Patent Application
20250205573
The subject disclosure generally relates to aspects that facilitate improving a swing associated with any of various sports (e.g., swinging a baseball/softball bat, golf club, tennis racket, hockey stick, lacrosse stick, cricket bat, etc.), and more specifically to an apparatus and methodology for improving an athletic swing via direct impact training or non-impact weighted resistance.
By way of background concerning conventional impact training, it is noted that such training typically comprises striking a first object with a second object. Sledgehammer training, for instance, is an excellent conditioning regiment for baseball players, which typically comprises the athlete striking a tire with a sledgehammer. Such training trains grip strength, core, the lower body as well as the upper body. For baseball players in particular, impact training improves explosiveness and trains baseball players to use their whole body to produce force.
Impact training for baseball with conventional sledgehammers, however, has many disadvantages. For instance, the form factor of a conventional sledgehammer is different than a baseball bat (e.g., bat grip diameter v. sledgehammer grip diameter, bat length v. sledgehammer length, etc.), which may inadvertently alter the path and muscle memory of a baseball player's swing. Also, because the weight of a conventional sledgehammer cannot be adjusted, multiple sledgehammers of varying weight need to be purchased, if training with a single sledgehammer of a particular weight is not desirable. Indeed, since the muscular strength of players in a baseball team often varies, purchasing a single sledgehammer of a particular weight for a baseball team is often impractical.
For non-impact training, many of these limitations also exist. For instance, rather than striking an object where range of motion is limited, an athlete may wish to engage in training sessions with a fuller range of motion via non-impact weighted resistance. To this end, because the desired weighted resistance may vary widely, it is again generally impractical to purchase a single training apparatus of a particular weight (e.g., a weighted bat of a particular weight).
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and methodology which overcomes these limitations. To this end, it should be noted that the above-described deficiencies are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects of the present disclosure, in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure, and is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
Various aspects directed towards a training apparatus are disclosed. In one example, a bat sleeve having a substantially cylindrical shape is disclosed, which is configured to remain affixed to a desired point of impact on a baseball bat. The bat sleeve includes a first open end having a first inner diameter and a first outer diameter, and a second open end having a second inner diameter and a second outer diameter.
In a second example, another training apparatus is disclosed. In this example, the training apparatus includes a bat portion and a sledgehammer portion. The bat portion has a form factor substantially similar to a lower portion of a baseball bat, whereas the sledgehammer portion has a form factor substantially similar to an upper portion of a sledgehammer.
In a third example, yet another training apparatus is disclosed. In this example, the training apparatus includes a striking portion and a sensor portion coupled to the striking portion. Here, the sensor portion is configured to sense an impact between the striking portion and a target.
These and other aspects of the invention will become more fully understood upon a review of the detailed description, which follows. Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewing the following description of specific, exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features of the present invention may be discussed relative to certain embodiments and figures below, all embodiments of the present invention can include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention discussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments it should be understood that such exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.
Various non-limiting embodiments are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
As discussed in the background, conventional impact and non-impact training techniques have several undesirable limitations with respect to improving an athlete's swing associated with any of various sports (e.g., swinging a baseball/softball bat, golf club, tennis racket, hockey stick, lacrosse stick, cricket bat, etc.). The various embodiments disclosed herein are directed towards overcoming these limitations by providing a swing training apparatus in which a weight of the apparatus may be readily adjusted. In a first exemplary embodiment, a set of bat sleeves of varying weights are contemplated, wherein each bat sleeve is configured to indicate a desired point of impact when applied to a conventional bat. In another exemplary embodiment, a sledgehammer apparatus having a bat-like form factor is contemplated in which attachments of varying weights may be attached to the sledgehammer head.
Turning now to
Referring next to
In order to ensure that the sleeve 110 firmly attaches to the bat 100 during use, various designs are contemplated. For instance, the inner portion of the sleeve 110 may be lined with a non-slip material, such as rubber. In another embodiment, the sleeve 110 may be configured to include tightening screws (e.g., via the holes illustrated in
Turning now to
Referring next to
Once either long barrel 301 or short barrel 302 is screwed into head 310, a batter may then attach a desired weight 320, 330 onto either end of head 310. For instance, as illustrated, male thread 312 of head 310 may be configured to screw into weight 320, and male thread 314 of head 310 may be configured to screw into weight 330. Here, it should be noted that head 310 may be configured to screw into weight attachments of various weights. During a training session, the weight attachments are thus interchangeable, which allows a batter to readily vary his/her workouts to train for situational hitting (e.g., heavy weight attachments for longer power swings, and lighter weight attachments for shorter two-strike swings).
In another aspect, it is contemplated that a sensor may be included into any of the embodiments disclosed herein. For instance, as illustrated in
Here, it is contemplated that sensor portions 420 and 425 are configured to collect various types of information associated with an impact. For instance, sensor portions 420 and 425 may be configured to map a location of an impact on the striking portions 410 and 415. Indeed, such information may be desirable for training purposes, since an athlete will often train to strike a target at a particular location on the striking portions 410 and 415 (e.g., the sweet spot of a bat). Referring next to
In another aspect of the disclosure, it is contemplated that sensor portions 420 and 425 may be configured to determine the force of each impact. To this end, it should be appreciated that such data may also be desirable for an athlete to know. For instance, once a baseball player determines that he/she is consistently striking a target at the desired point of impact 440 or 445, he/she may wish to increase the weight of the bat sleeve or sledgehammer to see if he/she continues to consistently strike the target at the desired point of impact 440 or 445. Such force may, for example, be incorporated into impact mapping 430 or 435 in the form of a heat map (e.g., where each “X” is displayed with a particular color corresponding to the force of impact).
