Patent Application
20060264304
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of exercise devices. More particularly, the invention relates to an upper body exerciser with which a variety of press and row exercises may be performed
2. Background
A myriad of exercise machines have been developed for exercising the various muscle groups of the body. Machines for exercising the muscle groups of the upper torso are particularly popular. Many such machines have a pivoting press arm with which an operator can perform variations on the traditional bench press exercise. The handles on a pivoting press arm are constrained to move in a circular arc, which is not necessarily ideal for all exercises.
Other types of exercise machines employ a handle attached to the end of a flexible line, such as a rope or cable, which, in turn, is attached to a weight or other form of exercise resistance. This type of exercise machine allows the operator to control and define the exercise path. This allows the machine to more readily accommodate operators of different physiques. Furthermore, since the operator's hands are not confined to movement along a predetermined path, exercises involving multiple muscle groups may be performed.
Exercise machines combining flexible lines and a pivoting arm have been proposed. Such machines are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,007 issued to Ferrari and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,960 issued to Webber.
The present invention presents an upper body exerciser having an exercise arm that may be operated either by rigid handles fixed on the arm or by handles attached to the arm by flexible cables. The exerciser comprises a support frame, an exercise arm assembly pivotally linked to the support frame operable with at least one rigid handle and at least one flexible handle assembly, the flexible handle assembly having a hand grip portion and a flexible connecting portion attached to the exercise arm. The exercise arm assembly may include means for adjusting a starting position of the exercise arm.
The fixed handles of the exercise arm are used for standard bench press, incline press, shoulder press and seated row exercises. The flexible handle assemblies are used for an inward motion standard pectoral fly (pec fly) exercise, incline pec fly, shoulder fly, free motion press, incline press and shoulder press exercises. The flexible connecting portions of the flexible handle assemblies are attached proximate the fixed handles, and the grip portions are stowed on clips on the exercise arm when not in use.
Additionally the seat back may be adjustably and/or pivotally attached to the frame for the press exercises. By adjusting the seat back out the operator is provided back support while doing standard incline presses and shoulder presses with the rigid handles of the exercise arm. For cable presses and fly exercises, the operator simply adjusts the angle of pressing or fly movement with the flexible cable and keeps his or her back against the back rest for back support during these exercises. The adjustable seat back may be used but is not necessary for back support using the cable handles.
The exercise arm with multi position pre-stretch adjustment and the cable handles in combination with the adjustable back support provides an additional exercise, the incline press on the regular press arm (this cannot be done without back support), and also provides back support to the shoulder press exercises.
The exerciser may include additional exercise stations, such as leg extension/leg curl, high pulley, low pulley and mid pulley.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods and devices are omitted so as to not obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail.
An exercise arm assembly 30 is pivotally suspended from support brackets 26 at pivot 28. Exercise arm 32 is connected to adjustment sector 34 at pivot 36. The exercise arm may be positioned at any of several predetermined locations along adjustment sector 34 and secured in place by a spring-loaded pin assembly of the type commonly used for securing adjustable assemblies of exercise machines or equivalent securing means.
Exerciser 10 may include a variety of exercise stations in addition to exercise arm 30. As shown, exerciser 10 includes a leg curl/leg extension arm 50 operable from seat 22 in a manner well understood to those skilled in the art of exercise devices. Exerciser 10 also includes a high pulley 52 for use in performing lat pull and other exercises and a low pulley 54 for use in performing bicep curl and other exercises. Headrest 56 may be pivotally attached to column member 14, such as by pivot arm 58. A pair of handles 57 may be provided so that an abdominal crunch exercise may be performed by an operator seated in seat 22.
Exercise resistance is provided by a stack of weights 60 located behind column member 14 and guided along vertical rods 62. A selected amount of weight is suspended on a cable, which is guided over a first pulley (not shown) near the top of the guide rods and a second pulley (also not shown) near the top of the column. The cable is coupled to the adjustment sector 34 to provide exercise resistance at exercise arm 32. Additional cables and pulleys (not shown) may be operatively coupled to the weight stack as is well known to provide exercise resistance at the various other exercise stations. Other means of providing exercise resistance may be employed, and the invention is not limited in this regard. Equivalent means of providing exercise resistance include free weights, elastic bands, friction plate assemblies, electromechanical resistance and the like.
As will be explained in greater detail below, exercise arm 32 may be operated in several different ways. The exercise arm may be operated either with outwardly extending rigid handles 38 or downwardly extending rigid handles 39. Alternatively, the operator may use handles 40, which are shown in a stowed position clipped to exercise arm 32 on clips 43. Handles 40 are attached to respective ones of the outwardly extending rigid handles 38 by cables 42. When an operator desires to perform an exercise using handles 40, the operator simply unclips them from their stowed locations on exercise arm 32. It will be appreciated that, as a result of the flexible coupling of handles 40, the handles have six degrees of freedom of movement (i.e., translation and rotation in three dimensions) about the respective coupling points.
It will be recognized that the above-described invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the disclosure. Thus, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims.
