Abstract:
An exercise apparatus that provides a complete body workout, folds up into a small footprint, and can be hidden inside of a closet or decorative cabinet. The two arms rotate both horizontally and vertically, and move up and down, permitting the cable ends to be positioned anywhere from near the ground to well over head, thus allowing for infinite exercise variation. Cable ends that exit the arms freely and move independently of each other simulate working out with free weights. The counterweighted arms combined with convenient locking levers facilitate rapid and effortless arm repositioning. A counterweighted fold out seat assembly with leg extension completes the versatile and compact workout station.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of: Provisional Patent Application No. 60/565,384 filed 2004 Apr. 26 by David Clark, Utility patent application Ser. No. 11/114,450 filed 2005 Apr. 26 by David Clark, and of Utility Continuation patent application Ser. No. 11/787,307 filed Apr. 16, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,538 by David Clark. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to multi-purpose exercise equipment that uses cables to transfer force from a resistance source to user interfaces and also to apparatus that have elements that pivot, translate, and transfer forces with cables. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There are mainly two different methods to do strength training and both have their inherent strengths and weaknesses. The first is to exercise with free weights and the second is to exercise with exercise machines that use cables to transfer the forces from a resistance source to a user. 
     The advantage of free weights is that they&#39;re very effective in producing strength gains and muscle mass. This is, in part, because the weight is unguided, and therefore secondary muscles get involved during the exercise in order to balance the weight. One of the inherent problems with free weights is that exercising with them is not as safe as exercising with an exercise machine. A lifter can lose his balance and be injured in a fall. The lifter may not be able to finish a lift, in which case he can become pinned under a bar. Plates can slide off the bar during a lift, potentially causing injury to the lifter and most likely to the floor. Lifting with free weights is also time consuming because of the need to take weight plates on and off to change the resistance, and because of the need to move the bar to different positions on the bar rack for different exercises. Also the lifting area can become cluttered with weight plates, thereby causing a hazard and making it difficult to locate desired weigh plates. In addition, some body parts are best worked out with an exercise machine, such as using a cable pulldown machine for working out the back. Furthermore, cost can be a factor. A lot of equipment is needed to be able to do a complete free weight workout, such as, the free weights, dumbbells, various lifting bars, a bench that inclines and declines, a bar rack for holding the barbell in several locations, and a cable pulldown machine. Purchase of all of this equipment can get quite expensive. Since free weights and free weight equipment are not designed to be compact or stored out of view, typically a whole room needs to be dedicated to such a setup. 
     Some of the advantages of exercise machines that make them so popular are because they overcome many of the disadvantages of free weights. They&#39;re safer to use than free weights as there is no risk of falling, of being trapped by the weights, or of having the weights fall off. Because the source of resistance is typically a weight stack where the weights are confined, the weights don&#39;t get scattered, lost, or dropped on the floor, and changing the amount of weight is quickly achieved by just changing the position of the selector pin. Many different exercises can be performed on one machine, and some exercise machines have multiple workout stations and weight stacks to permit performance of the various exercises needed for a complete body workout. Since it is possible to quickly and easily change between different exercises and resistance levels, circuit weight training is possible. 
     Circuit weight training was developed to promote both aerobic and muscular fitness at the same time. It consists of a series of exercises performed in succession, with a maximum of 30 seconds of rest between exercises, and lasting a total of 30 minutes. In order to maintain such a pace, an exercise machine must allow for a very quick and smooth transition between the different exercises and resistance levels, or there needs to be many different workout stations to allow all the different exercises needed to get a full body workout. 
     One of the problems with exercise machines is that they take up a lot of floor space. While some take up a smaller amount of floor space than others, typically they are all free standing and need to be set up far enough away from walls and furniture in order to allow for the space necessary to move around them and to exercise freely. Most exercise machines are designed such that only a certain number of body parts can be exercised per workout station. This is because the typical workout station is dedicated to doing specific exercises, such at a high pull station for doing pulldowns, or a low pull station for curls, or a station dedicated to doing the bench press or squats, etc. Exercise machines with these kinds of dedicated workout stations must have multiple workout stations for the user to get a full body workout. These larger machines require more steel, pulleys, and parts, resulting in a more complicated and expensive exercise machine that takes up more floor space. 
     Some inventions have attempted to deal with the problem of dedicated workout stations by allowing a set of pull points (the point at which individual hand grips or a bar is attached) to be adjustable in space. Some have achieved this by allowing the pull points to be adjusted vertically such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,733; 4,603,855; and 4,898,381. One of the problems to be overcome by doing this is what to do with the excess cable as the pull points are moved. How complicated is the method for taking up the cable slack from moving the pull points? Another method to adjust the pull points in space is to position the pull points at the distal end of an arm, but the pivot of the arms is from a fix location that limits their versatility. Examples of this are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,826,157; 6,458,061 and 6,488,612. Cable length is constant but the arms pivot from a fixed pivot point. 
     For a lot of exercises a user may prefer to use a bar between the pull points. Some exercise machines that utilize pull points that move up and down are only designed to use individual hand grips. Some reasons a straight bar can&#39;t be used is because the vertical guides are spaced to closely together, the vertical guides aren&#39;t parallel to one another, and there is no space between the pull points (or arms) either because the arms are too short or there is structure directly between the pull points which prohibit the ability to do meaningful straight bar exercises like squats. Some examples of gyms that have one or more of these flaws are gyms like Nautilus NS700X, German patent application DE19801672, US patent application 2006/0116249, and Cybex FT-450. Some exercise machines have the ability to use a straight bar, like U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,725,459 and 6,447,430; and the Body Craft PFT Functional trainer, along with several others. The problem with these is that while they do allow the ability to use a straight bar between the pull points, there is no easy way to move the pull points at the same time while leaving the bar attached. They use spring loaded lock pins which require a constant force to keep the pins retracted during adjustment of the pull points. And so for these gyms there is no easy way to adjust the vertical position of the pull points except to remove the bar. 
     Another problem with exercise machines is that during the performance of some of the pressing exercises or fly motion exercises, the path of travel for the exercise follows a predefined arc or guide-way. Such single plane motion eliminates or substantially reduces the amount of work that smaller secondary muscles would be required to do to balance the weight if the same exercise was being performed using free weights. 
     Some machines require extra time in selecting a resistance level, especially those that utilize progressive resistance means such as springs, elastic band resistance, or flexible members to provide the resistance. These means of resistance are generally not as preferred by serious athletes for muscle development, who instead prefer the constant resistance offered by free weights or stack weight machines. Many of the functional exercise machines have two weight stacks instead of one which more than doubles the time required to change resistance levels. If a machine takes a long time to be setup for different exercises and resistance settings, circuit training cannot be performed, and the workout is longer than it would otherwise need to be. 
     Another problem with existing exercise machines is that they detract from a room that is not specifically dedicated for exercise. Most exercise machines aren&#39;t designed to be hidden from view when not in use, which can be unsightly for a room that is not specifically dedicated to be a fitness room. Some gyms are designed to fold up when not in use to cut down on the space they take up, but they&#39;re often too heavy and/or bulky to move or store away from view. There are some home gyms that fold up and can be stored out of sight, perhaps under a bed. But these require substantial time and effort to unfold for a workout and then fold up again afterwards. In addition, these fold-up gyms often fail to provide a full body workout. 
     OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES 
     The benefits of the invention relate to its versatility, compactness and functionality. A wide variety of exercises can be done on this one piece of equipment. As a result, additional exercise equipment is unnecessary. Various exercises can be performed with minimal changeover time which allows for the ability to do circuit training. The apparatus is designed to collapse into a space having a minimum depth. Thus, the apparatus is suitable for folding up into a cabinet, which allows the room to be used for other activities. Also, because of its compact size it could be shipped preassembled, freeing the buyer from this task and making it easy to take along during a move to a new home. 
     The ability of the arms to rotate both horizontally and vertically as well as translate vertically allows the cable ends at the ends of the arms to be positioned anywhere from near the ground to well overhead. The pulley assemblies at the ends of the arms allow the cables to exit freely and that feature along with the ability of the arms to freely rotate in the horizontal direction during exercising allows for a degree of instability during exercising which is balanced by the involvement of secondary muscles to balance the resistance. This helps to give the gym a feeling not dissimilar to working out with free weights. The horizontal movements of the arms also allow the arms to be better position for some exercise than if the arms were fixed parallel to one another. One example is while doing curls with the handgrips. The arms swivel in underneath where the handgrips are going through their motions and in that way gives a more natural feel to the exercise. Another example for this would be when doing flys or bench press exercises with the handgrips. The arms can also be locked into different positions of horizontal rotation (both inwardly and outwardly) in order to perform certain types of exercises. Like locking them all the way to their outmost positions for doing a crossover fly exercise. 
