Patent Application
20140100091
The present invention relates generally to physical training machines, and in particular, exercise machines structured 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 to focus 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 dimensional exercise movements at a time.
Therefore, traditional abdomen machines are not effective to facilitate a user to exercise abdomen muscles in a multi dimensional manner.
An exercise machine applicable for strengthening a user's abdominal muscles in a multi-dimensional manner (e.g. allowing rotational movements and back and forth line movements at the same time) can include a track frame having a first elongated gliding rail and a second elongated gliding rail in parallel. The track frame can have a higher end and a lower end. A first kneeling assembly can be movably mounted on the first gliding rail. A second kneeling assembly can be movably mounted on the second gliding rail. The first and second kneeling assemblies may be capable of receiving the knees from a user to make movements up and down between the lower end and the higher end of the track frame with the first kneeling assembly gliding along the first rail and the second kneeling assembly gliding along the second rail. A rotationally adjustable armrest holder may be mounted on the upper end of the track frame. The armrest holder can be oriented towards a direction having an angular relationship with an axis of the track frame between the lower end and the higher end. The armrest holder may capable of supporting the arms of the user making the movements with a twisting effect according to the angular relationship.
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.
Exercising machine 100 may include kneeling support 117 movably mounted on track frame 115. Parallel gliding rails of track frame 115 may extend between the higher and lower end of track frame 115 in a curved or straight manner. For example, the parallel gliding rails may be shaped concavely, convexly or in other applicable non-straight forms to allow movement of kneeling support 117 along the gliding rails in multiple dimensions.
Exercise machine 100 may include a rotationally adjustable armrest holder 101 mounted on the upper end of track frame 115 to support the arms of a user moving along track frame 115. Armrest holder 101 may be configured as a rotating disk orientable towards various directions to form different angular relationships with a longitudinal direction (e.g. along an axis between the higher end and the lower end) of track frame 115. For example, adjustment knob 119 may be provided to allow the user to adjust the amount of rotation needed for armrest holder 101. The possible amount of rotation may be selected from predetermined configurations, such as 0 degree, left/right 30 degrees, left/right 60 degrees or other applicable degrees of rotation. The angular relation may incite a twisting effect on a user using armrest holder 101 while making movements along track frame 115.
In some embodiments, armrest holder 101 may include handle bar 103 extended towards a front direction of armrest holder 101 to allow hand grabbing from a user of exercise machine 100. Armrest holder 101 may include two elbow pads 111 aligned with or extending handle bar 103 shaped to receive the elbows from the user grabbing handle bar 103. Armrest holder 101 may be equipped with display 109 to indicate amount of rotation configured for armrest holder 101 with respect to track frame 115. For example, display 109 may include a digital display device, such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) display or other applicable display mechanisms, to output an angular value indicating the angular relationship between the front direction of armrest holder 101 and the movement direction of kneeling support along a longitudinal axis of track frame 115.
In one embodiment, kneeling support 117 may include a first kneeling assembly 117a and a second kneeling assembly 117b movably mounted separately on the gliding rails of track frame 115. Kneeling support 117 may be capable of receiving the knees from a user using exercise machine 100 to make movements up and down between the lower end and the higher end of track frame 115. First kneeling assembly 117a and second kneeling assembly 117b may move (or glide) together or separately along the gliding rails of track frame 115 to allow the user to move two legs, each resting on separate kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b, together in one direction or separate in two opposite directions longitudinally along gliding rails of track frame 115.
Each kneeling assembly 117a, 117b may separately include rotationally adjustable kneeling pads 155a, 155b. For example, keeling assembly 117a may affixed with kneeling pad 155a oriented toward a first direction forming a first angle with an axis of track frame 115. Keeling assembly 117b may affixed with kneeling pad 155b oriented toward a second direction forming a second angle with the axis of track frame 115. In one embodiment, the first and second angles may be substantially equal in size when kneeling pads 155a, 155b move in parallel together to provide an additional twisting effect on a user making the movement along track frame 115.
In one embodiment, kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b may include a coupling control mechanism to detachably couple kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b such that kneeling pads 155a, 155b can move in parallel oriented towards a common direction to cause the additional twisting effect. Alternatively, the coupling control mechanism may decouple kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b to allow each kneeling assembly to glide along separate gliding rails of track frame 115 in opposite directions.
Kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b may separately include mounting brackets movably mounted on corresponding gliding rails of track frame 115. For example, kneeling assembly 117b may include mounting bracket 121 and rotationally adjustable kneeling pad 155b attached to mounting bracket 121 via a surface of mounting bracket 121. As a result, kneeling pad 155b may rotate with respect to a rotation axis that is perpendicular to the surface of mounting bracket 121.
In another embodiment, exercising machine 100 can include track frame 115 having a pair of elongated gliding rails in parallel. Track frame 115 may have a higher end and a lower end. Exercising machine 100 may include a pair of gliding structures 117a, 117b movably mounted on the gliding rails. Gliding structures 117a, 117b may include kneeling pads 155a, 155b capable of receiving the knees from a user to make movements with gliding structures 117a, 117b gliding along the rails. Kneeling pads 155a, 155b may be adjustably oriented towards a first direction forming a first angular relation with an axis, for example, between the lower end and the higher end of track frame 115.
Exercising machine 100 may include rotationally adjustable armrest holder 101 mounted on the upper end of track frame 115. Armrest holder 101 may be oriented towards a second direction forming a second angular relationship with the axis of track frame 115. In one embodiment, armrest holder may be capable of supporting the arms of the user making movement along track frame 115 with a twisting effect according to the first angular relationship via gliding structure 117 and the second angular relationship via armrest holder 101 with respect to the axis of track frame 115. Support frame 153 may be coupled to the higher end of track frame 115 to provide support from a floor to cause track frame 115 to tilt upwards from the floor while the lower end of track frame 115 rests on the floor.
An armrest holder may include handle bar 103, elbow pads 111 and display 109 fixedly attached to mounting bracket 125. Adjustment knob 119 of an adjustment fastener may allow rotational adjustment of mounting bracket 125 around a center of binding plate 127. In some embodiments, binding plate 127 may be configured with multiple coupling holes 129, for example, equally spaced circularly (or via other applicable angular position arrangements) around the center of binding plate 127. The armrest holder may be secured to binding plate 127 with an adjustment fastener locked through one of coupling holes 129 via adjustment knob 119.
In one embodiment, the axis of track frame 115 and the orientation (or direction) of the armrest holder may form an angle over the surface of binding plate 127. Display 109 may indicate an angular value of the angle representing the orientation of the armrest holder. Possible orientations of the armrest holder may be pre-configured corresponding to multiple coupling holes 129 around the center of binding plate 127. An adjustment fastener with adjustment knob 119 may be fastened to one of coupling holes 129 to select a corresponding angle to orient the armrest holder with respect to the axis of track frame 115.
Kneeling assemblies, such as kneeling assemblies 117a, 117b of
In one embodiment, kneeling assembly can include kneeling pads 155a, 155b affixed with sliding brackets 137 via plates 145. Plates 145 may include curved tracks 149 which can be a hollow cut to allow rotational or curved position adjustment over slide brackets 137. For example, kneeling pads 155a, 155b may be attached to slide brackets 137 with adjustment knobs 123 which may be secured in positions along curved tracks 149 to rotate kneeling pads 155a, 155b to a desired direction.
The configuration combination of armrest holder 101 and kneeling support 117 may provide a variety of exercising options for a user making movements along track frame 115. For example, armrest holder 101 may be rotated 30° (or other applicable degrees) clockwise to the right with respect to track frame 115 while kneeling support 117 is separately configured.
In some embodiments, armrest holder 101 may be preconfigured with a first number of rotation configuration options, such as +30° (to the right), −30° (to the left), 60° (to the right), −, 60° (to the left), and 0 (aligned). Alternatively or optionally, kneeling support 117 may be separately preconfigured with a second number of rotation configuration options, such as 45° (to the right), −45° (to the left), or 0 (aligned). As a result, a user may choose one of the combined 15 (the first number times the second number) possible combinations to perform exercise movements. Further, the user can optionally move left kneeling pad and right kneeling pad of kneeling support 117 separately in different directions (e.g. with one leg moving up while the other leg moving down along track frame 115).
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.
