Patent Application
20220355157
Learning a handstand is a great challenge for athletes, as a variety of motor movements are required to perform it. In order to do a handstand, it is necessary to coordinate finger work, hand angle, forearm strength, shoulder angle, shoulder opening, hip angle, leg position, head tilt and gaze fixed point, for example. For this reason, a handstand requires a highly complex system of control over various muscles and body regions. People practicing a handstand almost always use a wall as a means of support, so it is mainly the feet that are supported. The wall is used to move the legs in case of loss of balance and to place both feet or one foot up against the wall for the purpose of temporary stabilisation. This has the disadvantage that the body, having come to rest, must be put in motion again by means of larger movements of the legs, whereas for the handstand itself, the smallest movements of various parts of the body are in themselves sufficient to maintain or lose balance. Special devices also exist that support the torso or the legs, with the effect of stabilising a freely held handstand. However, it is a known problem that people who train in this way can almost never hold a handstand again without these aids, as all the muscles and nerves involved are conditioned to the aforementioned aids.
The present invention was developed against the background of the prior art described above. The object of the invention is to propose a handstand training device by which the user can learn to perform a handstand and eventually maintain a freely held handstand without using any device.
This object is achieved by providing a support element for the handstand training device with a substantially vertically extending contact surface for the arm in question. During training, one hand is placed with the lower palm on a hand contact surface, or is enclosed by it, in such a way that the arm is supported against the arm contact surface of the support element. If the body and legs are accelerated upwards in a rotational movement, the arm is brought into a fixed position in the direction of the user's swing due to the static character of the contact surface, which significantly inhibits tipping over, so that the lower centre of gravity region of the user is largely fixed. The arm is held in a vertical position and rollover is safely prevented. The fact that it is not the feet, legs or back that are supported, but the arm, results in a special training effect that enables a freely held handstand to be maintained after a certain period of practice, since the user can train the body regions of the legs, hips and shoulder girdle which are primarily responsible for balance in a targeted manner without having to set them in motion unnecessarily by placing his feet up against the wall and therefore bringing them out of balance once they have been aligned with each other in a concentrated manner. The handstand training device therefore provides the user with a substitute for heavily trained forearm muscles that press the fingers against the floor surface, providing a stable foundation in the user's lower centre of gravity area rather than providing stabilisation in the upper centre of gravity area of the hips, legs and back.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention with non-limiting additional features are described below.
The base element can be a stand that can be placed on a floor, for example, which has a contact surface for a hand that is also essentially horizontal in relation to the horizontal plane of the floor.
The base element can also be designed as a fastening element for an external item of sports equipment, which in particular has a bar. The bar then forms the contact surface for the hand that grips the bar. This allows the handstand training device to be used on other diverse items of sports equipment that are not part of the invention. Fixation on bars parallel to the surface of the floor allows various forms of exercise to be carried out on these or on parallel bars. For example, the gymnast can perform handstand push-ups or other exercises where the arm support is not only fixed vertically but at any angle that can be rotated around the bars, allowing adjustment to a changing arm angle relative to the arm support.
The training device is designed in such a way that during a handstand, the body weight force is transferred from the hand to the hand contact surface and thus the base element or stand or the item of sports equipment is kept stable on the floor even when the force of the arm is acting on the support element.
At least one pillar is attached to the base element, which is essentially vertical in relation to the floor or the hand contact surface, and on which the support element is arranged. During use, the fingers of the hand placed on the palm contact surface, with the exception of the thumb, point in the direction of the pillar.
A spacer is provided between the pillar and the support element which is arranged substantially orthogonally with respect to the pillar.
The spacer has a guide element and the pillar has a complementary guide, so the spacer is designed to be movable along the pillar and therefore adjustable in height. This allows the arm to be supported in different areas, for example in the area of the forearm down to the wrist or in the area of the upper arm. By successively reducing the height of the spacer, the user can accustom his nervous system to a reduced support effect that allows him to become independent of the device. Unlike practising with a wall, it is possible to quickly achieve gradual release from support and free holding of a handstand without any training device.
The spacer can be designed to be adjustable in length and, in particular, telescopically extendable and retractable and/or lockable. This allows the position of the support element to be adapted to the user's anatomy or their finger length, which results in a different position of the hand on the hand contact surface and therefore a variation in the distance between the arm and the support element.
The pillar has a scale for adjusting the height. In this way, the support elements can be adjusted to the same height when using two training devices, one for each arm.
In a further embodiment, the handstand training device is formed in a single piece and is manufactured, for example, by injection moulding. This makes the training device particularly compact and its production very cost-effective.
In another embodiment, two spaced pillars are provided and the support element is arranged between the two pillars, preferably so as to be adjustable in height.
The support element is attached to a horizontally running retaining element, which is designed, for example, as a strip or crosspiece and runs essentially horizontally. The two ends of the retaining element are each removably attached to one of the two pillars (15).
Several hook-shaped recesses are provided for fastening the retaining element to the pillars in which the retaining element can be hooked in at the desired height.
The stand has an anti-slip structure or coating on the underside and/or the contact surface for the hand.
The invention further comprises a set of two handstand training devices having the combinations of features described above for the use of both hands or the support of both arms. The handstand training devices are placed next to each other accordingly when in use.
In detail, the figures show the following:
Functionally identical elements bear the same reference numerals.
In the following, exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in detail with reference to the drawings, whereby further advantageous features are shown in the drawings.
A vertical pillar 15 with an approximately square cross-section is attached to the rear end of the stand 11, i.e. the pillar 15 has the shape of a square profile. The pillar 15 has a groove 18 that is vertical or parallel to its longitudinal axis which serves as a guide for a guide element 17.
The guide element 17 is attached to the pillar 15 in a continuously vertically movable manner. It has a cube-like outer shape. A corresponding bung 21 is attached to the guide element 17, which engages in the groove 18. The guide element 17 encloses a region of the four surfaces of the square pillar 15, which thereby serve as additional guides. This allows the guide element 17 to be moved up and down and still be securely attached to the pillar 15.
A horizontal spacer 16 is attached to the guide element 17 with its rear end. The support element 13 for the arm is attached to the opposite front end of the spacer 16. The support element 13 comprises an arm contact surface 14 which is substantially vertical in relation to the floor and is concavely curved to conform to the shape of a resting arm.
In
The lower base element is a fastening element 111 for an external item of sports equipment 200. The item of sports equipment 200 has a round bar 201 which forms the contact surface 12 for a hand 51 (not shown). The base element or fastening element 111 is designed as a clamp that grips around the bar 201 and in this way fixes the handstand training device 100 to the item of sports equipment 200.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2020 100 161.4 | Jan 2020 | DE | national |
This Application is a National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Application No. PCT/DE2020/101087, filed Dec. 29, 2020, which claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2020 100 161.4, filed Jan. 7, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/DE2020/101087 | 12/29/2020 | WO |
