Patent Publication Number: US-2017361149-A1

Title: Bench Press Assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure generally relates to an apparatus that facilitates the safety of a person lifting weights on a bench press assembly. 
     Exercise is responsible for vast numbers of injuries annually. The bench press for example, which involves a person lifting weight on a barbell while lying prone on a bench, is an exercise notorious for its potential to cause serious and even fatal injuries. A conventional bench press includes a bench and a set of upright supports that hold a weighted barbell in an upright position. A user lies down on the bench, lifts the barbell off the supports, lowers the barbell to touch the chest, then pushes it back up until the arms are straight, and repeats the process for the duration of the exercise routine. At the end of the repetitions, the user puts the barbell back on the racks. If, at any time during this exercise, the barbell slips from the person&#39;s grasp or the user otherwise loses control of the barbell, it may fall on the user&#39;s face, neck, chest, or abdomen, resulting in serious bodily injuries including even asphyxiation and death. 
     Injury may result even when a person maintains a grip on the barbell but can no longer raise the weight from the person&#39;s chest. Specifically, it is important for a participant who seeks to improve strength to lift at or near his or her limit, i.e. the most weight that can be lifted in a given series of one or more repetitions. This results in the most progressive improvement in the strength of the particular muscle group targeted via the bench press. Thus, inevitably, regular bench pressing will result in episodes when a person is stuck with a barbell on their chest because an attempt to increase performance failed. 
     To prevent such accidents, especially when using heavier weights, users usually have one or more spotters to either catch a slipping barbell or help a lifter put the barbell back on the supports when lifting fails. However, a spotter is not always available to the many people who, for one reason or another, bench press alone at home or at a time when a spotter is not immediately available. Moreover, bench pressing entails significant risks even using spotters, who may not be paying sufficient attention or who may simply not be able to react quickly enough if a barbell is dropped. 
     The prior art provides several different devices to reduce the occurrence of such accidents. As an example, some bench presses include two lower hooks located approximately one foot above the weight bench seat—one attached to each main upright support at the head of the bench. This ostensibly enables a fatigued person doing the bench press exercise to, with what strength remains, move the now too-heavy barbell backwards over the lifter&#39;s throat and face and onto the hooks in order to abandon the weight. This is plainly hazardous, especially when attempting one repetition with maximum weight. To alleviate this danger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,425 to Milner discloses a similar device but located over the lifter&#39;s abdomen rather than behind the head. This device, however, still presents safety risks as the barbell may drop on the lifter&#39;s abdomen or ribs if the lifter misses the support hooks. 
     Other examples of safety devices for bench presses abound. U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,164 to Kullman et al. (1999) shows a device that lifts the weight from the lifter&#39;s chest. While this device removes the weight from the lifter&#39;s chest, it utilizes cables that increase setup time and can cause increased or decreased resistance due to contact with the barbell. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,379 to Brawner discloses a complex hydraulic lift assist mechanism by which a user can kick a lever to engage a pair of hydraulically actuated lift arms to lift the barbell when the user&#39;s strength is insufficient to do so. This device, however, is of little use in the event that the lifter inadvertently drops the barbell on the lifter&#39;s face, neck, etc. 
     What is desired, therefore, is an improved apparatus capable of providing for the safety of a lifter engaging in a bench press training routine. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows an improved safety device according to the present disclosure adjacent a bench press. 
         FIG. 2  shows a front perspective view of the improved safety device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  shows a rear perspective view of the improved safety device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  shows an exploded assembly view of the improved safety device of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an improved safety apparatus for a bench press routine may comprise an assembly  10  selectively positionable proximate a bench press  12  by which a person may lift a barbell  14 . The assembly  10  may in some uses simply be positioned adjacent the bench press  12  or more preferably, as described later in this specification, may be secured to the bench press  12 . The assembly  10  protects a lifter from injury by including one or more of a faceguard  16  and a chestguard  18 . The faceguard  16  preferably comprises a pair of faceguard members  16   a  and  16   b  that each have an upper lateral support that together prevent a barbell from falling on a person&#39;s face or neck. The chestguard  18  similarly preferably comprises a pair of chestguard members  18   a  and  18   b  that each have a lower lateral support that together prevent a barbell from falling on a person&#39;s chest. 
