Patent Application
20140011644
The present invention relates generally to physical training machines, and in particular, versatile exercise machines structured for exercising the abdominal muscles a user.
With the growing awareness of health problems caused by lack of exercises, popularity of exercise machines, such as stationary bicycles, treadmills, rowing machines, step climbing machines, etc., has been continuously increasing. Typically, these machines are designed to focus movements of certain parts of the body. For example, abdomen machines may be structured to induce body exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles. Existing abdomen machines, however, are usually designed based on variations of sit-up exercises. Effective abdominal exercises may require a combination of movements involving muscles in different parts of the body including waist, legs, etc. Although there are also many exercise machines practical for exercising different parts of the body, these multipurpose exercise machines are usually heavy and expensive devices.
Therefore, traditional abdomen machines are not versatile, effective and economic.
An exercise machine applicable for strengthening a user's abdominal muscles can include a swivel joint assembly having a collar post perpendicularly coupled with a transverse bar in a rotatable manner around the transverse bar, a base assembly, a seat assembly, handle bar assembly and a leg support assembly to allow a user seated on the seat assembly to cause movement of the seat assembly for muscle exercises. The base assembly can have a front base frame and a rear base frame pivotally coupled with each other via the transverse bar of the swivel joint assembly. The seat assembly may be rotationally attached to a top end of the collar post. In one embodiment, the collar post may provide an axial channel to allow rotational movement of the seat assembly around the axial channel. The leg support assembly may be detachably affixed to either the front base frame or the seat assembly to allow the seat assembly to move together with the leg support assembly or separately from the leg support assembly. The handle bars may be detachably affixed to either the seat assembly or the base assembly to allow the seat assembly to move together with the handle assembly or separately from the handle assembly.
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.
In one embodiment, seat assembly 101 may be movably coupled with the top portion of base assembly 105. Movement of seat assembly 101 on top of base assembly 105 may include rotating or swiveling in at least a three dimensional manner. Seat cushion 103 of seat assembly 101 can receive the sitting position of a user facing forward direction of the exercise machine.
A pair of handle bars 123 with hand grips 129 may be detachably affixed on both sides of seat assembly 101 to allow the user to rest both hands when sitting on seat cushion 103. Alternatively, handle bars 123 may be detachably affixed to base assembly via fixed handle stem 125 to allow the user to cause movement of seat assembly 101 without moving both hands grabbing handle bars 123.
Leg support assembly 103 may be detachably affixed to front base frame 135 via locking bracket 119 at the near end of leg support assembly 103 extending forwardly from base assembly 105. Seat assembly 101 may include locking bracket 121 to provide locking mechanism between seat assembly 101 and leg support assembly 103. Longitudinal length of leg support assembly 103 may be adjustable via adjustment knob 117 to accommodate different users. Leg support assembly 103 my include foot platform 107 at the far end to allow the user to rest both feet.
In one embodiment, foot restraint frame 111 may be pivotally coupled with foot platform 107 to allow forward or backward rotations around a transverse axis perpendicular to leg support frame 103, for example, via adjustment knob 115. Foot restraint sleeve may be transversely positioning along foot restraint frame 111.
Loading shaft 109 may be detachably affixed to foot platform 107 extending laterally on both sides of foot platform 107. Loading shaft 109 can carry or hold weight devices (e.g. solid body, sand bags etc.) as loading to pull down leg support assembly 103 forwardly, thus to increase the strength required by a user to cause movement of seat assembly 101. In one embodiment, foot platform 107 of leg support assembly 103 may be affixed with base assembly 105 in a grounded position.
Turning now to
In one embodiment, front base frame 135 and rear base frame 137 may be attached pivotally via transverse bar 143, for example, via T connectors 141, 139. Collar post 145 may be perpendicularly coupled with transverse bar 143 in a rotatable manner around transverse bar 143. Seat assembly 101 may be rotatably coupled over the top end of collar post 145 via a swivel joint mechanism to allow seat assembly 101 to rotate around an axis longitudinally along collar post 145. As a result, seat assembly 101 can rotate in a three dimensional manner around at least two perpendicular axes, a first one along collar post 145 and a second one along transverse bar 143. Other joint structures allowing three dimension movements may be applicable for coupling seat assembly 101 and based assembly 105.
In certain embodiments, leg support assembly 103 may include upper section 151 extendably coupled with lower section 153 at a lower end of upper section 151. Lower section 153 can have a series of longitudinally spaced apertures 157 to selectively engage upper section 151 at one of the apertures via a locking mechanism of adjustment knob 117. Thus, the longitudinal length of leg support assembly 103 may be adjustable via adjustment knob 117. Leg support assembly 103 may be affixed at an upper end of upper section 151 to either seat assembly 101 via locking bracket 121 or front base frame 135 via locking bracket 119. Seat assembly 101 may be detachably affixed to leg support assembly 103 longitudinally aligned via locking bracket 121.
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.