     The arms are able to move independently from one another in horizontal rotation (even during exercising) but they&#39;re tied together in vertical rotation and vertical translation. Because the arms are tied to move together in vertical rotation and vertical translation this allows an exercise bar to be left attached during repositioning the arms. The ability of the vertical rotation and vertical translation locks to remain in an unlocked position also aids in repositioning of the arms to new positions. Many gyms require a constant force to be exerted on their locking mechanisms for adjusting the guides (and arms) and so only one guide at a time is able to be repositioned by a single user. Because of this it would be difficult for a single user to reposition both guides at the same time while leaving a straight bar attached. For most gyms this isn&#39;t a problem because they aren&#39;t designed to use a straight bar. Even if the locks on other gyms could be locked in an open position, because the guides are not tied together in vertical translation (and if the gym also has arms attached to the guides these would need to be able to be tied together in rotation also) it would be difficult for a single user to reposition an attached straight bar to the same vertical (and rotational) positions. The means to engage the translation locks for both arms come to a single location and attaches to a single lever at the distal end of one arm and the means for engaging the vertical rotation locks for both arms also come to a single location and a single lever at the distal end of the other arm. This simplifies the movement of the arms by only needing to activate these two levers to release the arms in both vertical rotation and translation. And because of the levers&#39; position and functionality, this allows the user a convenient place to hold onto the arms during arm repositioning. While tying the arms together (permanently in some embodiments) in vertical rotation and vertical translation does prevent the user from repositioning the arms at different heights and rotations relative to one another, the benefits of tying them together as outlined above outweighs this disadvantage. Many more exercises require the arms to be at the same height and vertical rotation than at different heights and/or rotations. Typically the user wants the two sides to be put into a mirror image to one another. So for each change of position without the above benefits the new location (both the vertical placement and vertical and horizontal rotation) would needs to be noted and remembered so that the other arm could be moved to the same location. Some exercises require the use of only one handgrip or leg strap which is not hindered by tying the arms together in vertical rotation and translation. 
     Additional benefits of the invention have to do with the cable reeving used in it. This reeving which is referred to as wrap-on wrap-off allows for a zero change in effective cable length (explained in more detail in the ‘Operational Aspects’ section below). This reeving helps to maintain a preload on the cable ends so that the bar doesn&#39;t slip during repositioning (important for some embodiments of the invention) and prevents movements of the selector bar at the weight stack. It allows for a different way to build a fixed arm variation as explained in the ‘Additional Alternative Embodiments’ section below. And it allows for the additional degree of freedom for the preferred embodiment, the ability for the arms to rotate in the horizontal direction (some of the benefits of which are as described above). 
     Other advantages will be apparent from the following description and drawings of several embodiments. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     I have invented a versatile compact exercise apparatus. The exercise apparatus comprises the following: A pair of guide assemblies each comprising a guide and a rotating structure such that the guides are able to slide parallel to vertical axes and the rotating structures are able to rotate about them. A pair of arms that are rotationally attached to the guide assemblies at their pivot ends at horizontal axes that are substantially perpendicular to the vertical axes and have at their distal ends pulley assemblies which contain at least one pulley. A guide connection means for tying the guides together in vertical translation. A resistance assembly with a source of force and a selective means of engaging a portion of that force. And a cable assembly means for transferring forces from the resistance assembly to the cable ends that are located at the pulley assemblies at the distal ends of the arms. 
     I have also invented a versatile exercise apparatus comprising the following: A pair of guide assemblies each comprising a guide and a rotating structure such that the guides are able to slide parallel to vertical axes and the rotating structures are able to rotate about them. A guide connection means for tying the guides together in vertical translation. A resistance assembly with a source of force and a selective means of engaging a portion of that force. And a cable assembly means for transferring forces from the resistance assembly to the cable ends that are located adjacent to the rotating structures. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings are briefly described below. 
         FIG. 1  is a right front perspective view of an exercise machine embodiment of the invention. The seat assembly is in the down position, the arms are in the bottom position and are both rotated outward. 
         FIG. 2  is a front/side perspective view of the preferred embodiment showing the arms rotated down and out with the top frame assembly, seat assembly, and back panel removed for clarity. The figure shows the cable assembly means of transferring forces, the resistance assembly and the counterweight assembly. 
         FIG. 3  is a front/top perspective view of an embodiment showing the arms, guide assemblies and guide connection, along with means for locking the arms in vertical and horizontal rotation and the guides in translation. 
         FIG. 4  is a rear/top perspective view of an embodiment of the arms and guides. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view perspective of the preferred embodiment showing the arms and guide assemblies and the horizontal range of motion. 
         FIG. 6  is a section view from  FIG. 5  that shows the right side view perspective of the preferred embodiment showing the left arm and the left guide assembly. 
         FIG. 7  is a section view from  FIG. 5  that shows the right side view perspective of the preferred embodiment showing the right arm and the right guide assembly. 
         FIG. 8  is a top view perspective of an alternative embodiment showing the arms and guide assemblies and the horizontal rotation range of motion. 
         FIG. 9  is a section view from  FIG. 8  that shows the right side view perspective of an alternative embodiment showing the left arm and the left guide assembly. 
         FIG. 10  is a section view from  FIG. 8  that shows the right side view perspective of an alternative embodiment showing the right arm and the right guide assembly 
         FIG. 11  is a side rear view perspective of a second invention showing the guides and rotating structures and the reeving for tying them together. 
         FIG. 12  is a side rear view perspective of the invention of  FIG. 11  showing the addition of a reeving method for tying together a pair of arms that have been added to the rotating structures. 
         FIG. 13  is a right side view of the pulley assembly at the distal end of the left arm. 
         FIG. 14  is a right side view of the activation lever of the left arm positioned so that the lock pin assemblies are engaged. 
         FIG. 15  is a right side view of the activation lever of the left arm positioned so that the lock pin assemblies are disengaged. 
         FIG. 16  is a right front perspective view of an embodiment of the seat assembly in its folded out position with the seat pad, backrest pad, thigh cushions, and ankle cushions removed for clarity. One of the Roman chair arms is down and the grip for that arm is shown in its raised position. 
         FIG. 17  is a right side view of the seat of  FIG. 16  in its storage position. 
         FIG. 18  is a right side view of the seat of  FIG. 16  midway between its storage and operational positions. 
         FIG. 19  is a right side view of the seat of  FIG. 16  folded down into its operational position. 
       For  FIGS. 20-27  the nomenclature on the drawing is as follows: A: arm mounted; F: frame mounted; G: guide mounted; RS: rotating structure mounted; GC: guide connection mounted 
         FIG. 20  is a schematic representation of the preferred embodiment cable reeving of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 21  is a schematic representation of an alternative cable reeving method that doesn&#39;t shift the left arm cable over toward the right arm. 
         FIG. 22  is a schematic representation of an alternative cable reeving method that shifts the pulleys that were on the pivots of the arms off of the pivots of the arms. 
         FIG. 23  is a schematic representation of an alternative cable reeving method that shifts the pulleys that were on the pivot of the arms off of the pivots of the arms and that doesn&#39;t shift the left arm cable over toward the right arm. 
         FIG. 24  is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment showing how to reeve the cables for a single arm and guide arrangement with the pulleys rotating on the axis of rotation of the arm. 
         FIG. 25  is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment showing how to reeve the cables for a single arm and guide arrangement and that shifts the pulleys that were on the pivots of the arm off of the pivots of the arm. 
         FIG. 26  is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment that has two single arm arrangements mounted next to one another with the pulleys near the pivots of the arms on the pivot of the arms. 
         FIG. 27  is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment that has two single arm arrangements mounted next to one another and that shifts the pulleys that were on the pivot of the arms off of the pivots of the arms, and also removes the leg extension pulley arrangements from the left arm. 
         FIGS. 28-30  shows the left and right arms of the preferred embodiment at different angles of rotation and shows how the cable wrap for the left and right arms add up to the same amount of total cable wrap. 
         FIGS. 31-33  shows an alternative embodiment that has the pulleys that where mounted on the axis of rotation instead mounted on the guide assemblies. These figures shows the arms at different angles of rotation and shows how the cable wrap for the left and right arms don&#39;t add up to the same amount of total cable wrap. 
         FIG. 34  shows a right side view of the ratchet bars of the right arm that are engaged in the right arm guide locking the arm from clockwise rotation. 
         FIG. 35  shows a right front perspective view of the exercise machine with the arms raised all the way up and out and with the seat in the closed position. 
         FIG. 36  shows a right front perspective view of the exercise machine with the arms raised all the way up and in and with the seat in the open position with the back panel removed to show the cable reeving. 
         FIG. 37  is a schematic representation of a common cable reeving arrangement that is know and has been revealed in the common art. 
         FIG. 38  is a top view of the exercise machine mounted to the wall with the optional cabinet enclosure installed and shows how the cabinet doors open and close. 
         FIG. 39  is a front top perspective of a the parent application utilizing the wrap on-wrap off cable reeving method and a connection tube on the shared axis of rotation. 
         FIG. 40  is a front right perspective of the cabinet enclosure with the doors closed. 
         FIG. 41  is a front right perspective of the cabinet enclosure when the doors are just opened. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-function exercise apparatus comprising: a pair of guide assemblies each comprised of a rotating structure and a guide which translates vertically within a wall mounted frame assembly; a pair of arms pivotally attached to the guide assemblies at their pivot end and having a rotating pulley assembly at their distal end each comprising at least one pulley; an arm connection means for tying the arms together in rotation; a resistance assembly comprised of a single weight stack; and a cable assembly means for transferring force from the resistance assembly to the cable ends located at the distal ends of the arms. The cable assembly means allows the arms and guide assemblies to rotate both vertically and horizontally and to translate vertically without effecting cable length by using a method of cable wrap called wrap-on wrap-off. Other components of the invention may include: a counterweight assembly to offset the weight of the arms and guide assemblies to make effortless their rotation and translation. In the preferred embodiment the counterweight along with a guide connection are used to tie the arms together in rotation; a seat assembly with leg extension; locking means for locking the arms in fixed vertical and horizontal rotation and for locking the guides in positions of vertical translation; and optionally a decorative cabinet for enclosing the entire exercise apparatus when not in use. The cabinet takes up a minimum of floor space. The following discussion will focus on structural elements and operational aspects. 
