As shown in
Many exercises involve equipment that helps or allows freedom of movement of certain parts of the body to isolate certain muscles or muscle groups. Exercise equipment is often costly or takes up a substantial amount of space. It is thus desirable to have a single piece of exercise equipment that offers a large range of modes of use, so that it can be used on many different muscle groups.
The present invention addresses this problem by providing a versatile exercise device that can be used in many different exercises but requires only a small amount of storage space.
One preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in
Ring 101 may be made of any rigid material, such as plastic (ABS, HDPE, LDPE, or similar), metal, or any other suitable rigid material. Ring 101 may be solid or at least partially hollow; if portions (or the whole) of ring 101 are hollow, it may be filled with sand, water, weights, or other material to increase the mass of the ring 101 (and thus increase resistance of the entire device for exercising). Alternatively, ring 101 might include hooks or other fasteners to allow a user to attach weights to the embodiment for the same purpose. In some embodiments, ring 101 may be cushioned, including without limitation upholstery, durable soft foam, disposable foam covers, or other alternatives as suits the needs of a particular embodiment.
Bowl 102 may be made of a rigid material, such as stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, or other rigid material. Alternatively, bowl 102 may be made of a non-rigid material such as cloth, nylon, mesh, or rubber, with padding added to bowl 102 if desired. Bowl 102 could also take a variety of shapes, including regular geometric shapes (hemisphere, cone, square, etc.) or irregular shapes (two cup shapes for accepting the user's feet). The term “bowl” is used for reference to the component of the invention and is not intended to limit the shape of any embodiment.
Wheels 103 may be any sort of wheel, though the optimal embodiment would use casters that may rotate around their stems allowing the embodiment to be moved in alternating or different directions easily. Depending on the embodiment, the wheels may take on a number of forms, or arrangements. Greater stability may be achieved may positioned the wheels 103 radially further for the center of the device, using more wheels 103, using larger wheels 103, or using locking casters for some exercises that so require. Wheels 103 include stems; in some embodiments these stems may be of adjustable length to modify the difficulty of a particular exercise. Alternatively, a caster having adjustable resistance may be used to allow the user to increase or decrease the difficulty of moving the embodiment.
A user of the embodiment of 102 may place their feet in bowl 102, allowing them to move their lower body freely using the wheels 103. For example, a user might assume a typical “push-up” position and place their feet in bowl 102, and then the user could exercise their lower body by moving the embodiment with their legs.
A top view of another embodiment of the invention is shown in
A side view of the embodiment of
Another embodiment of the invention is shown in side view in
Another embodiment of the invention is shown in
Attachment elements 504 and cord 503 may any of a number of different types as appropriate. Attachment elements 504 may be hooks, carabiners, or other attachment methods depending on cord 503 and the particular embodiment.
In some embodiments, the invention's height may be adjusted relative to the floor. For example, each of wheels 103 may include an adjustable height leg, such that the wheels 103 may be disposed closer to or further from ring 101. If each wheel 103 is adjustable individually, as in some embodiments, then the ring may be adjusted vertically or even tilted (such as by lengthening one or more, but not all, wheels 103) to allow for more variety in different exercises. The adjustable height leg may comprise concentric cylinders and a locking mechanism, so that lengthening the leg involve disposing the outer and inner cylinders further apart, and shortening the leg involves disposing the outer and inner cylinders with greater overlap. Alternatively, the adjustable height leg may be detachable from ring 101, such that spacers can be inserted between ring 101 and wheel 103, such that lengthening is accomplished by increasing the number of spacers (or using larger spacers) between ring 101 and wheels 103.
Alternatively, ring 101 may of adjustable thickness, allowing the top surface of ring 101 to have an adjustable height relative to the floor surface. For example, ring 101 may be comprised of two detachable ring sections, and spacers may be inserted to expand ring 101. In another embodiment, the adjustable height of ring 101is changed via one or more threaded rods, either central or at several points along ring 101.
In another embodiment, ring 101 may include a scissor lift component, either internal to ring 101 or between ring 101 and wheels 103. If the scissor lift is disposed internal to ring 101, then ring 101 comprises two sections with the scissor lift between them. In still another embodiment, wheels 103 may be attached to a platform which is attached to bowl 102 via an adjustable linkage, such as a threaded rod or a rod with pin-locking holes.
The above descriptions are only examples and are not intended to be limitations of the invention.