Patent Publication Number: US-2004053752-A1

Title: Body exercising trainer

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates generally to a body exercising trainer, and more particularly to a body exercising trainer for leg tendon and abdomen.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] There are various kinds of fitness and exercise machines provided for exercising muscle durability of different portions of human body. For example of exercising leg muscle, the matched machines are jogging machines, stepping machines, walking machines, slide walking machines, and so on. However, the foregoing machines only strengthen the exterior tissue of the muscle but not the interior tissue.  
       [0003] Further, people who need more body flexibility, like dancers, have to constantly stretch their muscle by doing that one foot lying on the ground, the other foot raising up to a bar or a wall, and pushing their bodies forward to stretch the leg tendon. But this way of exercising leg tendon may easily hurt the muscle due to the imbalance of their bodies.  
       [0004] Additionally, for patients who need long time rehabilitation, it&#39;s quite possible for them to get harmed if the foregoing machines are not properly operated. Thus, it&#39;s a necessary consideration to purchase a fitness or exercise machine having features of user-friendly and slow body stretching.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a body exercising trainer for stretching leg tendon and exercising abdomen.  
       [0006] In keeping with the principle of the present invention, the foregoing objective of the present invention is attained by a body exercising trainer composed of an elongated frame, two supports, at least one elastic member and at least one U-shaped sliding seat. The frame has a recessed portion extending along a longitudinal axle of said frame, at least one slot disposed on a top side of said frame and communicating with said recessed portion and two rails extending along the longitudinal axle and respectively recessed at two opposite sides thereof. The supports are respectively coupled to two ends of said frame and adapted to lie against the ground. The elastic member is fixed to the frame and located in said recessed position and having an extensible body. The sliding seat has a main plate and two side plates normally connected to two sides of the main plate. The sliding seat is mounted over said frame and has a guiding post at a bottom side of said main plate. The guiding post has an end inserted through the slot and into the recessed portion. The two side plates are respectively provided with at least one roller rotatably mounted on the inner side thereof. The roller is installed in the respective rail, thereby the sliding seat can move back and forth along the longitudinal axle of said frame, and when said guiding post is moved with said sliding seat, the extensible body of said elastic member can be pulled to be extended. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0007]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0008]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0009]FIG. 3 is cross-sectional view taken along the direction indicated by a line  3 - 3  as shown in FIG. 2;  
     [0010]FIG. 4 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention at work, showing a user is exercising two legs at the same time;  
     [0013]FIG. 7 is a bottom view of FIG. 6, showing an elastic member is pulled to be extended;  
     [0014]FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention at work, showing the user is exercising one leg;  
     [0015]FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention at work, showing the user kneels to do the exercising; and  
     [0016]FIG. 10 is a schematic view of another preferred embodiment of the present invention at work, showing the user sits to do the exercising. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0017] Referring to FIGS.  1 - 5 , a body exercising trainer  100  provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention is composed of an elongated frame  10 , two supports  20 , two armrests  30 , two elastic members  40 , and two sliding seats  50 .  
     [0018] The frame  10  is formed by aluminum-extrusion and has a top plate  11 , two side plates  12 , and two bottom plates  13  formed by the side plates  12  being bent inward at the bottom fringes of the side plates  12 . A recessed portion  14  having two free ends at two sides thereof is encompassed by inner sides of the top plate, the side plates, and the bottom plates to be formed along a longitudinal axle of the frame. Additionally, two elongated slots  111  are axially located at the top plate  11  and communicate with the recessed portion  14 . Two T-shaped rails  121  are respectively inwardly recessed along the longitudinal axle of the frame at two exterior sides of the side plates  12 . A plurality of locating holes  122 , as shown in FIG. 4, are axially located at the bottom of one of the rails  121 . Additionally, each of the bottom plates  13  is provided with a plurality of pads  15  at the external portion thereof for supporting the body exercising trainer  100  on the ground.  
     [0019] Each support  20  includes a transverse bar  21  and a connecting bar  22 , which can be inserted into one of the two free ends of the recessed portion  14 . The side plates  12  and the connecting bar  22  are inserted with two fasteners  23 , e.g. screws, such that the supports are fixedly coupled with the frame  10  and the transverse bars  21  steadily stand on the ground. Additionally, the transverse bar  21  has a top side provided with two U-shaped hinged portions  211 .  