Referring next to
It is contemplated that processor component 510 is configured to execute computer-readable instructions related to performing any of a plurality of functions. Processor component 510 can be a single processor or a plurality of processors which analyze and/or generate information utilized by memory component 520, sensor component 530, and/or communication component 540. Additionally or alternatively, processor component 510 may be configured to control one or more components of training device 500.
In another aspect, memory component 520 is coupled to processor component 510 and configured to store computer-readable instructions executed by processor component 510. Memory component 520 may also be configured to store any of a plurality of other types of data including data generated by sensor component 530 and/or communication component 540. Memory component 520 can be configured in a number of different configurations, including as random access memory, battery-backed memory, Solid State memory, hard disk, magnetic tape, etc. Various features can also be implemented upon memory component 520, such as compression and automatic back up (e.g., use of a Redundant Array of Independent Drives configuration). In one aspect, the memory may be located on a network, such as a “cloud storage” solution.
As illustrated, training device 500 may also include sensor component 530 and communication component 540. Here, sensor component 530 is configured to sense various aspects of an impact associated with a striking portion of the training device 500 and a target (e.g., impact of a target with striking portion 410 or 415), whereas communication component 540 is configured to facilitate communications with external entities (e.g., wireless communications). For instance, sensor component 530 may be configured to map a location of the impact on the striking portion (See e.g.,
Referring next to
In an aspect, process 600 begins at act 610 with the sensor component of training device 500 detecting an impact of training device 500 with a target. At act 620, the sensor component 530 then maps a location of the impact on the striking portion of the training device 500 (e.g., striking portion 410 or 415). As previously stated, it is also contemplated that sensor component 530 may be configured to determine a force of the impact on the striking portion of the training device 500. Accordingly, at act 630, the sensor component 530 determines a force of such impact. Process 600 then concludes at act 640 where the communication component 540 transmits information associated with the impact to external entities (e.g., via a wireless communication protocol).
One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that various embodiments for implementing the use of a computing device and related embodiments described herein can be implemented in connection with any computer or other client or server device, which can be deployed as part of a computer network or in a distributed computing environment, and can be connected to any kind of data store. Moreover, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such embodiments can be implemented in any computer system or environment having any number of memory or storage units, and any number of applications and processes occurring across any number of storage units. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment with server computers and client computers deployed in a network environment or a distributed computing environment, having remote or local storage.
Each computing object or device 1510, 1512, etc. and computing objects or devices 1520, 1522, 1524, 1526, 1528, etc. can communicate with one or more other computing objects or devices 1510, 1512, etc. and computing objects or devices 1520, 1522, 1524, 1526, 1528, etc. by way of the communications network 1540, either directly or indirectly. Even though illustrated as a single element in
There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurations that support distributed computing environments. For example, computing systems can be connected together by wired or wireless systems, by local networks or widely distributed networks. Currently, many networks are coupled to the Internet, which provides an infrastructure for widely distributed computing and encompasses many different networks, though any network infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications made incident to the techniques as described in various embodiments.
Thus, a host of network topologies and network infrastructures, such as client/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid architectures, can be utilized. In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, a client is usually a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration of
A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over a remote or local network, such as the Internet or wireless network infrastructures. The client process may be active in a first computer system, and the server process may be active in a second computer system, communicating with one another over a communications medium, thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clients to take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server. Any software objects utilized pursuant to the user profiling can be provided standalone, or distributed across multiple computing devices or objects.
In a network environment in which the communications network/bus 1540 is the Internet, for example, the computing objects or devices 1510, 1512, etc. can be Web servers with which the computing objects or devices 1520, 1522, 1524, 1526, 1528, etc. communicate via any of a number of known protocols, such as HTTP. As mentioned, computing objects or devices 1510, 1512, etc. may also serve as computing objects or devices 1520, 1522, 1524, 1526, 1528, etc., or vice versa, as may be characteristic of a distributed computing environment.
As mentioned, several of the aforementioned embodiments apply to any device wherein it may be desirable to utilize a computing device according to the aspects disclosed herein. It is understood, therefore, that handheld, portable and other computing devices and computing objects of all kinds are contemplated for use in connection with the various embodiments described herein. Accordingly, the below general purpose remote computer described below in
Although not required, any of the embodiments can partly be implemented via an operating system, for use by a developer of services for a device or object, and/or included within application software that operates in connection with the operable component(s). Software may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by one or more computers, such as client workstations, servers or other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that network interactions may be practiced with a variety of computer system configurations and protocols.
With reference to
Computer 1610 typically includes a variety of computer readable media and can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 1610. The system memory 1630 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM). By way of example, and not limitation, memory 1630 may also include an operating system, application programs, other program modules, and program data.
A user may enter commands and information into the computer 1610 through input devices 1640 A monitor or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 1621 via an interface, such as output interface 1650. In addition to a monitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers and a printer, which may be connected through output interface 1650.
The computer 1610 may operate in a networked or distributed environment using logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such as remote computer 1670. The remote computer 1670 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or any other remote media consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 1610. The logical connections depicted in
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements.
The aforementioned systems have been described with respect to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated that such systems and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components coupled to other components rather than included within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it is noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and any one or more middle layers may be provided to couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Any components described herein may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but generally known by those of skill in the art.
In view of the exemplary systems described supra, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter can be appreciated with reference to the various figures. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are described as a series of steps, it is to be understood and appreciated that the disclosed subject matter is not limited by the order of the steps, as some steps may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other steps from what is described herein. Moreover, not all disclosed steps may be required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter.
While the various embodiments have been described in connection with the exemplary embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function without deviating there from. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/989,163 filed May 24, 2018, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/510,592, filed on May 24, 2017, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below in their entirety and for all applicable purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62510592 | May 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15989163 | May 2018 | US |
| Child | 18935264 | US |
