Patent Application
20230181966
The present invention relates to exercise devices, and more particularly, to an exercise device having foot occupied and operated slide elements adapted to work against a resistance.
Exercise devices have long been used to enable people to practice particular types of physical exercises. Such devices should be usable within a building, such as residence, to enable exercising to performed regardless of ambient weather conditions. To be practical, exercise devices should be of minimal weight, complexity, and bulk.
There exists a need for a practical exercise device enabling activation of numerous muscle systems to be developed and maintained.
The present invention provides a practical device for enabling leg thrust exercises. The device provides a flat, nominally planar base or frame on which are mounted two slide members riding in parallel, linear tracks. Each slide is coupled to the frame by an elastic tether. A hand grip bar spans right and left sides of the frame at one end thereof.
In use, a person grasps the hand grip bar and places each foot on one of the slide members. The user then pushes with one leg (or both if desired) against resistance of the elastic tether. Legs may be exercised alternatingly or simultaneously.
The present invention provides improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, wherein
Referring first to
Frame 102 may comprise a board or sheet of plywood, for example. Alternatively, rather than comprising a solid sheet, frame 102 may comprise an open skeleton (not shown) including boards and intervening voids.
In one embodiment of the invention, in exercise device 100, frame 102 may comprise member (e.g., a board) having opposed flat, parallel faces 118, 120 along an entire length of and coupled to frame 102, and tracks 114, 116 configured and dimensioned to laterally surround each one of slide members 104, 106, wherein tracks 104, 106 are each coupled to frame 102 on one of the flat, parallel faces 114, 116 of frame 102. Exercise device 100 may further comprise for each track 114 or 116, a first stop 122 limiting travel of one slide member 104 or 106 along track 114 or 116 at one end 112 of track, and a second stop 124 limiting travel of the other slide member 106 or 104 along track 116 or 114 at an opposed end 126 of track 114 or 116. Frame 102 may comprise a structural cross member 103 coupled to frame 102 and spanning a width (shown as arrow 128) of frame 102, and a bar 130 parallel to frame 102. Bar 130 may be spaced apart from frame 102 on the same flat, parallel face 118 of frame 102 as that along which slide members 104, 106 are constrained to slide.
In the illustrated embodiment, the length extends from end 112 of frame 102 to end 126 of frame 102.
Structural cross member 103 may comprise a wooden board, for example.
Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “first”, “second”, etc., are used herein merely as labels, and are not intended to impose ordinal, positional, or hierarchical requirements on the items to which these terms refer. Moreover, reference to, e.g., a “second” item does not either require or preclude the existence of, e.g., a “first” or lower-numbered item, and/or, e.g., a “third” or higher-numbered item.
Slide members 104, 106 comprise slidably movable platforms for engaging feet of the user. Slide members 104, 106 may include a friction lining 134 to oppose a foot of the user from sliding out of contact with slide member 104 or 106 when exercising.
Resistance element 108 may comprise a flexible, elastic tether coupled proximate end 112 of frame 102 and coupled to hand grip 110. The tether may comprise a bungee cord. A bungee cord is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, usually but not necessarily covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath. The sheath does not materially extend elastically, but it is braided with its strands spiralling around the core so that a longitudinal pull causes it to squeeze the core, transmitting the core's elastic compression to the longitudinal extension of the sheath and cord.
In the illustrated embodiment, resistance element 108 comprises a flexible, elastic tether further comprising a first section 136 coupled to one of slide members 104, 106 and to frame 102, and a separate second section 138 coupled to another one of slide members 104, 106 and to frame 102. In this embodiment, first section 136 and second section 138 of the flexible, elastic tether each comprises a bungee cord.
In the illustrated embodiment, tracks 114, 116 are defined by strips 132 of a structural material such as wood, metal, or a rugged plastic or composite material. Alternatively, tracks 114, 116 could be formed as wide grooves formed in frame 102.
Hand grip 110 may span at least beyond both tracks 114, 116 along width 128 of frame 102. In the illustrated embodiment, hand grip 110 overhangs a full extent of frame 102 along width 128 of frame 102. Bar 130 may be curved with a concave side 140 of the curve facing slide members 104, 106. Hand grip 110 may include a resilient cover 142 covering bar 130. It will be understood that resilient cover 130 may comprise a single part, or alternatively, and as shown in
Bar 130 may include a first stanchion 144 coupling bar 130 to frame 102 at one end 148 of bar 130, a second stanchion 146 coupling bar 130 to frame 102 at an opposed end 150 of bar 130, and a third stanchion 152 coupling bar 130 to frame 102 between first stanchion 144 and second stanchion 146.
Structural cross member 103 may be located and configured to serve as a stop limiting travel of each slide member 104 or 106 along associated tracks 114, 116 at one end 112 of frame 102. In this situation, separate stops (not shown, but corresponding to stops 124) may be provided if desired.
Referring to
Referring to
In an embodiment shown in
Exercise device 100 may be made from wood, robust plastics, light metal alloys, and combinations of these.
Resistance element 108 may utilize springs, internally expansible pneumatic or hydraulic resistance devices, or other forms of resistance, if desired.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the disclosed arrangements, but is intended to cover various arrangements which are included within the spirit and scope of the broadest possible interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all modifications and equivalent arrangements which are possible.