     Structural Elements 
     Various embodiments of the invention will be discussed to illustrate different aspects of the invention. It is understood that embodiments may include some or all of the components and features discussed below. While many of the figures are of different embodiments, the following discussion will be as though most are of one embodiment. 
     Overviews of the major components that can comprise one or more embodiments of an exercise apparatus of the invention are listed below. Later in the description more detail is given to each of the components. The major components of the exercise apparatus of these embodiments include: a pair of arms  70 A, 70 B—(FIGS.  2 , 3 ) that are pivotally attached to a pair of guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B comprised of a rotating structures  43 A, 43 B and guides  44 A, 44 B; a guide connection means  41  ties the guides  44 A, 44 B together in vertical translation; a resistance assembly  92 ; a cable assembly means  108 , that includes an arm cable assembly  110 , a resistance cable assembly  120  and a leg extension cable assembly  129 ; a frame assembly  142  ( FIG. 1 ); a counterweight assembly  100  ( FIG. 2 ); a vertical rotation lock means  82  ( FIG. 3 ); a translation lock means  56 ; an optional seat assembly  160  ( FIG. 1 ); an optional cabinet enclosure  191  ( FIG. 42 ); and an assortment of user interfaces. 
     The preferred embodiment of the exercise apparatus is shown in  FIG. 1  and in  FIG. 35 . The arms  70 A, 70 B have a pivot end and a distal end. The arms  70 A, 70 B are rotationally attached at their pivot end to the guides  44 A, 44 B at pivot pins  45 A, 45 B ( FIG. 3 ) and these two pivot pins define the horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B ( FIG. 2 ). Near the pivot end of arm  70 A, pulley  74 A is rotationally attached to pivot pin  45 A and likewise near the pivot end of arm  70 B pulley  74 B is rotationally attached to pivot pin  45 B. Pulley  74 A is substantially the same size and shape as pulley  74 B. At the distal ends of the arms  70 A, 70 B are mounted pulley assemblies  76 A, 76 B (FIGS.  3 , 13 ) that are comprised of a pulley structure  77 A,  77 B rotationally attached substantially at the centerline of the arms  70 A, 70 B; a sets of pulleys,  78 A,  78 B and  80 A,  80 B, positioned so that they are nearly touching, such that they keep captive any cable passing between them. The shape of the pulley structure  77 A,  77 B ( FIG. 13 ) is designed such that preferably the length of any cable coming from between the pulleys  78 A, 78 B, 80 A, 80 B to a cable end  112 A, 112 B is substantially the same length regardless of where cable end  112 A, 112 B is positioned and so the length of cable segment  81 A ( FIG. 13 ) is substantially equal to the length of cable segments  81 B and  81 C. At the top and bottom of pulley structure  77 A, 77 B is flat spot  69  that causes the constant length of the cable segments described above to deviate slightly. It increases the length of the cable segments slightly before the flat spot  69  and after it thereby providing an area that the cable ends  112 A, 112 B can rest that provides some resistance to sliding relative to the pulley structure  77 A, 77 B. Vertical rotation lock means  82  ( FIG. 14 ) provides a way to lock the vertical rotation of the arms  70 A, 70 B relative to the guides  44 A, 44 B for different exercises and for storage. The vertical rotation lock means  82  is comprised of ratchet bars  84 A,  84 B,  84 C,  84 D (FIGS.  28 , 34 ) that are spring loaded and are located on the arms  70 A, 70 B near their pivot ends. These ratchet bars are in communication with an activation lever  90  (FIGS.  14 , 15 ) near the distal end of arm  70 A, at an attachment point  89 . As the activation lever  90  is rotated, attachment point  89  rotates to two different positions that are on opposite sides of pivot  87  and that are different distances  91 A,  91 B from pivot  87 . When the activation lever  90  is positioned so that there is a distance  91 B, then ratchet bars  84 A,  84 B,  84 C,  84 D are retracted and when the activation lever is positioned so that there is a distance  91 A then the ratchet bars are allowed to extend and engage a plurality of teeth on guides  44 A,  44 B ( FIG. 34 ), which allows the arms  70 A, 70 B to be locked in rotation relative to the guides  44 A, 44 B in a number of useful locations. 
     Guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B ( FIGS. 3 ,  5 - 7 ) are comprised of guides  44 A,  44 B and rotating structures  43 A, 43 B. In the preferred embodiment the arms  70 A, 70 B are rotationally attached to the guides  44 A, 44 B at horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B. Pulleys  74 A, 74 B are also rotationally attached to horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B. The relative position of the arms  70 A, 70 B and guides  44 A, 44 B relative to the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B is defined such that the effective circumference (circumference at the pitch diameter of the pulley) of pulley  74 A, 74 B is substantially tangent to the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B. This allows the arms  70 A, 70 B and guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B to rotate horizontally about the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B without changing the effective cable length of the arm cables. The guides  44 A, 44 B are slideably attached to vertical square tubing  58 A, 58 B ( FIG. 2 ) of the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B. Because a square tube in a square tube arrangement is used, the guides  44 A, 44 B cannot rotate around the centerline of the vertical square tubing  58 A, 58 B of the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B but can slide along it&#39;s length. The rotating structures  43 A, 43 B is rotationally mounted at their top side to top frame assembly  146  at bearing  63  (FIGS.  6 , 7 ) and rotationally mounted at their bottom side to bottom frame assembly  148  at bearing  63 . These bearings define the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B that rotating structures  43 A, 43 B rotate about. This arrangement allows the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B, guides  44 A, 44 B and arms  70 A, 70 B to all rotate about the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B while preserving the substantial tangency of the pulleys  74 A, 74 B effective circumference to the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B. Translation lock means  56  (FIGS.  3 , 4 ) provides a way to lock the guides  44 A, 44 B to the vertical square tubing  58 A, 58 B. The translation lock means  56  is comprised of lock pin assemblies  65 A,  65 B (FIGS.  3 , 4 ), that are spring loaded pins located on the guides  44 A,  44 B, and are connected via cables  60 A, 60 B to an activation lever  64  near the distal end of the left arm  70 B. The rotation of activation lever  64  is similar to the rotation of activation lever  90  described above. When the activation lever  64  is rotated it retracts or extends the lock pin assemblies  65 A, 65 B thereby locking the guides  44 A,  44 B to vertical square tubing  58 A, 58 B, which have a plurality of holes located in them. Lockable lock pins  61 A, 61 B (FIGS.  2 , 3 ) located near the bottom of the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B allow the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B (and therefore the arms) to be locked into different angles of horizontal rotation relative to the frame assembly  142  ( FIG. 1 ). The lockable lock pins  61 A, 61 B stay in the unlocked position by a quarter turn of the lockable lock pins  61 A, 61 B and are spring loaded when turned to the locking position. 
     The guide connection means  41  ( FIG. 2 ) for the preferred embodiment comprises a guide connection  46  and the counterweight assembly  100 . The guide connection  46  is a rigid structure which mounts rotationally to the guides  44 A, 44 B at the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B. Since the guides  44 A, 44 B rotate about the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B there is substantially no change in position for the guide connection  46  during horizontal rotation of the arms  70 A, 70 B and guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B. The use of the guide connection  46  allows for a less rigid arm connection by using the counterweight assembly  100  to insure that the arms  70 A, 70 B rotate at the same time and angle. In the preferred embodiment the guide connection  46  is also used to mount pulleys  54 A, 54 B, which are used to move the arm cable  114  from traveling vertically along vertical axis  42 B to a vertical axis  42 C ( FIG. 2 ) which has a closer proximity to vertical axis  42 A. The reason for this change in vertical cable position is so that there is less of an overturning moment on the guides  44 A, 44 B if during use the translation lock means  56  is not engaged. This cable repositioning is explained in the ‘operational aspects’ section below and shown in (FIGS.  2 , 20 , 22 ). Pulley  54 B is mounted to guide connection  46  so that the effective circumference of pulley  54 B is substantially tangent to the vertical axis  42 B. Pulley  54 A is mounted to guide connection  46  so that the effective circumference of pulley  54 A is substantially tangent to vertical axis  42 C. 
     The resistance assembly  92  ( FIG. 2 ) provides the resistance and for the preferred embodiment is comprised of a weight stack  94 , a selector bar  95  that fits down through the center of the weight stack, a selector pin  96  that is able to engage a plurality of holes in the selector bar, and guide bars  98 A and  98 B, which confine and guide the weight stack. Guide bars  98 A,  98 B are mounted at their top end to the top frame assembly  146  and at their bottom end to bottom frame assembly  148 . Alternatively two weight stacks can be used if the cable assembly means is arranged in a similar fashion to that as shown in (FIGS.  26 , 27 ). Alternatively, another source of force may be used instead of weight stacks such as those having non-gravity based resistance elements like those known to the art. 
