targets.
The seat of the exercise machine has an adjustable angle of inclination and utilizes a resistance-adjustable, articulated joint to provide the user some lower back support during exercise. It is configured so that as the user leans backward, the weight of the body pressing against the back of the seat forces it to recline. The mechanical action of the articulated joint lifts the seat bottom and the user's buttocks upward. When the user stops his rearward lean and begins to pull himself forward in the seat, the shift in the user's weight pressing down on the seat bottom tends to leverage the seat back forward, supporting the user's lower back as he returns himself to the upright position. The user rocks backward and forward while seated in the seat. He exercises the abdominals as he breaks his rearward fall and then again as he pulls himself back to his starting position. The seat back is not designed to assist the user in stopping or returning from a backward thrust, it simply supports the back during these motions, helping to prevent injury.
The angle of inclination of the seat is adjustable. This adjustability permits the user to increase or decrease the difficulty of the abdominal workout according to the user's particular strength level. A angled bench, in effect, applises resistance to the user's abdomen. A lower angle of inclination generates a more strenuous workout of the abominals during the rocking motion. The weight of the medicine ball as it is received during the user's backward motion, held and then thrown toward a target during the forward motion adds resistance to the user's abdominal muscles and also benefits the upper body muscles in the chest, back, shoulders and arms. The seat back support action is also adjustable so that users with weaker abdominal muscles may receive increased back support during the exercise, and vice versa for users with stronger abdominal muscles.
The seat also converts to an adjustable inclined bench by adjusting the seat back support mechanism so that the seat back lies flat and in line with the seat bottom. With the seat converted to the flat configuration, the user may lay face-up on the bench while performing a leg-lifting, knee-to-chest, crunch exercise. The adjustability of the angle of inclination of the bench permits varying degrees of intensity for the crunch exercise and also allows the user to focus attention on different areas within the abs.
The handlebar is a dual purpose attachment, consisting of a padded middle section and hand grips at both ends. The padded middle section is designed as a knee bolster. In the seated position, the user places the legs over the handlebars locking the back of the knees over the knee bolster. This helps keep the legs stationary during exercise.
In the bench mode, the handlebar also provides stability to the user. Laying face-up on the bench, the user positions himself with his head toward the front of the machine. To exercise, the user grasps the hand grips while lifting the legs and pulling the knees back toward the chest in a crunch exercise.
To use the machine in the seated mode, the user adjusts the targets as desired. Then he adjusts the angle of inclination and back support of the seat. Sitting with his legs over the handlebars, the user pulls his upper body forward, engaging the abdominal muscles, while extending the arms and throwing the ball at one of the targets. The ball rebounds from the springy target and the user catches it, retracting his arms and leaning backward as he absorbs the energy of the returning ball. As he leans backward, the seat back reclines. Then engaging the abdominal muscles again, the user breaks and stops his rearward motion and shifts his weight to pull himself forward. The weight-leveraged articulating action of the seat back partially supports the user's back during this breaking, stopping and forward motion. As he reaches an upright position, the user extends his arms, throwing the ball toward one of the targets and the cycle repeats itself. This repetitive action, while exercising the abdominal muscles also exercises the arms, shoulders and chest, provides a cardiovascular workout and is a lively and enjoyable activity. Because the activity is engaging and enjoyable, a user of the machine will tend to use it more frequently and for longer periods of time, thus benefitting himself in terms of his overall fitness.
The user may vary the workout, adjusting the machine or routine to target specific body areas. For example, if the targets are widely spread, the ball tossing action will tend to target the left and right obliques. Alternatively, the user may simply sit in the seat, rocking with or without the ball in hand, working only the main, frontal abs.
To use the machine in the bench mode, the user lowers the seat back into the bench position. Adjusting the angle of inclination, the user lays face up on the bench with his head or neck positioned in the vicinity of the handlebar. Grasping the hand grips, the user lifts his legs and pulls his knees in toward his chest, tightening the lower abdominals. Releasing the knees and returning the legs slowly to the floor completes the crunch exercise cycle.
The machine may be folded compactly for storage by raising the support legs, folding the seat flat and down against the frame and by folding the targets down against their support arms and rotating the support arms around under or near the main frame.
In a second embodiment of the invention, the machine may have only a single target. The position of this target is adjustable in a manner similar to either of the targets in the previous embodiment. In this embodiment, the user would need to adjust the position of the lone target to the left, right and center to exercise the same muscle groups as the two-target embodiment.
The gender of the “user” has been depicted as male throughout this discussion. This is only to simplify the writeup and is not meant to exclude use of the exercise machine by a person of the female gender.
In the exemplary embodiments described above, three or four supports are utilized to interconnect the upper ring and the lower ring; however a lesser or a greater number can be used without departing from the teachings of the present invention.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are discussed hereinafter in reference to the following drawings, in which:
As is illustrated in
The main frame 1 comprises a T-shaped structural element having a main bar 6 and a cross bar 7. The structure is supported in the front by a pair of left and right support legs 8 and 9 and stabilized in the back by a bottom stabilizer bar 10 as shown in
Seat 2 is comprised of the primary components of a padded seat bottom 11 and a padded seat back 12. The seats components and their padding may be comprised of any materials commonly used for such purposes.
