Abstract:
An abdominal exercise device including an upper abdominal lever member having engagement ends and an intermediate section for contacting a body of an individual and a lower abdominal lever member having engagement ends and an intermediate section for contacting a body of an individual with spring-biased resistance hubs releasably locked into said engagement ends of said upper lever member and lower lever member engagement ends, wherein operation of the lever members when rotated about the resistance hubs provides a scissor-like movement of respective upper and lower lever members connected to the resistance hub. The resistance hubs include a plurality of interchangeable resistance hub pairs of varying resistance.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/651,520 filed Feb. 10, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     This invention relates to devices that provide assistance in the exercise of an individual, and, more particularly, to an improved ergonomic abdominal exercise device that has reduced manufacturing costs and yet provides considerable versatility in its ability to be adjusted to the needs of the individual.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Currently, there are a variety of abdominal exercise devices available to individuals and which have differing features. Perhaps one of the more common devices employs one or more piston members with handles to be grasped by the user disposed about the piston members. One problem with that design crunch device is, of course, that the addition of handles adds to the overall weight and size of the device and the location of the handles is often uncomfortable to the users and requires that arm muscles also be employed during resistance training thereby reducing the benefit of the device to the abdominal muscles. Nevertheless, there remains a great need for individuals to exercise their abdominal muscles groups that are under-utilized in the daily life of many individuals living in a modern society. There is, therefore, an on-going and continuous need to develop new exercise technology and, in particular, new abdominal exercise devices.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     An abdominal exercise device including an upper abdominal lever member having engagement ends and an intermediate section for contacting a body of an individual and a lower abdominal lever member having engagement ends and an intermediate section for contacting a body of an individual with spring-biased resistance hubs releasably locked into said engagement ends of said upper lever member and lower lever member engagement ends, wherein operation of the lever members when rotated about the resistance hubs provides a scissor-like movement of respective upper and lower lever members connected to the resistance hub.  
         [0007]     The resistance hubs include a plurality of interchangeable resistance hub pairs of varying resistance. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     Other aspects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:  
         [0009]     FIGS.  1 A-C are perspective views of an exercise device according the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a resistance hub according to the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIGS. 3A  and B are side views of a resistance hub according to the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is an arrangement of springs organized by gauge size according to the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 5A  is partial side view of a resistance hub connecting to a lever member according to the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5B  is a partial side view of a resistance hub having a biased button according to the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5C  is a partial view of a lever member according to the present invention; and  
         [0016]      FIGS. 6-9  are perspective of views of the exercise device of the present invention in use with an individual. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]     With reference to FIGS.  1 A-C for purposes of illustration, a device  20  for assisting in the exercise abdominal muscles of a person that comprises a unitary upper lever member  22 . That unitary upper lever member includes engagement ends  24  and  26  and an intermediate section  28  for contacting the body of an individual. A unitary lower lever member  30  includes engagement ends  32  and  34  and an intermediate section  36  for contacting the body of an individual. Advantageously, the upper lever member and lower lever member engagement ends  24 ,  32  and  26 ,  34  are removably locked into respective biased resistance hubs  38  and  40  that operate to provide a scissor-like movement of respective upper and lower engagement ends connected to the resistance hub. Removal of the resistance hubs  38  and  40  allows for the use of one or more resistance hubs of differing resistances to be used. This allows for individuals to change the resistance between the upper and lower lever members as needed for different exercise routines, different users or as improvements in fitness of an individual progresses.  
         [0018]     The upper lever member  22  is generally U-shaped with the intermediate section  28  being sized to accommodate individuals of differing heights and girths. The upper lever member can be made of a tubular metal material such as aluminum or steel. As can be seen, particularly in  FIG. 1A , the unitary upper lever member is a single piece of metal tubing so as to minimize the weight and to allow the ready shaping into the presently desired configuration and comprises an intermediate section of tubing surrounded by a body cushioning foam rubber material  42 .  
         [0019]     The lower lever member  30  is mostly U-shaped with the intermediate section  36  sized to accommodate individuals of differing heights and girths. The lower lever member can also be made of a tubular metal material such as aluminum or steel. As can be seen, particularly in  FIG. 1 , the unitary lower lever member is a single piece of metal tubing so as to minimize the weight and to allow the ready shaping into the presently desired configuration and comprises an intermediate section  36  of tubing surrounded by a body cushioning foam rubber material  44 . The presently desired configuration is shaped to contour and brace against the front and inner thigh regions of the legs of an individual. By contacting the individuals legs in these regions it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the overall diameter of the individual&#39;s legs are rendered independent of the operation of the lower lever member  30 . In other words, the lower lever member will work with individuals regardless of their leg size.  