     The cable assembly means  108  ( FIG. 2 ) is for transferring the resistance selected at the resistance assembly  92  to cable ends  112 A and  112 B that extend from the distal ends of the arms  70 A, 70 B and to a cable end  133 B located at a leg extension  172 . The cable assembly means  108  is comprised of a resistance cable assembly  120  that communicates the resistance from the resistance assembly  92  through a resistance block assembly  125  to an arm cable assembly  110 , which then communicates the resistance through a leg extension block assembly  136  to a leg extension cable assembly  129 . The resistance cable assembly  120  is comprised of a resistance cable  122  that has a cable end  124 A, which is in communication with resistance assembly  92 , at one end, and a cable end  124 B fastened to the top side of the resistance block assembly  125  at the other end. The resistance block assembly  125  has a top side and a bottom side and is comprised of a block bracket  126  and a pulley  127  located at it&#39;s bottom side. The resistance block assembly  125  is in communication with the resistance assembly  92  by way of the resistance cable assembly  120  connected at it&#39;s top side and transfers this resistance to arm cable assembly  110  which is in communication with the pulley  127  located at it&#39;s bottom side. The arm cable assembly  110  transmits this resistance to cable ends  112 A,  112 B ( FIG. 1 ) located at the distal ends of the arms  70 A, 70 B and to leg extension cable assembly  129  via the leg extension cable block assembly  136  that it is in communication with. The leg extension cable block assembly  136  has a top side and a bottom side and is comprised of a pulley  138  and a block bracket  137 . Pulley  138  is located on the bottom side of leg extension block assembly  136  and is in communication with arm cable assembly  110  that is also in communication with resistance assembly  92  as described above. Leg extension cable assembly  129  is comprised of a leg extension cable  131 , cable ends  133 A,  133 B, and cable stop  134 . Cable end  133 A is fastened to the top side of leg extension block assembly  136 , to bracket  137 , and the other cable end  133 B of leg extension cable assembly  129  is pivotally connected to leg extension  172 . A cable stop  134  located on leg extension cable  131  between cable ends  133 A,  133 B engages a stop bracket  157  located on the bottom frame assembly  148  so that cable stop  134  will not retract past the stop bracket  157 . 
     Arm cable assembly  110  ( FIG. 2 ) is comprised of an arm cable  114  with cable ends  112 A,  112 B. The cable ends  112 A,  112 B are designed as stops so that they cannot retract past the pulley assemblies  76 A,  76 B and back into the arms  70 A, 70 B. Following arm cable  114  as it emerges from cable ends  112 A at the distal end of arm  70 A. First arm cable  114  passes between the pulleys  78 A,  78 B of pulley assembly  76 A, through the inside of arm  70 A, and then passes over a guide pulley  75 A ( FIG. 3 ). Guide pulley  75 A is used on the preferred embodiment but may not be needed on alternative embodiments. Guide pulley  75 A directs the arm cable  114  to pulley  74 A which is positioned such that its effective circumference is substantially tangent to the vertical axis  42 A. Arm cable  114  exits pulley  74 A running down and substantially collinear to vertical axis  42 A where it wraps onto a pulley  156 A located in bottom frame assembly and whose effective circumference is substantially tangent to the vertical axis  42 A. Arm cable  114  wraps over and exits pulley  156 A and wraps onto a pulley  156 B ( FIG. 2 ), which is substantially in the same plane as pulley  156 A, and exits running vertically along a path that is substantially parallel with the vertical axis  42 A where it then wraps over pulley  138  of leg extension block assembly  136  and exits pulley  138  after approximately 180 degrees of wrap, running vertically down along a path that is substantially parallel with the vertical axis  42 A. Here arm cable  114  wraps onto a pulley  156 C located in bottom frame assembly  148 , wraps approximately 180 degrees around pulley  156 C and exits running vertically up along a path that is substantially parallel with the vertical axis  42 A, where it then wraps over pulley  127  of resistance block assembly  125  and exits pulley  127  after approximately 180 degrees of wrap. It runs vertically down along a path that is substantially parallel with the vertical axis  42 A. Arm cable  114  then wraps onto a pulley  156 D located in bottom frame assembly  148 , wraps around pulley  156 D and exits to run up to a pulley  152  in top frame assembly  146  which is substantially in the same plane as pulley  156 D and is located so that after arm cable  114  wraps over the top and exits pulley  152  and runs down vertically along a vertical axis  42 C which is substantially parallel to vertical axis  42 A and wraps onto pulley  54 A mounted on guide connection  46 . Arm cable  114  wraps over pulley  54 A, exits and wraps onto pulley  54 B which is substantially in the same plane as pulley  54 A and the plane of  54 B substantially contains vertical axis  42 B. Also the effective circumference of  54 B is substantially tangent to vertical axis  42 B so that as arm cable  114  exits pulley  54 B down to pulley  74 B it follows a path that is approximately collinear to vertical axis  42 B. Arm cable  114  wraps onto pulley  74 B, located at the pivot end of arm  70 B, whose effective circumference is also substantially tangent to vertical axis  42 B. After arm cable  114  wraps around pulley  74 B it runs inside of arm  70 B, and passes over guide pulley  75 B (used on the preferred embodiment but may not be needed on other embodiments) which directs arm cable  114  to run approximately down the rotational centerline of pulley assembly  76 B. It then passes between pulleys  80 A,  80 B of pulley assembly  76 B and terminates at cable end  112 B. 
     Resistance cable assembly  120  ( FIG. 2 ) is comprised of resistance cable  122 , with a cable end  124 A that bolts into selector bar  95  at the resistance assembly  92 , and a cable end  124 B that bolts onto the top side of resistance block assembly  125 . Following the resistance cable  122  as it emerges from cable end  124 A at the resistance assembly  92 , resistance cable  122  goes straight up along a path substantially parallel to vertical axis  42 A, to a pulley  150 A whose effective circumference is substantially tangent to the path of resistance cable  122  and is positioned in the top frame assembly  146 . Resistance cable  122  exits pulley  150 A and wraps onto a pulley  150 B located in the same plane as pulley  150 A and whose effective circumference is located substantially tangent to a vertical line which runs through the centerline of resistance block assembly  125  and runs substantially parallel to the vertical axis  42 A. Resistance cable  122 , upon exiting pulley  150 B, runs along this centerline where it then terminates at cable end  124 B, which is bolted to the top side of and centerline of resistance block assembly  125 . 
     Leg extension cable assembly  129  ( FIG. 2 ) is comprised of leg extension cable  131 , a cable end  133 A that bolts onto the top and centerline of leg extension block assembly  136 , a cable end  133 B pivotally connected to leg extension  172 , and a cable stop  134 . Following the leg extension cable  131  as it emerges from cable end  133 A at the top side of leg extension block assembly  136 , leg extension cable  131  goes straight up along the center line of leg extension block assembly  136  and substantially parallel to vertical axis  42 A, to a pulley  149  whose effective circumference is located substantially tangent to the current path of leg extension cable  131 , and positioned in the top frame assembly  146 . Leg extension cable  131  wraps over pulley  149  and exits straight down a path substantially parallel with vertical axis  42  to pulley  154  located in bottom frame assembly  148 . Pulley  154  is located so that the plane defined by the leg extension cable  131  and it enters and exits pulley  154  is substantially parallel with the plane that leg extension  172  operates in as it rotates about its pivot located on a thigh support  170 . Shortly after exiting pulley  154 , leg extension cable  131  has a cable stop  134  attached to it, which prevents the cable stop  134  and cable from retracting back past a stop bracket  157  located in bottom frame assembly  148 . From here leg extension cable  131  travels out to and terminates at cable end  133 B that is pivotally connected to leg extension  172 . 
     Frame assembly  142  ( FIG. 1 ) is comprised of right member  144 A, and left member  144 B that are bolted at their bottoms to bottom frame assembly  148 , and bolted at their tops to top frame assembly  146 . This creates a structurally solid frame where frame elements  144 A and  144 B run substantially parallel to one another. Top frame assembly  146  is the part of the frame assembly  142  that can come in contact with a wall  222  (FIGS.  6 , 7 , 38 ), specifically at wall rest  155 . To mount the frame assembly  142  to the wall  222 , first locate wall studs  224  and mark their centerlines at the correct height above the ground. The frame assembly  142  is positioned up against the wall  222  and then mounting brackets  151  are positioned over the wall studs  224  while lag bolts  153  are installed through the mounting brackets  151  into the wall studs, thus securing frame assembly  142  to the wall  222 . In an alternative design the bottom frame also contacts the wall with a wall rest and can also be secured to the wall with mounting brackets. 
     Counterweight assembly  100  ( FIG. 2 ) offsets the combined weight of the arms  70 A, 70 B, guides  44 A, 44 B, guide connection  46  and an exercise bar  206  to allow for easier rotation and vertical translation. In one embodiment, the counter weight assembly  100  is comprised of a counter weight cable  104  that is pivotally connected to the arms  70 A, 70 B at pivots  105 A,  105 B (which are located at the approximate combined center of gravity of the arms  70 A, 70 B, guides  44 A, 44 B, guide connection  46  and exercise bar  206 ). From the pivots  105 A,  105 B the counter weight cable  104  goes up to the top frame assembly  146  where it wraps over pulleys  158 (A-F) before coming down and pivotally attaching to a counter weight  102  by way of a thimble  101 , a wire clamp  103  and a bolt  107 . The vertical travel of counterweight  102  is guided by counterweight guides  106 A, 106 B. 
