MUSCLE BUILDING APPARATUS

Abstract: A muscle training apparatus comprising a force arm (1) which is rotatably mounted in a carrier (2) and which cooperates with a simple acting or double acting force applying means, especially a gas spring (8) which with one end is rotatably mounted in a bracket (7) of a lever arm (4) included in the force arm, and which with the opposite end is adapted for being mounted in an optional position in the carrier (2) on different distances from the axis of rotation (5) of said lever arm. The force arm (1) is adapted to quickly and easily be rotated from traction operation to pressure operation and vice versa and in an optional position on a support (3). Two or more force arms (1) can be mounted on one and the same support (3) for combined traction or pressure actuation in many different alternative embodiments.

Description: Muscle building apparatus The present invention generally relates to a so called muscle building apparatus by means of which the different muscles of the body may be trained and built up. Priorly known muscle building apparatus generally have been formed as training devices operating over weight loads or springs. The weight load training devices may be disc loading bar bells or dumb bells of different weights which are lifted in different ways. The weight training devices also may be load exchanged or formed so as to be loaded with different large weights and so that the devices may be handled by the training person standing, lying or in any other position for training of the different types of muscles. The load training apparatus are disadvantageous from several respects. In most cases the apparatus are formed so that the weights give a constant load both in lifting position and in lowering po¬ sition. The muscles of the body, on the contrary, have different power ability in the hand, the arm, the leg or any other part of the body depending on the fact, that body lever arm varies during the load lifting work. Therefore the muscle in most load lifting works is loaded by.a relatively higher force at the beginning and at the end of the force application than at the medium portion of the load lifting movement. This may cause over-strain and may hurt the training person. Further the muscles must operate with practically the same force during the lowering of the weights. The most serious disadvantageous in the weight load training apparatus, however, is the risk that the training person is hurt if he or she lets the weight go, possible depending on the fact that the weight slips or slides but also if the training person cannot stand to hold the weight. Weight training apparatus generally also give noise and rattle. The spring training apparatus to some extent are disadvan¬ tageous from. the same viewpoint as the weight training apparatus. Springs which may be tension springs, pressure springs, rubber springs or similar springs give a constant force and therefore generally loads the muscle with a relatively higher force at the beginning and at the end of the force application of the training person than at more central parts of the force operating movement. Also the springs load the muscle by substantially the same strong force when returning to the initial position, and also in spring apparatus there is a risk that the training person is hurt in that he or she slips or cannot retain the spring. Further some weight training apparatus or spring training apparatus are formed for a constant load and therefore are suited only for some persons. For a successive training of muscles it therefore may be necessary to pro- vide a large number of training apparatus for different loads. Also most of the previously known apparatus are formed for training only of special muscles, for instance the arm muscles or the leg muscles or the back muscles, and for an overall training, for instance in a training institute, in hospitals, in medical gymnastic institutes etc. There may be a need for a large number of different training apparatus for meat normal training need. The object of the invention therefore is to solve the problem of providing a simple and overall usefull muscle building apparatus which takes a small space which is formed so that there only is a very little risk, if any, to hurt the training person, which operates silently which is formed isokinetically, which can be adjusted for different forces or types of actuation and which can be combined and varied within very wide ranges for practically any types of muscle training. According to the invention the muscle building apparatus comp¬ rises a lever arm, which is rotatably mounted in a carrier and which is connected to a single acting or double acting spring means, especially a gas spring means, and which readily can be adjusted for different strong and different directed force actuation. In a special embodiment of the invention the upper part of the gas spring is connected to the lever arm whereas the opposite end of the gas spring is adapted to be connected to the carrier on different