Patent Application
20140274616
The present invention relates generally to physical training machines, and in particular, exercise machines structured to support twistable body bending for exercising the abdominal muscles of a user.
With the growing awareness of health problems caused by lack of exercise, popularity of exercising machines has been continuously increasing. Typically, these machines are designed for movements of specific parts of the body. For example, abdominal machines may be structured to induce body exercises to strengthen the abdominal muscles.
Existing abdominal machines, however, are usually designed based on variations of sit-ups exercises. Effective abdominal exercises may require a combination of movements involving muscles of different parts of the body including the waist, legs, etc. Although there are many exercising machines available for exercising different parts of the body, these multipurpose exercising machines are usually heavy and expensive devices. Further, these devices are often directed for a user to perform one degree of exercise movements at a time.
Therefore, traditional abdomen machines are not structured economically and effectively to facilitate a user to exercise abdomen muscles with multi degrees of movements at a time.
An exercise machine supporting twistable body bending for strengthening a user's abdominal muscles (e.g. allowing twistable pivoting movements) can include a base frame having a seat pad, a front leg and a rear leg. The seat pad can be elevated with the front legs and rear legs to provide ground support. A mounting assembly may be rotably mounted on the base frame over the rear legs. The mounting assembly can have a front pivot joint and a rear pivot joint. A backrest assembly can be pivotally coupled to the mounting assembly via the front pivot joint and the rear pivot joint for swivel movements along the base frame. The backrest assembly can include a backrest pad, lever bars and backrest support bars affixed to the backrest pad. The front ends of the backrest support bars can be pivotally coupled to the front pivot joint. The front ends of the level bars can be pivotally coupled to the rear pivot joint. The swivel movements can be controlled via a adjustable control mechanism. A user resting against the backrest pad can be allowed to cause the swivel movements while sitting on the seat pad. The adjustable control mechanism can include a height control adjustably attached to the mounting assembly to provide a stop height support of the backrest pad at the rear end of the backrest bars.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The present invention is illustrated by way of examples and not limitations in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as examples of external surfaces, named components, connections between components, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known components or methods have not been described in detail but rather in a block diagram in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Further specific numeric references such as first, second, third, etc., may be made. However, the specific numeric references should not be interpreted as a literal sequential order but rather interpreted as references to different objects. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. The specific details may be varied from and still be contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.
Base frame 149 can provide floor (or ground) support for movements of pivoting frame 147. In one embodiment, base frame 149 may be oriented longitudinally along a rear side and a front side. Seat pad 101 may be affixed to base frame 149. Seat pad 101 may be elevated to provide seating support for a user of exercise machine 100. Base frame 149 may include front legs 121 on the front side and rear legs 123 on the rear side. Foot rest bar 125 may be detachably affixed to front legs 121 to provide foot support for a user sitting on seat pad 101.
Pivoting frame 147 may be rotably mounted on base frame 149 via mounting assembly 129 over real legs 123 to allow pivoting frame 147 to be longitudinally oriented (e.g. aligned) or having an angular relationship with a longitudinal direction of base frame 149. Mounting assembly 129 can include front pivot joint 105 and rear pivot joint 109 to enable pivot movements of pivoting frame 147. Thus, a user of device 100 can sit on seat pad 101 of base frame 149 to perform exercise movements folding or twisting the user's upper body via the pivot movements of pivoting frame 147.
In one embodiment, pivot frame 147 can include a backrest assembly pivotally coupled to mounting assembly 129 via front pivot joint 105 and rear pivot joint 109. The backrest assembly can include backrest pad 103, handle bars 107, lever bars 113 and backrest support bars 127. Backrest pad 103 can provide support to a user's upper back to make bending or twisting movements via pivot frame 147 while sitting on seat pad 101. Backrest support bars 127 may be fixedly attached to the backside of backrest pad 103.
In one embodiment, pushing/resisting forces may be applied via the backside of backrest pad 103 for pivoting movements of pivoting frame 147 via lever bars 113. For example, the front lever ends of lever bars 113 towards the front (or forward) direction of backrest pad 103 may be pivotally coupled with mounting assembly 129 at rear pivot joint 109. Lever bars 113 may rotate pivotally around rear pivot joint 109 to push or receive backrest pad 103 via the rear ends (or lower ends) of lever bars 113.
Handle bars 107 may be affixed adjustably to the lower ends of lever bars 113 in a transverse manner at rear pivot joint 109. A user may apply force to rotate lever bars 113 back and forth to cause pivoting movements of pivoting frame 147 via hands holding handle bars 113. Angular relationships between handle bars 107 and backrest pad 103 may be adjusted via selectable positions for pin insert 115 of a locking mechanism of handle bars 107 at rear pivot joint 109. A user may make push/pull efforts through handle bars 107 to cause backrest pad 103 to pivot around front pivot joint 105.
In one embodiment, device 100 may include an adjustable control mechanism to control swivel movements (e.g. multi-degrees or dimensions of rotational and/or pivoting or other applicable motions) of pivoting frame 147 via mounting assembly 129 including front pivot joint 105 and rear pivot joint 109. The adjustable control mechanism can include position bar 117 of a height control and alignment pin insert 111 to provide constraints on movement paths or manners of pivot frame 147.
Position bar 117 may be adjustably attached to the rear end or rear side of mounting assembly 129 to configure a stop height or a lowest level for backrest pad 103 to pivot backwards. In one embodiment, height control 117 may be pivotally positioned around rear pivot joint 109 at the lower end of height control 117 via one of a fixed number (e.g. 4, 5, 6 or other applicable number) of apertures 119. Each aperture 119 may correspond to a different height at the higher end of position bar 117 to stop the rear end of backrest pad 103 to define, for example, a starting position for a user to make forward swivel, bending or pivoting movements.
In one embodiment, alignment pin 111 can be inserted to latch rotational positions between base frame 149 and pivoting frame 147. Thus, when alignment pin 111 is inserted, backrest pad 103 and seat pad 101 may be substantially aligned longitudinally to allow a user to focus on body pivoting movements without rotational twisting effects. Without alignment pin 111 (e.g. when removed), backrest pad 103 and seat pad 101 may not be aligned to cause twisting or swiveling forces for exercising. Backrest pad 103 and seat pad 101 may be positioned with enough space in between each other to allow rotational and/or pivoting movements of backrest pad 103.
In one embodiment, the rear ends (or upper ends) of lever bars 113 may be slidably coupled (e.g. separately on left and right sides under backrest pad 103) with the backrest support bars 127 in a pivoting manner. Thus, the rear ends of lever bars 113 can slide or move longitudinally across backrest support bars 127 while pivoting around rear pivot joint 109 to allow lever bars 113 to apply pushing or resisting forces for the pivoting movement of backrest support bars 127.
In some embodiments, the backrest assembly can include pivot rods 151 (one or more) detachably affixed transversely to lever bars 113 at the rear ends of the lever bars 113. Pivot rods 151 may be pivotably attached to rear pivot joint 109 of the mounting assembly. Handles bars 107 may be detachably affixed to pivot rods 151 to form an adjustable angular relationship between handle bars 107 and backrest pad 103 via, for example, pin insert 115 to facility hand gripping.
Receiver structure 133 of base frame 149 of
According to one embodiment, mounting assembly 129 may include position locking structure 139 arranged near real pivot joint 109. Position locking structure 139 may be configured with apertures 119 circumferentially spaced (e.g. equally) to adjustably lock in position bar 117 pivotally for a height control. The lower end of position bar 117 may be pivotally affixed to position locking structure 139 includes via height locking pin 141 selecting one of apertures 119.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing description and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