     Preferably, the assembly  10  includes a pair of vertical supports  20   a  and  22   b , respectively and a pair of horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b , respectively. The vertical supports  20   a  and  20   b  may preferably comprise planar members that may be positioned adjacent one of the supports  24  of the bench press that holds a barbell. In some uses, each of the vertical supports  20   a  and  20   b  may each be affixed to a respective support  24  by a bolt, a weld, or some other mechanism. The horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b  may each extend generally horizontally away from a respective vertical support  20   a  or  20   b . In a preferred embodiment, each of the horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b  are each positioned at the base of a respective vertical support  20   a  or  20   b , so that when assembled and positioned adjacent a bench press, each of the horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b  rest on the ground. It should be understood, however, that in some embodiments, it may be possible that the horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b  may not rest on the ground. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that, although  FIGS. 1-3  show the horizontal supports  22   a  and  22   b  connected to, and extending from, the vertical supports  20   a  and  20   b , some embodiments may have a horizontal support not connected to a respective vertical support. Preferably, each of the horizontal supports  22   a ,  22   b  are hollow with an opening  52  (seen in  FIG. 3 ) sized to slide over a floor support of a bench press. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , each faceguard member  16   a ,  16   b  preferably comprises an upper horizontal segment  26  attached to a respective vertical support  20   a ,  20   b  and a lower vertical segment  28  attached to a respective horizontal support  22   a ,  22   b . In a preferred embodiment, each faceguard member  16   a ,  16   b  comprises a cylindrical tube having an L-shaped elbow bent at a right angle to form the respective horizontal segment  26  and vertical segment  28 . Together, the upper horizontal segments  26  of each faceguard member  16   a ,  16   b  form a platform capable of arresting the downward movement of a barbell. 
     Each chestguard member  18   a ,  18   b  preferably comprises a horizontal arm  30  supported by a strut  32 . Preferably, the strut  32  is slidably received in a sleeve  34 . Each of the strut  32  and the sleeve  34  have one or more of apertures  36  by which, in conjunction with a pin  38 , may be used to adjust the height of the chestguard members  18   a ,  18   b  to an appropriate level for the individual lifter. 
     As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the assembly  10  protects the head, the neck, and the chest of a lifter. In particular, the faceguard  16  protects the head and neck of a lifter while a barbell is raised from the bench press and moved to a lateral position over the lifter&#39;s chest, at which point the lower chestguard  18  protects the lifter&#39;s chest should the barbell be either dropped or should the lifter not have sufficient strength to raise the barbell back to a position at which the barbell may be returned to the supports of the bench press. 
     Preferably, each horizontal arm  30  of the chestguard member  18   a ,  18   b  is slidably engaged with a respective faceguard member  16   a ,  16   b . This serves dual purposes. First, such sliding engagement facilitates adjustment of the chestguard  18  to an appropriate height for an individual lifter. Moreover, the slidable engagement between the chestguard  18  and the faceguard  16  inhibits a dropped barbell from falling between the faceguard and the chestguard to injure a lifter. For example, if the chestguard and faceguard were simply constructed as two adjacent members, it might be possible for a dropped barbell to slide forward off of the faceguard and forcibly separate the faceguard from the chestguard as it falls upon a lifter. This is not a trivial concern given the magnitude of the weight often lifted in a bench press. Thus, by slidably engaging the chestguard around the faceguard, there is no gap or opening between these two elements by which a barbell may fall between. Preferably, sliding engagement is achieved via an aperture  50  in the horizontal arm  30  through which the lower vertical segment  28  of the faceguard  16   a ,  16   b  is received. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the horizontal arm  30  includes a stop  40  to prevent a dropped barbell from rolling forward off of the chestguard. Also in a preferred embodiment, the assembly  10  includes a lateral brace member  42  that braces the chestguard members  18   a  and  18   b  against each other. The brace member  42  may comprise a crossbar  44  with sleeves  46  at either end. The sleeves  46  preferably each are sized to slide over the sleeves  34  of the chestguard  18   a ,  18   b . Preferably, the horizontal arm  30  is shaped to extend beneath a bench  46  of the bench press  12 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the assembly  10  may be assembled by spacing opposed side members  60  at a distance determined by the length of the lateral brace member  42  (which is in turn determined by the width of the bench press to which the assembly  10  is to be positioned adjacent). Each of the side members  60  includes a faceguard member  16  and chestguard member  18  slideably and pivotally engaged with the faceguard member so that the strut  32  may be removed and rotated away from the sleeve  34 , so that the respective sleeves  46  of the brace member  42  may be dropped over the sleeves  34 , thus bracing the opposed side members against each other. Once the brace member  42  is secured in place, the struts  32  of the chestguard members  18  may be rotated into position and lowered into the respective sleeves  34  and secured using the pin  38  and the apertures  36 . Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that, where the opposed side members  60  each include hollow horizontal supports  22   a ,  22   b  with corresponding apertures  52  as shown in  FIG. 3 , the assembly procedure just described may occur before or after the hollow supports  33   a ,  22   b  are slid over a floor support of a bench press. 
     It will be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment that has been described, and that variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims, as interpreted in accordance with principles of prevailing law, including the doctrine of equivalents or any other principle that enlarges the enforceable scope of a claim beyond its literal scope. Unless the context indicates otherwise, a reference in a claim to the number of instances of an element, be it a reference to one instance or more than one instance, requires at least the stated number of instances of the element but is not intended to exclude from the scope of the claim a structure or method having more instances of that element than stated. The word “comprise” or a derivative thereof, when used in a claim, is used in a nonexclusive sense that is not intended to exclude the presence of other elements or steps in a claimed structure or method.