Patent Application
20170266497
Exercise has long been recognized for its many health benefits and, as a result, more and more people are turning to exercise as part of a daily regimen to improve fitness, lose weight, combat hypertension and improve one's mental health. Whether at the gym or at home, people are exercising more and enjoying the fruits of that labor. Gym memberships are on the rise, as is the purchase of home gym equipment that allow users to exercise in the privacy of one's home. Most gyms offer a wide array of stand alone fitness machines, from tread mills to stair climbers to rowing machines to weight lifting apparatus. In some cases, these machines offer some minor adjustments to the physical stature of the user, but the adjustments are typically incremental size modifications like the position of a pedals on an exercise bike or the seat position on a rowing machine. Unfortunately, these same machines many times come with a standard program that is one-size fits all, in that no adjustment or modification is made for the particular physiological characteristics of the user. As a result, a person with short legs may be asked to perform the same strides on a stair claimer as a long legged person, which can lead to inefficiencies, discomfort, and even injuries based on long term misapplication of the proper program. These issues can lead to a user quitting the equipment or even giving up an exercise program due to frustration over an improper or unsafe program that is ill-suited for the user.
The present invention relates to fitness equipment that includes a profile application to match user anthropometric characteristics of the user to the function of the machine. Many fitness machines include user queries about weight, but simply knowing how much someone weighs does not reveal much about their overall condition. The present invention utilizes various anthropometric measurements, i.e., systematic measurements of the size and shape of the human body, to formulate a workout program that is tailored to the specific user. For example, people of different heights have differing maximum walk and run speeds, and the present invention utilizes the user's size to design a cardio program for an exercise equipment, such as a treadmill, that accounts for the user's stride length and cardio condition. Utilizing profiles that change the function of the machine to optimize the user experience is safer and produces greater results than fitness equipment that do not take into account the user's anthropometrics.
These and other features of the present invention will best be understood by reference to the detailed description of the present invention along with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is an exercise equipment, and program for an exercise equipment, that inputs user specific anthropometric data and then utilizes the data to create a user specific workout program based on the user's physical characteristics. The user inputs of personal anthropometric data includes, but is not limited to, sex, height, weight, goals, maximum heart rate, maximum run speed, maximum walk speed, and VO2 max. These inputs are used to optimize a workout program either in single use or multiple use applications. Moreover, data can be stored locally, on a network, or transferred to a cloud based repository for recall.
A goal of the present invention is to construct the industry's most personalized exercise experience. The present invention allows users to easily upload and download workouts and progressions, and the graphic user interface interacts with all leading applications and wearables. Further, there is tremendous flexibility in the configuration of the user interface for a broad base of users. Added features allow users to effect a machine reservation, EULAs and toggles that allow the facility to ‘tune’ the treadmill to their demographic. Moreover, the present invention has as a foundation an extremely robust web-based back end to allow machine auto-updates and integration with all third party asset and retention analytics groups. The present invention achieves each of these goals and more.
The display 14 of the present invention includes a “Personalize” option that allows the user to enter specific data about the user. The selection of the “Personalize” option will prompt the processor to request of the user certain data, such as the user's age, sex, height, weight, goals, maximum heart rate, maximum run speed (or other equipment maximum performance), maximum walk speed, and maximum volumetric oxygen intake. This personal anthropometric data may be stored by the fitness apparatus in a local storage, communicated to a local server via a Local Area Network (LAN) connection, or sent to a remote server via the internet or stored in the Cloud. The user can then recall such information on the next day when using this machine, or a commonly connected machine, so that the workout can be modified to match the user's goals and specific anthropometric characteristics. For example, a shorter runner will take fewer strides than a longer legged runner, so an equivalent running workout profile may call for a reduced strides per minute aspect of the workout. Alternatively, a person with a higher maximum run speed can tailor a workout that is designed to a specific fitness level based on the user's specific achieved fitness condition, rather than a profile without consideration of these user specific inputs.
Another feature of the present invention is the ability to mirror the display on a remote unit, such as a tablet 32, smartphone, or desktop computer, such that a trainer, coach, or physician can design or control the workout of the user. The ability to mirror the equipment's display 14, and the equipment's controls thereby, is a unique feature of the present invention.
The advantages of the present invention are that the user has a program that is specifically designed for his or her body type, fitness level, and specific personalized characteristics. This results in a more efficient and more targeted workout that is safer, and more likely to keep the user coming back to the selected equipment. The ability to download new base profiles from the internet and modify the profiles is an enhancement to the present invention, where the workout profile generator may be generally adapted to modify certain workout profiles based on known relationships between anthropometric information and workout performance.
The foregoing descriptions and depictions are not intended to be limiting, but rather illustrative only of the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that many alterations and modifications could be made to the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is intended to include all such alterations and modifications. Accordingly, except where expressly stated to the contrary, the scope of the invention is understood to be guided by the appended claims using their plain and ordinary meanings, in light of but not limited by the foregoing discussion and drawings herein.
This application claims priority from U.S. Application No. 62/308,426, filed Mar. 15, 2016 incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62308426 | Mar 2016 | US |