     The seat assembly can be collapsed into a near planar configuration in a closed or storage position and be unfolded into a versatile support structure in an open position. As such, the seat assembly is suitable for many exercise machines besides the ones encompassed by the current invention. One embodiment of the seat assembly is seat assembly  160  (FIGS.  1 , 16 - 19 ) that is shown centered in the frame assembly  142  and is comprised of the components described below. Other embodiments are apparent to those of ordinary skill in exercise machines and are encompassed by the invention. In the embodiment shown, guide tube  166 , is pivotally connected at its top end to the top frame assembly  146 , and at its bottom end is slideably and pivotally connected to a lower member  168  near its middle. The lower member  168  is pivotally attached at its bottom end to support brackets  178 A,  178 B ( FIG. 2 ) of the bottom frame assembly  148 , is slideably and pivotally attached at its middle to the guide tube  166 , and is pivotally attached at its top end to a seat  164 . The seat  164  is pivotally attached to the lower member  168  near its front end, is pivotally attached to a backrest  162  at its back end, is slideably connected to a thigh support  170  at its front end, and is lockable to the thigh support by lock pin  171 B, which engages a plurality of holes in the thigh support  170 . The backrest  162  is pivotally attached to the seat  164  at its bottom end, is slideably connected to the guide tube  166 , and is lockable to the guide tube  166  by lock pin  171 A. Lock pin  171 A engages hole  167 A in the guide tube  166  when seat assembly  160  is in its storage position and engages hole  167 B, located below hole  167 A on the guide tube  166 , when the seat assembly is in its open position. Thigh support  170  is slideably and lockably connected to the seat  164 , and is pivotally connected to leg extension  172  at its front end. The leg extension  172  is pivotally connected to thigh support  170  at its top end, is pivotally attached to cable end  133 B at its bottom end, and is slideably and pivotally attached to a fold down bracket  173  at its bottom end. Fold down bracket  173  is comprised of a frame  185  that is pivotally attached to the leg extension  172  at one end, and is pivotally attached to a support  186  near its middle. Support  186  is pivotally attached to the frame  185  at one end and is pivotally attached to a slide  187  at its other end. Slide  187  is slideably connected to the leg extension  172 , is pivotally connected to support  186 , and has a lock pin  171 C that allows the slide to be locked in translation relative to the leg extension when the fold down bracket  173  is in an open position or a closed position. A backrest pad  163  is connected along the full length of backrest  162 , a seat pad  165  is attached to seat  164 , thigh cushions  180  slide onto thigh support  170 , and ankle cushions  181  slide onto leg extension  172 . Optional Roman chair arms  174 A,  174 B ( FIG. 16 ) are hinged at their bottom end to backrest  162  near its bottom end and have folding handgrips  177 A,  177 B pivotally attached near their free end. Folding handgrips  177 A,  177 B have lock pins  175 A,  175 B attached that allow them to be locked relative to the Roman chair arms  174 A,  174 B in a storage position that is substantially in line with the Roman chair arms and also locked perpendicular to their storage position. The hinged joint of the Roman chair arms  174 A,  174 B allows them to be put into a storage position where they fold up on either side of the backrest pad  163 . When the Roman chair arms  174 A,  174 B are put in their open position, they fold down and away from the backrest  162  until they are approximately perpendicular to the backrest, at which point the hinged joints stops their rotation. A counterweight  182  (or optionally a spring) slides inside of guide tube  166  and is connected to the backrest  162  by means of cable  183  that attaches at the top end of counterweight  182 , travels up to a pulley  184  located in guide tube  166  near its top end, passes around the pulley and runs along the outside of the guide tube  166  until it attaches to the backrest  162  near its top end at attachment point  179 . An elastic member  188  is attached at one end to the leg extension cable  131  midway between cable end  133 B and cable stop  134 , and at its other end to seat  164  near its back end. 
     Four likely resistance-bearing user interfaces for the exercise apparatus embodiments under discussion are detailed below (FIGS.  1 , 35 ). A first is exercise bar  206  that is able to be attached to cable ends  112 A,  112 B or that fits into a holder  208  when not in use. A second is a pulldown bar  210  that has hooks that allow it to hook over the top of exercise bar  206  for use on pulldown exercises and that fits into holder  208  when not in use. A third are handgrips  214 A,  214 B which are able to attach to cable ends  112 A,  112 B or which hook over holders  216 A,  216 B when not in use. A fourth is a leg strap  218 , which is able to attach to either cable end  124 A,  124 B in a similar manner that handgrip  214 A, does and which hooks over holder  216 C when not in use. 
     Operational Aspects 
     There are two main sets of axes which define the major movements of the exercise apparatus. The first set of axes are the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B. These are the axes about which the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B of the guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B rotate (allowing the arms to rotate in the horizontal direction) and define the axes that the guides  44 A, 44 B of the guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B slide parallel to. The vertical axes  42 A, 42 B are substantially vertical (for the preferred embodiment) and substantially parallel to one another. They could be set to some angle from vertical but for the preferred embodiment (to minimize floor space) they are positioned vertically. Being set parallel to one another allows for the use of a rigid guide connection  46  used in the preferred embodiment. For some embodiments the guide connection  46  can be disabled, see ‘Additional Alternative Embodiments’ below. 
     The second set of axes are the horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B that define the axes that the arms  70 A, 70 B rotate vertically about and the axes at which the arms  70 A, 70 B are rotationally attached to the guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B (either to the guides  44 A, 44 B as shown in the preferred embodiment ( FIGS. 5-7 ) or to rotating structures  43 A′, 43 B′ as shown in the alternative embodiment ( FIGS. 8-10 )). The reason the preferred embodiment uses a more elaborate rotating structure is for reasons of counter balancing the arms  70 A, 70 B and the guides  44 A, 44 B in the vertical direction and counter balancing the arms  70 A, 70 B in rotation about the guides  44 A, 44 B. Because the counter weight pulleys  158 C and  158 F are pivotally attached to the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B, this allows them to rotate horizontally along with the rotating structures  43 A, 43 B and the arms  70 A, 70 B and thereby stay directly centered over the center of gravity of the arm  70 A, 70 B and guides  44 A, 44 B. 
     The cable reeving of the cable assembly means  108  and specifically the reeving of the arm cable assembly  110  at the pivot end of arms  70 A, 70 B is what allows the arms to rotate without causing a change in the effective cable length of the cable assembly means  108  which would change the position of selector bar  95  and cause it to move relative to the weight stack  94 . The preferred embodiment of the resistance assembly provides a preload to the cable assembly means  108  by having a small gap between the lowest resistance setting and the next setting (a gap between no selection (10 lb) and the 20 selection). This preload exerts a force of 5 lb (10 lb/2) on each of the cable ends  112 A, 112 B at the ends of the arms  70 A, 70 B forcing the cable ends against the pulley assemblies  76 A, 76 B. This preload provides the benefits of helping to prevent the cable ends (and therefore the bar or handgrips) from slipping during rotation or translation of the arms  70 A, 70 B before the start of an exercise (specifically when the arms are rotated in front of the chest for the bench press exercise). If the effective cable length between the cable ends and the selector bar of the resistance assembly changes then this may make it difficult if not impossible to insert the selector pin  96  into the holes provided in the selector bar  95 , or may allow the gap between the resistance plates to disappear and thereby lose the preload to the cable ends. Alternative embodiments that use a different means of resistance (such as spring type resistance elements) may make this change in effective cable length a mute point, but for stack weight resistance it is important. Another means of helping to prevent the cable ends  112 A, 112 B from slipping during exercise setup is achieved by the flat spots  69  ( FIG. 13 ) in the pulley structure  77 A, 77 B. These flat spots create a low spot between two high spots which helps prevent the cable ends  112 A, 112 B from moving relative to the pulley structure  77 A, 77 B during movements of the arms  70 A, 70 B such as during the time when the bar is brought in front of the chest prior to doing a bench press exercise. Movement of the cable ends  112 A, 112 B during this setup time would be disruptive. 
     The explanation of wrap-on wrap-off follows. Refer to ( FIGS. 28-30 ). There is a certain amount of cable wrap  113 (A-C) defined by arm cable  114  as it passes over pulley  74 A located on the horizontal axis  68 A at the pivot end of arm  70 A and a certain amount of cable wrap  115 (A-C) by arm cable  114  as it passes over pulley  74 B located on the horizontal axes  68 B at the pivot end of arm  70 B, which together add up to a total cable wrap  111 . Because the angle that arm cable  114  makes with respect to ground as it exits pulleys  74 A,  74 B on it&#39;s way to pulleys  156 A and  54 B is always the same and because arm cable  114  exit one pulley going up and exits the other pulley going down, the total amount of cable wrap  111  remains the same irrespective of what angle that the arms are positioned at as long as arm cable  114  always remains in contact with both pulleys  74 A and  74 B and as long as both arms rotate together. As the arms  70 A, 70 B are rotated the cable wrap on one arm becomes larger by the same amount that the cable wrap on the other arm becomes smaller. Cable wraps onto one while it wraps off the other. Because the total cable wrap  111  remains the same the effective cable length of the cable assembly means  108  remains unchanged. 