Seat back 12 is connected to a pair of seat back support arms 13. The support arms 13 are generally straight along the area (13A) connected to the rear of seat back 12 and are curved in the area (13B) below the seat back as shown in
Seat bottom 11 is supported by a pair of seat bottom support bars 14 which are hingedly connected by an upper sliding connector 18 at their front ends to the upper end of main bar 6 as shown in
The seat bottom support bars 14 are also supported by seat support arm 15 at a point on the support bars beneath the rear end of seat bottom 11. The connection of support arm 15 to support bar 14 is achieved through weight-based, adjustable-support, mechanically-leveraged, double-action hinge (or articulated) joints 16 which rotatably interconnect seat back support arms 13 and seat bottom support bars 14 with the curved portions 13B of seat back support arms 13 as shown in
The amount of back support provided by the seat back may be adjusted by varying the points of interconnection of the seat support arm, seat bottom support bars and seat back support arms within the articulated joint. This variable interconnection may be achieved as shown in
Seat support arm 15 is connected at its lower end to main bar 6 via a lower sliding connector 17. The lower sliding connector 17 may be of any type which is able to be unlocked from a suitable initial position on main bar 6, slid in either direction along the length of the main bar and locked in place at a suitable alternate position by the user of the exercise machine.
The upper and lower sliding connectors (18 and 17) working in conjunction with articulated joint 16 permit the height and inclination of seat 2 to be adjusted as desired by the user. Their operation also enables seat back 12 to be folded completely backwards such that it rests against seat bottom support bars 14. In this position, the seat back support arms 13 come to rest in line with the seat bottom bars. This situation is shown in
Left and right targets 3 and 4 are each comprised of a resilient surface 19 bound to an outer ring 20 and a target arm 23 as shown in
Targets rings 20 are mounted on target arms 23. The rings are connected to the outer ends of the target arms via a vertical adjustment connection 24 as shown in
The inner ends of target arms 23 are connected to the exercise machine at either end of cross bar 7. This attachment is made via a horizontally rotatable connection 25 which permits movement of the two arms toward or away from each other as well as the temporary fixing of the arms into position after such movement by the user. At the extreme, the arms may be rotated beneath the main bar 6 for storage of the exercise machine as shown in
The handlebar 5 is a simple bar, comprised of any suitable material and shaped as a straight center section (not shown) with left and right angularly projected handgrips 5A and 5B at each end. The shape of the handgrip bends is designed to offer the user ergonomically comfortable body stabilization during exercise. Surrounding the center section of the handlebar is a padded knee bolster 5C. The knee bolster is comprised of any material suitable for use as a durable and comfortable pad over which to rest the inside of the user's knees during exercise.
Left and right legs 8 and 9 are structural tubular sections formed with suitable knee bends and fitted with shin bolsters 8A and 9A as shown in
The connection of the main bar 6 to the stabilizer bar 10 is a rigid connection as required for the type of materials used. Left and right legs 8 and 9 may be attached to cross bar 7 in a vertically rotatable leg connection 26A as shown in
The exercise machine of the present invention has two primary modes of exercise. These are the seat mode and the bench mode.
In the seat mode, seat back 12 is in the raised position as shown in
In another application of the seat mode of the invention, the user simply rocks back and forth in seat 2 with our without holding on to the weighted ball or any other weighted object. This action primarily engages the main abdominals.
In the bench mode, seat back 12 is reclined to touch the seat bottom support bars 14 transforming the seat 2 into a bench (11 and 12 together) as shown in
To fold the machine for storage, first seat back 12 is folded down until it comes to rest against seat bottom support bars 14 as in the bench exercise mode. Second, targets 3 and 4 are folded down against target arms 23 as shown in
In a second embodiment of the present invention the exercise machine may be manufactured with only a single target. In this embodiment, the configuration may be adjusted as shown in
The single target 31, including the resilient surface, outer ring and target arm is of the same basic design as the target of the prior embodiment. The difference to the target lies in its method of connection to the main frame. Target attachment to the main frame is accomplished via an extended horizontally rotational connection 34 as shown in
Front support leg 32 comprises a bar connected at its upper point to the main frame 30 by a support bar hinge connection 35 as shown in
Ankle bolsters 33 comprise a single bar, connected to front leg 32 as shown in
The second embodiment again has two modes of exercise: the seat mode and the bench mode.
In seat mode, the user adjusts target 31 to the to the center, left or right and vertically as desired and sits upon the seat with legs over the knee bolster and behind the ankle bolster 33. As in the prior embodiment, the user tosses a weighted ball at the target while rocking back and forth in the seat. With the target in a left or right position, the user exercises the oblique abdominals in addition to the main abdominals. With the target adjusted to a central position, the user exercises primarily the main abdominals. Alternatively as before, the user may simply rock in the seat with or without a weighted object.
Use of the second embodiment in the bench mode is the same as in the first embodiment. A view of the machine configured for the bench mode is shown in
To fold the machine for storage, the seat is folded into the bench configuration as in the prior embodiment. This is as shown in
In any of the above embodiments, the act of tossing the weighted ball against one or more targets engages not only the abs but also the shoulders and arms. This strengthens these body areas and further provides a cardiovascular workout for the user.
Because many varying and different embodiments may be made within the scope of the inventive concept herein taught, and because many modifications may be made in the embodiments herein detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirements of the law, it is to be understood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