dis¬ tances from the point of rotation of the lever arm, so that the 5 actuation arm of the gas spring in relation to the lever arm is larger or smaller and so that the entire apparatus readily and easily can be adjusted for higher and lower force actuation respec¬ tively. In a further special embodiment of the invention the axis of 10 rotation of the lever arm and the connection shaft of the gas spring in the carrier are provided such that the force arm of the gas spring to the lever arm from the beginning of the force actuation is successively increasing to .a maximum and is thereafter de¬ creasing, whereupon the actuation force correspondingly increases 15 to a maximum and thereafter decreases during the training movement in a way which is similar to the force curve of the muscle. The muscle building apparatus according to the invention is de¬ signed so that it quickly and easily may be turned round in order to use it either for tensioning actuation or pressuring actuation. 20 Alternatively it may also be designed with double acting or double springs for oppositely directed force actuation. The apparatus also is designed so that it may be mounted vertically, horisontally or in any other direction for training of different muscles or muscle combinations, and the apparatus also is designed so that two or more 25 muscle building units may be mounted together for combined training of several muscles or muscle groups. In the following the invention will be described more in detail with reference to the accompanying ' drawings which illustrate some different embodiments of the invention.- In the drawings figure 30 1 diagrammatically and in a perspective view shows a muscle building apparatus according to the invention. Figure 2 shows a number of curves over the force actuation of the apparatus according to figure 1. Figure 3 shows the muscle building apparatus according to figure 1 in a partly broken up view and with the spring means in a v- . 35 different position. Figure 2 shows a part of a modified muscle ^r r T Figure 5 shows the change of the actuation arm of the force actuating means during a force actuation movement. Figures 6 a-f shows six different simple alternative combinations and application of the muscle building apparatus according to the invention and figure 7 shows a fourfold combination of the muscle building appa¬ ratus. Figure 8 shows a combination of the apparatus according to the invention especially suited as a latissi us training apparatus and an armcurl and biceps training apparatus, and figure 9 shows a further combination of the apparatus according to the invention especially suited for training the shoulder muscles, the forearm muscles and the chest muscles. The muscle building apparatus shown in figure 1 generally comprises a force reaction arm 1 which is rotatably mounted in a carrier 2, which in turn is adapted to be mounted in a support 3 of any suitable kind. The force reaction of arm 1 comprises a lever arm 4 which over a shaft 5 is rotatably mounted in the carrier 2 and which at some place preferably at or close to the upper end is formed with an actuation means 6, for instance an actuation ball, a handle, a foot connection means, a wire connection means etc. For providing the reaction force the lever arm 7 carries a bracket 7 for a force reaction means 8, in particular a gas spring, provided at or adjacent the upper end of the lever arm. One end of the gas spring is rotatably mounted in the bracket 7 of the lever arm, and the opposite end 9 of the gas spring is adapted to be mounted in an optional position in the carrier 2 by means of a cross pin 10. Preferably the gas spring 8 is of the single acting type and is mounted for a force actuation in the direction indicated with the arrow 11 of figure 1 but it may as well be formed double acting for a force actuation in both directions. The apparatus also may be formed with two gas springs mounted on each side of the lever arm 4 in the direction of the rotation of said lever arm. In the illustrated case, the carrier 2 comprises two carrier ke t on termined mutual distance b u er cross bolts 13 and lower cross bolts 14. The upper cross bolt or bolts 13 also provide a stop shoulder at least for the return mo ment of the force reaction arm 1, and the lower cross bolts 14 p vide support points for the carrier 2 in relation to the support The carrier plates 12 are formed with a series of cross bores 15 which preferably are located on a common radius from the axis of rotation 16 of the gas spring 8. The cross bore 15 located closes to the lever arm 4 preferably is provided on a level below the transversal line through the rotation shaft 5 of the lever arm 4, and thereby the cross bores 15 become located successively closer to the said transversal line in the direction opposite to the lev arm. For mounting of the carrier and thereby the force reaction a in the support 3 the carrier plates 2 are formed with a cross bor 17, and the support is formed with one or more corresponding cros bores 18 so that the