     The same principal of wrap-on wrap-off also applies to an alternative case where pulleys  74 A and pulleys  74 B are not located on the horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B but instead are mounted to the guides  44 A,  44 B ( FIGS. 31-33 ). The principals above still apply but there is a very slight change in cable length because the amount of cable wrap  113 (A-C) and  115 (A-C) do not add up to the same total cable wrap  111  for different positions of rotation of the arms  70 A, 70 B as shown above but instead add up to cable wraps  117 (A-C). The amount of effective cable length change can be insignificant (especially if the axes of rotation of the pulleys  74 A,  74 B are set an equal distance up and down and substantially parallel to the horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B that the arms  70 A, 70 B pivot about and this distance from the horizontal axes is approximately equal to the effective radius of pulleys  74 A, 74 B). This means of cable reeving would therefore be an alternative way to reeve the arm cable  114  over these pulleys. One problem with this alternative reeving method is that a larger portion of the arm needs to be removed to accommodate the pulleys (especially for large rotations of the arms). 
     The same principal of wrap-on wrap-off applies to the alternative embodiment of a single arm  70 A as shown in ( FIG. 24 ). The arm cable  114  exits pulley  74 A going down, and then instead of return to the other arm  70 B it returns to the same arm  70 A from the top. At this point it would wrap around  74 B and terminate somewhere on the arm. Alternatively it could wrap over a curved surface with the same effective circumference as the pulley  74 A since the cable portion that terminates on the arm wouldn&#39;t move relative to the curved surface. One problem with this method is getting the exiting and returning cable segments as close as possible to the vertical axes so that as the arm rotates horizontally there is less angle change for the cable coming into the pulleys from the frame pulleys  152 , 156 A. This can be overcome by of having pulleys  74 A, 74 B on different axis of rotation from the a horizontal axis  68 A of the arm  70 A as described above ( FIG. 25 ) and so both of pulleys  74 A, 74 B′s effective circumference could be positioned on the vertical axis  42 A and still have minimal cable length change. Comparing the effective change in cable lengths between the method of the having pulleys  74 A, 74 B on different axis of rotation than the horizontal axis  68 A and between a common method of cable reeving ( FIG. 37 ) where the returning cable terminates on the guide instead of wrapping back over an effective circumference equal to pulley  74 A is a factor of 21 times greater effective cable length change. This is for the smallest pulley diameter permissible with a common cable diameter used on exercise equipment. As the pulley&#39;s effective circumference increases the effective cable length change increases. Although it is significantly more cable length change, because the wrap-on wrap-off method of cable reeving is so small to begin with, the common cable reeving method may also be suitable for a single arm setup especially if a slightly larger gap is used between the top and second plates in the resistance assembly, or the use of some other means of resistance is used. 
     Wrap-on wrap-off allows for zero effective cable length change for when the arms  70 A, 70 B rotate vertically about the horizontal axes. The vertical translation of the arm and guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B doesn&#39;t change the effective cable length or tension of the cable assembly means  108  because the cable ends  112 A,  112 B of the cable arm assembly  110  terminate in the arms  70 A, 70 B which translates with the guides  44 A, 44 B. Therefore as the arms  70 A, 70 B move vertically the arm cable  114  wraps on and off of the pulleys in the top frame assembly  146  and bottom frame assembly  148  at the same rate therefore unaffecting the effective cable length or tension of the cable assembly means  108 . During horizontal rotation of the arms  70 A, 70 B they effectively rotate about the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B regardless of vertical arm rotation because the arm cables  114  exit the arms  70 A, 70 B substantially collinearly to the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B and so the effective cable length change for the arms in horizontal rotation is also effectively zero. Additional benefits of wrap-on wrap-off cable reeving when used on an alternative embodiment of the exercise apparatus where the arms are fixed in horizontal rotation it is explained in the ‘Additional Alternative Embodiments’ section below. 
     The number of cable segments used on either side of resistance block assembly  125  also influences the versatility of the invention. In the structure discussed above, by having one cable segments on the top side of pulley block assembly  125  and two cable segments on the bottom side, a 2:1 ratio is created that divides the resistance of the weight stack  94  equally to each of the cable ends  112 A,  112 B. The cable block assembly  125  also allows each cable end  112 A,  112 B to be pulled independently from one another, which helps to give the machine the feeling of working out with free weights. Since the resistance of each cable end  112 A,  112 B is half the resistance of the weight  94 , when both cable ends are pulled at the same time, the resistance is the same as what is selected on the weight stack, and the amount of travel available for each cable end is equal to the maximum travel of the weight stack. When an individual cable end  112 A is pulled alone, the resistance is equal to half the weight selected on the weight stack  94  and the available travel is equal to twice the maximum travel of the weight stack. For a given exercise, by using an individual cable end  112 A, the distance the weight stack  94  travels is half of what it would be when both cable ends  112 A,  112 B are pulled at the same time. This also makes the velocity of the weight stack during the exercise equal to half that experienced when both are pulled. Since the velocity of the weight stack  94  is half, the momentum of the weight stack is equal to a quarter of the momentum of pulling both cable ends  112 A,  112 B because momentum is affected by the square of the velocity of the weight stack. Performing specialty exercises with a single handgrip allows the perceived force at the handgrip to be more constant because of the reduced velocity, and therefore momentum, of the weight stack. The weight stack of a preferred embodiment has a total weight of 200 lb (91 kilograms) and a preferred amount of travel of over 58.6 inches (1.49 meters) when using both cable ends  112 A, 112 B at the same time, or 100 lb (45.5 kilograms) and 118 inches (3 meters) of travel when only one handgrip  214 A is used. This should provide the necessary resistance and range of motion for the majority of users. Alternatively it may be desirable to have even less inertia and more range of motion than what is shown above. This can be achieved by the use of two weight stacks instead of one. One way to do this would be to use two sets of cables as laid out in (FIGS.  26 , 27 ). If the same weight was used in each weight stack that would effectively double the range of motion while keeping the weight the same. For a case such as this it should be understood that cable assembly means  108  would encompasses all the cables used in the gym, and resistance assembly  92  would encompasses all sources of resistance. 
     The translation lock means  56  and the rotation lock means  82  work in the same manner, by pulling on spring loaded lock pin assemblies  65 A, 65 B and spring loaded ratchet bars  84 (A-D) with cables that are attached to activation levers  64 , 90 . The lock pin assemblies are able to stay retracted (FIGS.  14 , 15 ) by having the attachment point  89  of the activation lever  90  pass from one side of the pivot  87  to the other when activating the lever. This way the cable  86 A (which is spring loaded from the lock pin assemblies) pulling on the activation point  89  keeps the activation lever  90  in the position selected. The difference between the distances  91 A and  91 B is the travel of the lock pin assemblies  65 A, 65 B and ratchet bars  84 (A-D). 
     The counterweight balances the arms  70 A, 70 B and guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B in rotation and translation to enhance speed of changeover. The weight of the counterweight  102  is equal, preferably, to the combined weight of the arms  70 A, 70 B, exercise bar  206 , guides  44 A, 44 B (and guide connection  46  for the preferred embodiment), which makes them essentially weightless in their vertical translation. The counterweight  102  via cables  104  attaches to the arms  70 A, 70 B at pivots  105 A, 105 B. The location of these pivots  105 A,  105 B is at a location that balances the combined center of gravity of the arms  70 A, 70 B and exercise bar  206  (when they are positioned horizontally) to the center of gravity of the guides  44 A, 44 B and guide connection  46 . This allows the arms  70 A, 70 B, with the exercise bar  206  attached, to be balanced in rotation with respect to the guides  44 A, 44 B and guide connection  46 . By making the combined weight of the handgrips  214 A, 214 B the same at the exercise bar  206  the balance is maintained when they are attached instead of the exercise bar  206 . Because the arms  70 A, 70 B and guide assemblies  40 A, 40 B with the exercise bar or handgrips is balanced in both rotation and translation, they remain in whatever position they are left in between exercises without the need to engage the vertical rotation lock means  82  or translation lock means  56 . 
     For the preferred embodiment an arm connection means  67  uses the counterweight assembly  100  in conjunction with the guide connection  46  in order to tie the arms together in rotation. If a user were to lift on only one arm, the force from the counterweight  102  that would normally go to that arm would instantly be transferred to the other arm. Because the guides  44 A, 44 B are tied together by the use of the guide connection  46  the extra force to the other arm would make it rise at the same rate and angle as the arm that is being lifted. 
