Patent Publication Number: US-2004053757-A1

Title: Hip exerciser

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] This invention relates to an exercising apparatus mainly for training muscles of the hips (glutei), especially to one which can provide a relatively long travel for gluteus movements and a relatively great resistance at the end of such travel.  
       [0003] 2. Prior Art  
       [0004] Human hip muscles are not sufficiently exercised in everyday life of our modern society. Consequently most people do not have strong and fit hips and many even have superfluous fat at the hips. Traditionally the most frequently used methods for strengthening hip muscles (glutei) rely on body movements that also employ (front) thigh muscles so their effect on hips are reduced. These body movements includes Squat and Step-up exercises with or without using dumbbells. A more effortless exercise of this kind is to lay the body horizontally with the heels near the hips, and to repeatedly raise the waist and hence the hips up. The fitness equipment market has even known several devices for enhancing the effect of such “raise-hip” exercises. Such devices incorporate elastic cords to resist movement of the waist away from the sole of the feet. Whether an auxiliary device is used or not, the drawback of the above-mentioned “raise-hip” exercises is that the travel of gluteus movements is too limited (i.e. the variance of the angle between the trunk and the thighs is too small), thus the effect on exercising the glutei is also limited.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] An object of the present invention is to avoid the above-mentioned drawback of traditional hip-training exercises by providing a hip exerciser which allows a longer travel of gluteus movements.  
       [0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide such a hip exerciser that also has simple structure, is inexpensive and occupies little space. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0007]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the hip exerciser according to this invention.  
     [0008]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser of FIG. 1 in the start position.  
     [0009]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser of FIG. 1 in the end position.  
     [0010]FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the user and a prior art bun and thigh exerciser in the start position.  
     [0011]FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the user and the bun and thigh exerciser of FIG. 4 in the end position.  
     [0012]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the hip exerciser.  
     [0013]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the third embodiment of the hip exerciser according to this invention.  
     [0014]FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser of FIG. 7 in the start position.  
     [0015]FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser of FIG. 7 in the end position. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0016]FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Hip exerciser  10  comprises a base  20  and a rocker frame  30 . The rocker frame  30  further comprises lever arms  31 , load arms  32  and hubs  33 . There is a foot rest  311  at the end of each lever arm  31  away from the hub  33  and a waist support  321  at the end of each load arm  32  away from the hub  33 . The assembly of a lever arm  31 , a hub  33  and a load arm  32  resembles to a seesaw except that it is not in a straight line fashion but rather forms an obtuse angle between the lever arm  31  and the load arm  32 . Corresponding to the hubs  33  of the rocker frame  30 , pivot bearings  21  are mounted on the base  20  and each pivotally coupled to respective hub  33  by a pivot.  
     [0017] Now referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the waist of the user is laid upon and against the waist support  321  during operation. Also referring to FIG. 1, the waist support  321  is preferably covered by a cushion pad  322  to improve comfort. The feet of the user are laid upon and against the foot rests  311 . In FIG. 1, the left and right foot rests  311  extend from the left and right lever arms  31  towards each other. Alternatively, both foot rests  311  may also extend from the lever arms  31  away from each other, or they may be removably or pivotally coupled to the lever arms  31  such that their extending directions can be changed. When the user performs hip exercising movements, his/her feet exert a pressure on the foot rests  311  and forcing the rocker frame  30  to swing counter-clockwise about the hubs  33  and the pivot bearings  21 . The waist support  321  is raised simultaneously and lifts the user&#39;s waist up or forcing the user to raise the waist by his/her own muscles. In fact, either the user&#39;s waist is seen raised by the waist support  321  or by his/her own muscles, exertion (contraction) of the glutei and only exertion (contraction) of the glutei is the cause.  
     [0018] In case during the user exerts his/her muscle force to raise the waist with the hip exerciser  10  certain horizontal component of the force may occur which could move the base  20  back and forth, anti-slip material is preferably applied to the bottom surface of the base  20 . In addition, the base  20  may further comprise at both sides handles  22  which are to be held by the user&#39;s hands for immobilizing the base  20 .  
     [0019]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser  10  in the start position in which the glutei is relaxed. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the user and the hip exerciser  10  in the end position in which the glutei contract to the highest degree that the hip exerciser  10  allows. A huge variation in the angle between the thigh and the trunk of the user through the course of a single exercising movement is observed by comparing FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 which represent respectively the extreme positions of the movement. It is to be noticed that the distance between the feet and the waist of the user remains constant during the course of an exercising movement because the foot rests  311  and the waist support  321  against which they lie respectively are at fixed locations on the rigid rocker frame  30 . So, although the user&#39;s legs are flexed when using the hip exerciser  10 , their flexing angle remains constant during the exercises, which means that the thigh muscles (quadriceps and hamstrings) are not exerted in such exercises.  