         [0020]     The resistance hub  48  ( FIG. 2 ) includes a molded plastic casing  50  or other lightweight, easy to manufacture casing material. The casing components include a pair of interconnecting hub centers  52  and  54  with stem covers  56  and  58  extending there from and projecting tangentially from the hub center circumference and a pair of matching stem covers  60  and  62  to interconnect with the stem covers  56  and  58  on the hub centers  52  and  54 . The casing components when assembled surrounds a coiled spring  64  in which opposing ends  66  and  68  of the spring are moveable towards each other in the direction of spring coil resistance about the radial center of the coil. The casing that surrounds the opposing spring coil ends  66  and  68  form hub stems that are moveable as well. Snap lock pin engagements secure the casing components in which a large pin  70  and pin receptacle  72  form an axle that extends generally through the center of the spring coil about which the moveable casing components are rotated. One or more snap lock pin engagements  74  are secured into the opposing casing stem covers to lock them against the spring ends. Indicia  76  ( FIG. 2 ) indicating the relative resistance of the resistance hubs to each other may be affixed to the hub casing where the users may choose to use a hub with a resistance indicia that conforms to their preferred workout routine or abilities. The assembled casing has two-hub stems  77 - 78  tangentially protruding from a hub center  79 . It should be noted ( FIG. 4 ) that resistance hubs manufactured in this manner may accommodate and include spring coils of differing gauge wire  80 - 83  to provide varying resistances to the user.  
         [0021]     Engagement ends  90  (Figs. A-B) of both the upper and lower lever members are free of foam to allow for easy engagement and withdrawal of a resistance hub  92  having cylindrical hub stems  94  adapted to be telescopically received into the engagement ends  90  in the direction of arrow  96 . Locking mechanisms ensure that once a resistance hub stem  94  is received into the corresponding engagement end  90  it can be locked into place. A locking mechanism of the type suitable for this purpose includes an outwardly biased button  98  along the resistance hub arm that is received by an aperture  100  in the engagement end  90 . In a preferred embodiment the biased button is formed into the hub stem casing  94  on a free-ended tab  102  formed from a slotted section of the casing stem wall. Furthermore, each casing stem includes a stop ring  104  having a diameter wider than the lever member tubing to ensure telescopic insertion of the hub stem that is no further than need to lock-in the button  98  with the aperture  100  in the engagement end  90 . Each engagement end  90  and corresponding hub stem  94  includes matching assembly indicia  106  and  108  to facilitate the assembly of the upper and lower lever members to a resistance hub.  
         [0022]     In operation (FIGS.  1 A-C), when the upper and lower lever members  22  and  30  are assembled with resistance hubs  38  and  40  the upper and lower lever members  22  and  30  are folded to together about the axles of the resistance hubs  38  and  40 . Folding of the upper and lower lever members  22  and  30  in this way must overcome the resistance maintained by the springs in the hubs  38  and  40 . Interchanging of the resistance hubs  38  and  40  with different spring gauges changes the amount of force required to fold the lever members together. Resistance indicia on the resistance hubs provide the relative resistance of the spring in each of the resistance hubs relative to one and another.  
         [0023]     With reference to  FIGS. 6-9 , the exercise device  120  of the present invention may be used to provide abdominal resistance exercises to an individual  122  in a sitting position. When the upper torso  124  is moved down ( FIG. 6 ), the device  120  may be used to isolate and exercise the upper abdominal muscles of the individual. When the legs  126  ( FIG. 7 ) are brought up to the torso  124 , the device  120  may be used to isolate and exercise the lower abdominal muscles of the individual.  
         [0024]     In addition to functioning to exercise the upper and lower abdominal muscles, the exercise device of the present invention can also be used to exercise other specific muscle groups. For example, the side abdominal muscles (Obliques), the Triceps, Pectorals, Gluteus and Quadriceps in the legs can be specifically isolated and exercised. This is accomplished by leaning the body of the individual toward and/or favoring one side or the other, and by positioning the device into positions that would affect these other muscle groups.  
         [0025]     It will further be appreciated that the exercise device of the present invention ( FIGS. 8 and 9 ) is configured with the upper and lower lever members  130  and  132  to provide a hands-free abdominal exercise in which the torso conforming upper lever member  130  and the front  134  and inner thigh  136  bracing region of the lower lever member  132  cooperate with the foam padding  138  to maintain the position of the exercise device relative to the individual abdominal crunch routines that allows for the arms  142  of the individual  140  to be positioned as needed to augment or complement the exercise such as overhead or along the sides. The individual contacts the lever members  130  and  132  at locations of the body away from the abdominal region and the resistance hubs  144  and  146  are maintained in a spaced apart relation to the individual such that this combination of features, either alone or combination, allows for greater natural and free movement of the abdominal muscles during resistance exercises.  
         [0026]     It should be noted that the upper and lower lever members may alternatively be of non-unitary construction.  
         [0027]     Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claims should be construed broadly, to include other variants and embodiments of the invention, which may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.