     [0020] Each of the armrests  30 , which are inverted U-shaped, includes two long rods  31  having bottoms respectively pivoted to the two hinged portions  211  and two elastic pieces (not shown) interconnected with the rods  31  and the hinged portions  211 . The two long rods  31  are coupled with an inverted U-shaped handlebar  32  at free ends thereof and the handlebar  32  is installed with a soft pad thereon and is adjustable to move up and down for a user holding the armrests  30  in different height. The armrest  30  lies against a retaining portion of the hinged portion  211  so as to be pivoted toward one direction between a first position, in which the armrest  30  is positioned upright, and a second position, in which the armrest  30  is positioned slantingly. Additionally, the elastic pieces (not shown) can bring the armrest  30  back to the first position.  
     [0021] The elastic member  40  having high elastic coefficient includes a body  41  having two fixing ends  42  and is disposed below the slots  111 . The fixing ends  42  are locked by screws on a bottom side of the top plate  11  and are located at two sides of the slot  111  such that the body  41  of the elastic members  40  stands across the slot  111 .  
     [0022] Each of the sliding seats  50  is composed of a sliding member  51 , a guiding post  52  having two screwed ends, and a footpad  53 .  
     [0023] The sliding member  51 , which is inverted U-shaped, includes a main plate  511  and two side plates  512  respectively vertically connected with two opposite sides of the main plate  511  and is mounted over the frame  10 . The main plate  511  includes a through hole  513  for a top end of the guiding post  52  running through. The guiding post  52  has a bottom end running through a nut  54  and the slot  111  and locked with another nut  55 . Two rollers  56  are respectively rotatably installed at the inner sides of the side plates  512  of sliding seats  50  and are respectively inserted in the rails  121 . Accordingly, the sliding seats  50  are moved back and forth along the longitudinal axle of the frame  10 . Additionally, when the guiding post  52  is moved along with the sliding seats  50 , the body  41  of the elastic member  40  is pulled by the guiding post  52  to be extended and transformed.  
     [0024] Furthermore, one of the side plates  512  of the sliding seats  50  includes a positioning hole  514  in corresponding position to one of the locating holes  122  of the frame  10  and a pin  57  with a pull ring  571  at a distal end thereof is inserted into the positioning hole  514  and one of the locating holes  122  such that the sliding seat  50  is fixed to a predetermined position of the frame  10 .  
     [0025] Each of the footpads  53  is recessed with a threaded hole (not shown) on a bottom side thereof. The guiding post  52  is screwed with the threaded hole at the top end thereof and then the bottom side of the footpads  53  contacts against the top side of the main plate  511  such that the footpads  53  for the user&#39;s stepping are fixedly mounted on the sliding piece  51 .  
     [0026] As shown in FIG. 6, the present invention at work is described hereunder. The user respectively holds the armrests  30  with two hands for steady support and steps on the footpads  53  with two feet. When the user exercises leg tendon with the two feet extending outwardly, as shown in FIG. 7, the sliding seats  50  are resiliently retained by the elastic members  40  such that the leg tendon is stretched slowly to prevent against hurt resulted from the leg tendon is stretched too quickly.  
     [0027] Referring to FIG. 8, one of the sliding seats  50  is fastened to the frame  10  somewhere by the pin  57 , namely, one foot of the user is held, and the user stands or sits to move the other foot outwardly. Meanwhile, one of the armrests is swung toward the user to support the user for better balance.  
     [0028] Referring to FIG. 9, the body exercising trainer  100  further comprises two handgrips  58 , which are respectively mounted on the side plates  512  of the sliding member  51 . Therefore, the user can kneel beside two sides of the frame  10  and holds two handgrips  58 , and then the user moves back and forth along with the sliding seats  50  so as to exercise the user&#39;s abdomen.  
     [0029] Referring to FIG. 10, there is another preferred embodiment of the present invention and the difference from the foregoing embodiment is described hereunder. The frame  60  of the present invention includes an elongated slot  61  and a sliding seat  70 , which is moved back and forth on the slot  61  along the longitudinal axle of the frame  60  and is held at a predetermined position by an elastic member (not shown) mounted in the frame  60 . The sliding seat  70  is provided with a seat  71 . A support  80  includes a transverse bar  81  composed of two footpads  82  thereon. When at work, the user sits on the seat  71  with two feet stepping against the footpads  82  and gets their legs exercised by bending and extending the legs with the assistance of the resilience provided by the elastic member.