carrier by means of a pin 19 can be attached to said support. In the illustrated case the support is a square bar the width of which substantially corrspond to the distance between the carri plates 12, and in which the cross bores 18 are provided in such po sition that the carrier over the cross bolts 14 contact the suppor 3 without play when the cross pin 19 is inserted through the bores 17 and 18. When actuating the lever arm 4 in the direction along the ' arr 11 the gas spring 8 gives the lever arm a counter force which is successively increasing to a maximum and is thereafter decreasing. Depending on a special function of the gas spring the lever arm simply may be let free in the end position shown with the dotted line, whereupon the lever arm by its own force quietly and safely returns to the initial position following the direction of the dotted arrow 20. Therefore the apparatus operates quietly and safely, and the handle 5 can be let free anywhere without the risk that the training person is hurt. As will be explained in the following the force reaction arm 1 together with the carrier 2 can easily be rotated from the tension position illustrated with the full line arrow 11 of figure 1 to a pressure position, whereby the force actuation is made along the phantom arrow 21. Figure 2 shows a force reaction curve of the apparatus according to the invention. The length of the actuation movement has been plotted along the horizontal axis and the variation of the reaction force over the said actuation movement length has been plotted along the vertical axis. The lower most curve 22 of the number of curves corresponds to the position shown in figure 1, in which the gas spring 8 is mounted in the position closest to the lever arm and in which the actuation arm of the gas spring perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the lever arm gives a reduced value. Thereby the force P has a relatively low value at the beginning of the movement whereupon, the force progressively increases to a maximum substantially intermediate the initial position 23 and the end position 24, whereafter the force P decreases depending on the fact that the force actuation arm of the gas spring 8 in relation to the lever arm 4 decreases. The curves marked over the above mentioned curve 22 corresponds to cases in which the lower end 9 of the gas spring 8 is mounted at longer distances from the rotation shaft 5 of the lever arm 4. It is obvious that the increase and decrease respectively of the force P is decreasing following the increase of distance between the rotation shaft 5 of the lever arm 4 on one hand and the mounting position in respective bores 15 of the gas spring on the other hand. Depending on the location of the bores 15 in relation to the shaft of rotation 5 many different special functions can be obtained, and it is possible to form the holder plates 12 with a large number of series of bores for providing different specific force functions. Figure 3 shows the lever arm 4 in the initial position in con¬ tact with the upper cross bolt 13, which in this case has a rubber bushing 25. Further, in figure 3, the gas spring 8 has with the cross pin 10 been mounted in a position a substantial distance from the axis of rotation 5 of the lever arm 4. Figur 4 shows an apparatus in which the actuation means is a .. type of handle 26 suited for introducing a foot for pushing actuation of the lever arm 4. Alternatively the handle 26 may be mounted on the opposite side of the lever arm and may be used for 5 tracting actuation, whereby the handle 26 is seized by the hand or foot. A special embodiment of the invention is shown in figure 5, in which the force arm of the gas spring varies from a non-actuated position having the normal lever arm of 77 mm up to a maximum of 85 10 mm, whereupon the lever arm decreases to a minimum of 56 mm. Corre¬ spondingly the force by which the lever arm must be actuated for ro¬ tating the lever arm consequently varies. It is obvious that the reaction force, of course, also may be varied by exchanging the gas spring to a stronger or weaker gas spring, and that it is possible 15 to obtain pressures between for instance 10 and 200 kg with main¬ tained design of the apparatus, and that the apparatus therefore can be used for any person and for practically any types of fields of use. Figure 6 illustrates some possible combination applications for 20 the invention. Figure 6a shows two force packs adapted for being pulled to each other, figure 6b shows two force packs adapted to be pushed apart, figure 6c shows two parallelly mounted force packs intended for traction training, and figure 6d shows two parallelly mounted force packs intended for pushing training. Figure 6e shows 25 the apparatus mounted vertically, in this case for traction in the direction downwards, and figure 6f correspondingly shows two vertically and parallelly mounted devices for pushing training in the direction upwards. By different mounting and different combina¬ tions the apparatus may separately or