     [0020]FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the user and a prior art bun and thigh exerciser (marketed under the trade name “Bun and Thigh Rocker”) in the start position in which the muscles are relaxed. FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the user and the bun and thigh exerciser of FIG. 4 in the end position in which the muscles contract to the highest degree. The angle between the legs and the thighs was 77 degrees in FIG. 4 and becomes 180 degrees in FIG. 5; the angle between the thighs and the trunk was 70 degrees in FIG. 4 and becomes 180 degrees in FIG. 5. So the legs have swung for 103 degrees relative to the thighs while the thighs have swung for 110 degrees relative to the trunk. Thus it can be seen that the thigh muscles (precisely, the quadriceps) contribute about half the strength in doing such “bun and thigh” exercises. Consequently, the effect on exercising the glutei is halved. Moreover, with such a bun and thigh exerciser, the glutei can contract at most until the thighs and the trunk form a straight angle (180 degrees) as shown in FIG. 5. Thus the glutei aren&#39;t exerted to their full extend. In fact, walking and running can exert the glutei to a wider extend as the thighs always swing backwards and go beyond straight under the trunk (until the angle between the thighs and the trunk exceeds 180 degrees).  
     [0021] With the hip exerciser  10  according to this invention, one not only can exercise the glutei to their full extend but also can exercise them with a great resistance. Referring to FIG. 3, when the waist and hips are raised to the highest position, the angle between the thighs and the trunk reaches 227 degrees, which means the glutei contract to a very high degree. More importantly, when the waist and hips are raised to the highest position, the glutei must continue to contract with plenty of effort to keep the body from falling down by gravity. Thus holding in this end position will gain exercising effect on the glutei. By contrast, with the above-mentioned bun and thigh exerciser, when the thighs and the trunk form a straight angle, the torque from the resistance for forcing the thighs to flex decreases to near zero. Thus holding in this end position will gain literally no exercising effect on the glutei.  
     [0022] The hip exerciser  10  of the present invention has outstanding advantages over traditional ways to exercise the glutei. For example, when striding the thighs do swing at wide angles but before they go behind the trunk, the body has begun moving forward and has gained momentum keeping the body moving forward therefore little resistance exists and hence little force is exerted during the second half of the backward swings. Even during the first half of the backward swings, the body is moved by the cooperation of the calf, hamstrings and the gluteus so not much force is exerted by the gluteus. As for running, although greater force is exerted during the first half of the backward swings, there is no resistance during the second half of the backward swings since the foot does not contact the sol during this stage. Therefore running doesn&#39;t thoroughly exercise the glutei.  
     [0023] Thus it can be seen that well resisted long travel movements of the glutei rarely happen in our everyday life and traditional exercising activities. The hip exerciser  10  of the present invention provides highly efficient exercises of the glutei, which are well resisted and with long travel. Moreover, it has simple structure, is inexpensive and occupies little space.  
     [0024] The present invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 the rocker frame  30  comprises two lever arms  31 , two load arms  32 , two hubs  33  and two foot rests  311  but in other embodiments the rocker frame  30  may comprise only one lever arm  31 , one load arm  32 , one hub  33  and one foot rest  311 . In such embodiments the lever arm  31 , the load arm  32  and the hub  33  may be disposed on one side aside of the user&#39;s body, and the foot rest  311  and each has a width substantially equal to the width of a human body. Alternatively, the lever arm  31 , the load arm  32  and the hub  33  may be disposed in the middle under the user&#39;s body, and the foot rest  311  and the waist support  321  are connected respectively to the lever arm  31  and to the load arm  32  in “T” shape.  
     [0025]FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the hip exerciser  10 . In this embodiment, cushion pad  322  has a slab shape and is coupled to the waist support  321  in a way that it can pivot about the axis A collinear to the waist support  321 . Such design provides larger contact area to the waist and hence more comfort. As the cushion pad  322  can pivot about the waist support  321 , it can adapt to the variant inclination of the user&#39;s waist through the movement so as to ensure large-area contact perpetually.  
     [0026] Referring to FIG. 7, the hip exerciser  10  may further comprise a roller frame  40  pivotally connected to the base  20 . On the roller frame  40  a set of rollers  41  are mounted which will roll against and along and thus the abdominals of the user. In FIG. 7 the roller frame  40  and the rocker frame  30  are coaxially coupled to the base  20 , i.e., they share the same pivots. However, in other embodiments, the roller frame  40  and the rocker frame  30  may be coupled to adjacent portions of the base  20 , in which case the base  20  will comprises separate sets of pivot bearings  21  and pivots respectively mating the roller frame  40  and the rocker frame  30 . Similarly, instead of sharing the same hub  33 , each lever arm  31  and load arm  32  may comprise its own hub  33  which is coupled to proprietary pivot bearing  21  and pivot. In this case, the lever arm(s)  31  and the load arm(s)  32  must be interconnected by linking means so as to pivot in the same directions simultaneously by constraint.  
     [0027]FIG. 8 shows the positions of the roller frame  40  the rollers  41  when the user is in the start position. At this moment the rollers  41  contact the upper abdominals. In FIG. 9 where the user is in the end position, the rollers  41  contact the lower abdominals. Thus it can be seen that at the same time the user raises his/her hips, the rollers  41  roll along massaging his/her abdominals. Exercising with the hip exerciser  10  of the present invention can thus improve the fitness of the hips and of the abdominals simultaneously.