     The guide connection  46  along with pulleys  54 A and  54 B are used in the preferred embodiment to minimize stress on the guides from exercising without engaging the translation lock mean  56 . Moving arm cable  114  where it goes vertical from arm  70 B collinearly along vertical axis  42 B over to vertical axis  42 C by the use of pulleys  54 A, 54 B minimizes the overturn moment on the guides. The distance between the location where arm cable  114  goes vertical from both arms times the force being lifted defines the overturning moment. By moving the cable from  42 B over to  42 C (FIGS.  2 , 20 , 22 ) the overturning moment is approximately 1/20 th  what it would be compared to not moving it (FIGS.  21 , 23 ) 
     The exercise bar is shaped for a variety of different exercises. The straight sections near its ends allow for exercises where gripping a straight bar is best, such as pressing exercises like the bench press. The curved area just inboard of the straight section allows the hands to be rotated for more comfort while doing an exercise like curls, but maintain the center of the hands on the centerline of the bar to eliminate torque on the exercise bar. The bulged area at the middle of the exercise bar  206  allows the bar to give extra clearance for body parts on some exercises such as room for the chest during the bench press or room for the legs during dead lifts. 
     Elements involving the leg extension are designed to enhance consistency of resistance during leg exercises and increase adjustability for various sized users. A preferred form of the fold down bracket  173  ( FIGS. 16-19 ) has a curved channel as part of frame  185  that keeps the leg extension cable  131  a constant distance from the pivot of where the leg extension  172  is pivotally attached to the thigh support  170 . This feature provides a constant resistance to the leg extension during use. The fold down bracket  173  folds out by pulling on lock pin  171 C and then pulling on the distal end of frame  185  while moving slide  187  downward until lock pin  171 C engage a hole at the bottom of leg extension  172 . Optional elastic element  188  ( FIGS. 17-19 ) is there to pull on leg extension cable  131 , to move it up and off the floor when the seat assembly  160  is put into its storage position. Thigh support  170  is adjustable for different sized users by pulling on lock pin  171 B located on seat  164  while the thigh support  170  is moved in or out and then allowing the lock pin  171 B to engage the nearest of a plurality of holes in the thigh support  170 . 
     The typical footprint of the invention is small and unobtrusive. Some embodiments of the exercise apparatus can be enclosed in a cabinet enclosure  191  (FIGS.  38 , 40 , 41 ) made from standard bi-fold door assemblies like those used on closet openings. The current preferred embodiment uses approximately one foot wide doors  192 A, 192 B on the sides of the cabinet enclosure and four doors  192 (C-F) approximately 15″ wide each across the front of the enclosure. This is the area into which some embodiments can fit and therefore only takes up 5.8 square feet (0.54 square meters) of floor space. The actual footprint may differ for some embodiments depending on the size, spacing and configuration of elements used. To complete the look of the enclosure, a cove assembly  194  can cover the top frame assembly  146 . The frame assembly  142  and cabinet enclosure  191  that has been described above is designed to mount to the wall  222  with space available at the back of the bottom frame assembly  148  to allow the majority of base boards  226  and quarter round  228  from the standard home to fit through untouched. The movement of the front door panels  192 (C-F) ( FIG. 38 ) allows their easy placement along side the side door panels  192 A,  192 B while the exercise apparatus is being used. 
     The exercise apparatus is of a very compact design which could be shipped fully assembled (minus the resistance assembly if it comprised of stack weights and the arm counterweight if is comprised of a heavy weight, these would be shipped and installed separately). This compact preassembled design benefits the end user in several different ways. First, since it&#39;s preassembled, the end user would only need to mount it to the wall (install weights as needed) and they&#39;re ready to go. No countless hours of assembly and the frustration that goes along with that. Also there is the benefit of moving the gym to a new location. No disassembly and reassembly needed. Some people, after doing the arduous task of assembly, will just leave their home exercise equipment with the sale of their home because they do not want to have to go through the time and frustration of what they went through when they assembled the gym in the first place. 
     I have also invented a versatile exercise apparatus as shown in ( FIG. 11 ) comprising the following: A pair of guide assemblies  40 C, 40 D each comprising a guide  44 C, 44 D and a rotating structure  43 C, 43 D such that the guides  44 C, 44 D are able to slide parallel to vertical axes  42 A, 42 B and the rotating structures  43 C, 43 D are able to rotate about them. The rotating structures  43 C, 43 D each have two pulleys  32 (A-D) between which the arm cable  114 ′ passes. The cable reeving is a method as described above, either the wrap-on wrap-off method or the common reeving method. There is a guide connection means  41 ′ for tying the guides together in vertical translation which is achieved by having a continuous loop  39 A, 39 B for each side of the gym which can take load in the axial direction (like as chain for example). These loops over a top pulley  38 A, 38 B and a bottom pulley  37 A, 37 B on each side of the apparatus with one side of the continuous loop  39 A, 39 B being fixed to the guides  44 C, 44 D at connection points  36 A, 36 B. At the top pulleys  38 A, 38 B of the continuous loops  39 A, 39 B are connection tubes  35 A, 35 B which are fixed to the top pulleys  38 A, 38 B and transfer the torque from the top pulleys  38 A, 38 B to a guide connection lock  51 . The guide connection lock  51  is able to lock the connection tubes together which forces the guides to translate together. There is a lock means  33  which locks the top pulleys  38 A, 38 B from turning and therefore locks the guides  44 C, 44 D in translation. There is also a resistance assembly  92  with a source of force  93  and a selective means  97  of engaging a portion of that source of force  93 . And a cable assembly means  108 ′ for transferring forces from the resistance assembly  92  to the cable ends  112 A, 112 B that are located adjacent to the rotating structures  43 C, 43 D. 
     An alternative to this is shown in ( FIG. 12 ) where a pair of arms  70 A, 70 B are rotationally attached to the rotating structure  43 E, 43 F of the invention above. The arms have cable ends at their free ends and are reeved to a resistance assembly  92  in one of the manners described above. The arms  70 A, 70 B at their pivots are each connected to a pair of sprockets  47 A, 47 B. The chain ends in the front portion of a continuous loop  39 C, 39 D wrap on to each of these sprockets  47 A, 47 B, one from the top and the other from the bottom. The chains in the back portion of the continuous loops  39 C, 39 D runs past the back portion of the continuous loops  39 A, 39 B for the guide connection means  41 ′ explained above. Each arm has a chain lock means  48 A  48 B which locks these two continuous loops  39  (A-D) together thereby forcing the arms  70 A, 70 B to stay at a relative rotation to the guides  49 A, 49 B. At the top portion of the continuous loops  39 C, 39 D are connection tubes  35 C, 35 D which are fixed to the top pulleys  38 C, 38 D and transfer the torque from the top pulleys  38 C, 38 D to an arm rotation connection means  50 . The arm rotation connection means  50  is able to lock the connection tubes  35 C, 35 D together which then force the arms  70 A, 70 B to rotate together as one arm. There is also a rotation lock means  34  which locks the top pulleys  38 C, 38 D from turning and thereby locks the arms  70 A, 70 B in rotation. 
     Additional Alternative Embodiments 
     An alternative embodiment is described below and shown in ( FIGS. 8-10 ). In this alternative embodiment the arms  70 A, 70 B are pivotally attached to the rotating structures  43 A′, 43 B′ at the horizontal axes  68 A, 68 B. The rotating structures  43 A′, 43 B′ are pivotally attached to the guides  44 A′, 44 B′ at the vertical axes  42 A, 42 B. And the guides  44 A′, 44 B′ are slideably attached to vertical square tubes  58 A′, 58 B′, which allow them to slide but not rotate about the centerlines of the vertical square tubes  58 A′, 58 B′. The guide connection means  41 ′ is achieved using the second invention listed above. An arm connection means  67 ′ is achieved by the use of universal joints  71 A, 71 B mounted to arms  70 A, 70 B near their pivots and connecting tubes  72 A, 72 B are mounted at one end to the universal joints  71 A, 71 B and are slideable tied together on their shared centerlines at their other end. A connecting tube lock  73  is located in the area where they can slide axially relative to one another. The connecting tube lock  73  allows the connecting tubes  72 A, 72 B to still slide relative to one another but locks the connecting tubes  72 A, 72 B together in rotation. When the connecting tube lock  73  is activated, as one arm is raised the other arm raises also provided the guide connection lock  51  is also activated (which for this embodiment would need to always be activated). 
     One benefit of the alternative embodiment is that the arms are able to rotated to different positions of vertical rotation relative to one another (provided a cable reeving method like FIGS. ( 22 - 27 ) or  37  is used). The reason the preferred embodiment is preferred to this embodiment has to do with the means of counter balancing the weight of the arms in rotation with respect to the guides. Because there is no ease way to have the counterweight pulleys  158 C, 158 F follow the horizontal rotations of the arms a different means is needed. Something that puts a torque onto the connecting tubes  72 A, 72 B will also put the same torque onto the guides  44 A′, 44 B′ potentially causing them to bind against the vertical square tubes  58 A′, 58 B′ and thereby make adjusting the guides  44 A′, 44 B′ more difficult. A separate counterweight would also need to be used to counterbalance the complete arm and guide assembly. 
     An alternative embodiments is described below and is shown in (FIGS.  26 , 27 ). This embodiment uses a separate cable assembly means  108  and resistance assembly  92  for each arm  70 A, 70 B. Each arm  70 A, 70 B has an arm cable assembly  110 ′ comprising a cable end  112 A that is positioned at the distal ends of the arms  70 A, 70 B, an arm cable  114  that puts it in communication with the resistance assembly  92  for that arm, and a cable end  119  which terminates near the pivot end of the arm, either using wrap-on wrap off as described above (cable terminates on the arm) or the common reeving method shown in ( FIG. 37 ) where the cable end  112 B terminates on the guide. In addition the alternative embodiment has a guide connection means  41  or  41 ′ and an arm connection means  67  or  67 ′ as described in the preferred embodiment or one of the alternative embodiments. 