in combination provide a large 30 number of training cases, for instance for training of biceps, traction and pressure; triceps, traction and pressure; armcurl, lift traction, training biceps; shoulder and chest muscles, traction and pressure; shoulders pressure; shoulders traction; latissimus traction; bench, leg pressure; combination of leg pressure and arm traction; and many different spec al comb nations, for instance for runners, skirunners, row ng persons etc. Figur 7 shows a non-limited special example of an apparatus for training rowing persons and thereby for training the arm muscles, the leg muscles and the back muscles and several other muscles. In this case the support comprises four parallelly mounted bars 27- 30 mounted on a number of cross bars 31. On some of the cross bars a chair 32 is mounted on which the training person is sitting during the training. On the outer longitudinal bars 27 and " 30 two traction force packs 33 have been mounted adapted to be seized by the hands, and on the intermediate longitudinal bars 28 and 29 two pressure force packs 34 have been mounted adapted to be actuated by pressure by the legs. The apparatus is used for combined training and is imrni- tated the muscle training which is obtained when rowing a boat. Figure 8 shows a lift-type training apparatus comprising two support bars 35 which are mounted vertically on a wall or which may be provided with means for temporarily mounting the entire apparatus on wall bars or similar means in a training institute. The support- bars 35 are interconnected by a number of cross bars 36. A boom means comprising two horizontally extending boom bars 37 and a holder 38 thereof are adapted to be mounted in any suitable position along the vertical support bars 35. Adjacent the lower end of the support bars two force packs 39 and 40 are mounted rotatable around a vertical support bar 41. The two force packs 39 and 40 in this case are mounted for a training action in the direction upwards, but it is obvious to the expert that the force packs may be mounted oppositely viz. for actuation in the direction downwards. For the training activity there is a wire-pully system, which gives a large number of training possibilities * . The apparatus in- eludes a pully 42 at the outer end of the boom bars 37, a pulley 43 at the outer end of each force pack 39 and 40, one or more pulleys 44 intermediate the bottom and the top ends of the support bars 35 and a pulley 45 adjacent the bottom of the support bars 35. The pulleys and the force packs are interconnected by wires 46 for packs. In the illustrated case the apparatus is prepared for latissimus training, whereby the two wires 46 are interconnected at 47 and each extends from the pulley 45 through pulleys 44, 43 and 42 and are interconnected by a latissimus traction bar 48. As evi- dent the traction bar 48 is actuated in the direction downwards. Alternatively the apparatus according to figure 8 may be pre¬ pared for armcurl training, and in that case the ends 49 of the wires 46 are interconnected, and the ends 47 of the wires are connected at the lower end of the apparatus to the arm curl bar 50, whereby the force packs 39 and 40 are actuated by lifting the armcurl bar 50 in the direction upwards. Further alternatively the wire may be connected to the outer end of each force pack 39 or 40 to extend through the pulley 44, whereby the actuation of the force pack may be made directly up, horizontally or down from said pulley 44. It is obvious to the expert that a large number of different training activities may be accomplished by the illustrated device by changing the position of the wire or wires and/or turning the power packs 39 and 40 upside down as compared with the position illustrated in figure 8. Of course the power packs 39 and 40 also may be mounted directly to the support bars 35 as illustrated in figure 1, whereby the force packs may be used for direct traction or pressure training with the training person standing up, standing on his knees, lying down on his back or in any other- position. Figure 9 shows an apparatus especially suited for training the forearm muscles and the chest muscles and which comprises a horizon¬ tal support bar 51 having brackets 52 for mounting of the bar in any vertical position along the vertical support bars 35, preferably on a level substantially equivalent to the waist of the training person. The horizontal bar 51 is identical to the vertical support bars 35, so that one or more force packs 52, 53 can be mounted in any wanted position thereon. In figure 9 is illustrated an appli¬ cation in which the force packs 52 and 53 are mounted at the end of in the direction towards each other. Obviously the force packs may be mounted oppositely, viz. in a position to actuate the force packs in a direction apart from each other. The training person may be standing in front of the two force packs to seize the balls by the hands, or he or she may stand between the two force packs, and for this purpose the lever arm 4 is preferably provided with vertical handles 54 to be seized by the hands of the training person. It is obvious to the expert that the apparatus may be pre¬ pared for a further large number of applications and combinations within the scope of the appended claims and within the basic idea of the invention. force (reaction) arm 31 cross bar carrier 32 chair support 33 raction force pack lever arm 34 pressure force pack shaft (for 4) 35 support bar actuation means 36 cross bar bracket 37 boom bar force reaction means 38 boom holder end (of 8) 39 force pack cross pin 40 force pack arrow 41 support carrier plates 42 pulley cross bolt, upper 43 pulley cross bolt, lower 44 pulley cross bores 45 pulley rotation axis 46 wi e cross bore (of 12) 47 connection cross bore (of 3) 48 latissimus traction bar cross pin 49 end arrow (dotted) 50 armcurl bar arrow (phantom) 51 support bar curve 52 force pack initial position 53 force pack end position 54 handle rubber bushing handle bar bar bar bar OMPI

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Muscle building apparatus, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the apparatus comprises a force reaction arm (1) which is rotatably mounted in a carrier (2) and which is connected to a simple acting or double acting spring means (8) preferably a gas spring, and which is adapted to readily be adjusted for different strong and different directed force actuation. 2. Muscle building apparatus according to claim 1, c h a- r a c t e r i z e d in that the force reaction arm is a lever arm C4) which on a cross shaft (5) is rotatably mounted in a carrier (2), and which at a bracket (7) along the lever am (4) rotatably supports one end of the spring means, preferably the gas spring (8), whereas the opposite end of the gas spring is mounted in the carrier (2) aside of the axis of rotation (5) of the lever arm (4). 3. Muscle building apparatus according to claim 2, c h a¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the carrier (2) is formed with several cross bores (15) provided on different distances from the axis of rotation (5) of the lever arm (4), and that the end (9) of the gas spring (9) is adapted for being mounted optionally in any of said bores (15). 4. Muscle building apparatus according to claim 3, c h a¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the cross bores (15) for mounting of the gas spring (8) in the carrier (2) are provided on a common radius from the axis of rotation (16) of the gas spring (8) at the lever arm (4) . 5. Muscle building apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, c h a¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that at least the cross bore (15) of the carrier (2) provided closest to the lever arm (4) is provided on a level below the transversal line of the lever arm (4) through the axis of rotation (5) thereof. 6. Muscle building apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the carrier (2) in¬ cludes two interconnected carrier plates (12) adapted for being -gJRE OM mounted in the support (3) by means of a cross pin (19), whereby the carrier quickly and easily may be turned from traction actuation to pressure actuation and vice versa. 7. Muscle building apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the force arm (1) at the outer end thereof has an actuation means like a handle (6) for being engaged by the hands, the arms, the feet, the legs or any other part of the body of the training person or for connection of a wire etc. for exchanging the power or changing the direction of the actuation force. 8. Muscle building apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it comprises a com¬ bination of two or more force reaction arms (34; 39, 40; 52, 53) provided for traction forces and/or pressure forces and mounted horizontally, vertically or in any other direction on stationary mounted supports (3). 9. Muscle building apparatus according to claim 8, c h a¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the apparatus comprises two force packs (39, 40), which are mounted rotatable around a vertical support (41) and which over a system of pulleys (43-45) and wires (46) are adapted to be engaged by pressing or tracting a latissimus traction bar (48) in the direction downwards or by tracting or pressing an armcurl bar (50) in the direction upwards, whereby the wire (46) ex¬ tends over at least two pulleys. 10. Apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, c h a r a c t e¬ r i z e d in that the apparatus comprises a horizontal support bar (51) which is mounted in any suitable position along vertically mounted support bars (35), and which along said horizontal support bar (51) carries two force packs (52, 53) mounted for a force actu- at ion towards or apart from each other, and in which each force pack (52, 53) preferably has a vertically extending handle (54) adjacent the outer end thereof.

Inventors: LANTZ INGVAR, LANTZ, INGVAR
Applicants: LANTZ INGVAR, LANTZ, INGVAR
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A63B21
IPC codes: A63B21, A63B23