     The benefits of this arrangement are the same as for the invention but also gives the ability to have two sources of resistance which for some applications is desirable. Especially where long travels of the cable ends are desired or were fast movements of the cable ends are desired. The draw backs are the added complexity and extra parts needed. Also the added weight (if a stack weight resistance was to be used). To simplify the cable reeving ( FIG. 27 ) shows the leg extension cable reeving one side removed. 
     An additional alternative embodiment that has the arms of the gym permanently connected together with a connection tube  79  centered on their shared horizontal axes  85  ( FIG. 39 ). This is possible by using the wrap-on wrap-off cable reeving method described above. Tying the arms  70 A, 70 B together forces the arms to act as one arm assembly  66  with no horizontal rotation and so would have the same functionality as the parent application&#39;s preferred embodiment but with the added benefits described below. The wrap-on wrap-off cable reeving method would increases the range of motion of the cable ends  112 A, 112 B because now the cable reeving runs vertically (which although it is show in the parent application for an alternative cable reeving method which shows how the cable reeving can also run vertically, doing so would increase the depth of the gym considerably because of the way the connection tube for connection the arms together is located which is not centered on the axis of rotation but is off center from it). So using the wrap-on wrap-off reeving method frees up considerably more usable space between the arms  70 A, 70 B and behind the back panel  193  (not shown for clarity). This allows the counterweight  102  to be moved behind the back panel  193  with room to spare for running the cable reeving vertically. Running the resistance block assembly  125  vertically provides for more range of motion at the cable ends  112 A, 112 B because the range of motion for the parent gym is confined by the width of the arms  70 A, 70 B. This is because this is where the resistance block assembly  125  (which connects the arm cable  114  to the resistance cable  122 ) runs. Running the resistance block assembly  125  vertically in the area of extra space created by using a connection tube  79  centered on the shared horizontal axes  85  of the arms  70 A, 70 B allows for a 2:1 cable reduction between the arm cable  114  and the resistance cable  122  which requires less pulleys be used. The extra space also allows for larger pulleys for arm cables  114  to run on and thus allows heavier gauge arm cables to be used. The extra space also allow for a larger diameter connection tube  79  with a thinner wall thickness making it and the entire arm assembly  66  stiffer, lighter and easier to manufacture. The lighter arm assembly  66  also lightens the counterweight  102  making the combined weight and inertia for the arm, guide and counterweight assemblies considerably less. The decreased weight of these assemblies helps to make moving the arms and guide assemblies easier, decreases material expenses, and decreases shipping costs. 
     CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE OF TILE INVENTION 
     While the above description contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Many other variations are also possible. For example: 
     An additional alternative embodiment would use electronic locks means instead of mechanical lock means to engage and disengage the vertical rotation lock means  82  and the translation lock means  56 . So instead of mechanical activation levers  64 , 90  the lever could be place to grip the arms to aid in their movement and would have incorporated into them a sensor that would disengage the locks when grabbed during movement of the arms in vertical rotation and translation. There would also be a limit sensor that would prevent the disengagement of the locks if the weight stack or resistance assembly is engaged. There could also be some easier means of engaging and disengaging the lock for the rotating structure. Possibly a foot activated lock that when stepped on would lock the lock pins in a disengaged location and then when stepped on again would engage the spring loaded pins so that they would engage the next hole positioned under it. 
     In addition to the electronic locking means there could also be means for moving the guides in vertical translation, the arms in vertical and horizontal rotation, change the resistance levels and move the seat assembly in and out. Small servo motors in the exercise apparatus could be used to place the arms into preferred positions for different exercises. The servo motors would be strong enough to quickly and quietly move the different parts but not strong enough to do anyone or anything any harm or damage (the use of force sensors would sense an overload condition and release the motors such as would be experienced when hitting an obstruction). Buttons on the machine could be used to place the arms into common positions such as top position (T 1 , T 2 , or T 3  depending on the height of the user where T 1  is the max arm position for the machine), bottom position, curl position (again C 1 , C 2  or C 3  depending on the height of the user), bench press position (B 1 ,B 2  or B 3 ), Squat position, etc. It may be easier for a user to first select their height range (H 1  for say heights taller than 6′2″, H 2  for heights from 5′9″ to 6′2″ and H 3  for heights below 5′9″ as an example), then the user would only need to select their desired exercise activity. There would also need to be an up down arrow to manually override the current position once the bar is in position to fine tune the arm placement and likewise to fine tune the resistance assembly. 
     With these ideas in mind this could be expanded even more and could be incorporated into a commercial gym offering with even more features. Each user would have a magnetic card with their workout information on it that could be swiped through a card reader on the exercise machine to let the machine know the preferences of the user. This information would include every detail of a user&#39;s workout including the exercises performed, resistance settings, sets performed, order of the exercises and sets, and the corresponding position of the arms in vertical and horizontal rotation and vertical placement for each of these sets. Different workout days used for different body parts (legs workout, back, etc) would also be saved on the cards and different variations of each of these workouts could also be saved. Only the exercise attachments would need to be changed out manually by the user. This would allow a user to stay at one exercise location and get a complete body workout without the need to go to different exercise stations and wait to work in. It would also allow a user to do supersets of completely different exercises with little wait time between sets and without the need to tie up two or three different exercise workout stations at the same time. It allows for the user to customize and update their workout on the fly. By keeping their workouts saved on the magnetic cards it helps the user remember the order and intensity of their favorite workouts. They don&#39;t need to remember where to set the arms, at what height or rotations and what resistance levels they used the last time they worked out. Also all of the information about each workout could be saved after each workout. This could then be printed out when desired to show the dates of each workout, time, duration, exercises performed, number of sets, repetitions and resistances used. Even the speed of each repetition and therefore the horsepower exerted could be saved which could then be converted into calories burned etc. 
     Voice recognition could also be a feature which could be incorporated into the machine. This could be used in place of, but more likely in addition to a manual keyboard for inputting information. An example, it could be used to change the resistance level of the machine, by saying ‘more’ or ‘less’. To change the guide&#39;s height position the user would say ‘up’ or ‘down’. To move the seat the user would say ‘in’ or ‘out’. These features could be used before starting the exercise and even during the exercise (provided the user momentarily stops the exercise to remove any forces on the resistance assembly or arm assembly). Let&#39;s say that during a bench press exercise the user decides that the resistance level is not high enough. The user would momentarily stop and say ‘more’ and the resistance mechanism would notch up (say 5 lb) or the user could say ‘more 15’ and it would notch up 15 lb. Likewise at the end set to get a few more repetitions in the resistance could be lowered. The arm height could also be changed. Let&#39;s say the user during a set of bench press decides the arm is to low. Again the user would momentarily stop and say ‘up’ and the arm would move up one notch (on the preferred embodiment the notches in the area of the bench press are ¾″ apart). Or if he decided he wanted to move into an incline bench press he would say ‘up 3’ and it would move up three notches (2.25″ on the preferred embodiment). 
     Any changes made during the workout could be made permanent by adding the word ‘permanent’ after the changes is made. The following would be an example. The machine has just changed over to the bench press and is ready for the first set with the warm up resistance set at 150 lb. The user decides this is to light and says ‘more 10 permanent’ and it would change the weight to 160 lb and make the change permanent. The user would then be asked at the end of the workout to save the details about the workout and also to save any changes made during the workout. The user would then swipe the card to save their workout details and to save the permanent changes either to the current workout or elect to save the changes to a new workout under a different name. 
     Another feature would be the ability to allow another user (or the same user) to jump into the machine between sets and do an exercise. This could be done by just saying or selecting a different exercise even though the machine is set up for something different. If it is the same user there is the option of making this addition to the workout permanent. After the exercise is performed the machine would ask to resume with the workout. In a similar vane, if the user is not having a good day they could say or select ‘skip’ to skip a set. 
     Another possibility would be to allow two or even three people to work out on a machine at the same time. Instead of just jumping in to do one or two sets, a new user could be added. They would select ‘add user’ and then swipe their info into the machine and the machine would alternate between each of the people entered allowing each their own individually saved workouts. They could do this at the beginning of each of their workouts or users could be added as other users end their workouts. This would allow the facility to have fewer machines for an equal number of users by utilizing the rest time that users take between individual sets. In the home (even without the automatic positioning) because of the ease of switching between exercises, two people could easily alternate between exercises and use the gym at the same time. 
     As can be seen, the exercise apparatus of this invention is a highly versatile exercise apparatus capable of providing a full body workout to the vast majority of users at a single workout station. An exercise apparatus that does not control the path of motion of the user interfaces and allowing the cable ends to act independently from one another. Allows for quick and easy transitioning of the arms to different exercise positions without have to change a lot of control levers, remember how one side was set up with respect to the other, or have to remove and reattach the straight bar. And when the workout is done, the exercise apparatus can be stored out of sight in a decorative cabinet that takes up a minimal amount of floor space. 
     Although the description above contains detailed descriptions of some embodiments, the details should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus the scope of the invention is meant to be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.