Abstract:
A vest or belt for creating an impeding impulse, comprising a garment and a pouch formed at the bottom of the garment, the pouch extending circumferentially around the garment at approximately a user&#39;s waist, and a fluid filled toroidal bladder seated within the pouch, the fluid filled toroidal bladder enclosing a fluid therein. When worn by the user, the fluid within the bladder circulates freely around the user, creating an resistive impulse on the user when the vest undergoes an acceleration in any direction.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to fitness and training equipment, and more particularly to a vest or belt that can be used with resistive training and other exercises, wherein the vest or belt incorporates fluid mechanics to provide an inertial resistance to changes in direction, leading to a rapid response training apparatus that can be used for a variety of athletic endeavors. 
         [0002]    Weight training, or resistance training, is part of a regiment to increase fitness, improve athletic performance, add flexibility, and develop muscles. The use of fixed weights is a staple of resistance training, through lifting and various repetitive exercises that are known to build muscles. Barbells and dumbbells are traditional types of weights used in resistance training, and recent developments have incorporated kettle bells and other types of weights used for exercise routines. However, these types of weights for the most part are limited to stationary lifting, either by standing, lying on a bench, and so forth. 
         [0003]    There have been some limited attempts to incorporate weight training into a more ambulatory situation, with modest success. Ankle weights are weighted devices that contain pellets or sand and form a band that is wrapped around an ankle (or wrist), and used while running or jumping to increase the workout for legs. However, ankle weights are typically uncomfortable and can lead to knee damage if not used properly. Swimmers often use weight belts in training to increase performance, where lead pellets or sand is used to add weight to the swimmer necessitating greater effort to remain at the surface while moving forward. Weighted body suits have also been attempted, although such devices are typically unwieldy and uncomfortable. 
         [0004]    Other attempts have been made to create a device to be worn by a user that includes a weight or series of weights to increase resistance or facilitate weight training. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0270232 to Albanese discloses a weighted hoop belt that is swiveled about the user&#39;s hips like a HULA HOOP®, where the weighted belt can be adjusted to match the size and exercise level of the user. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0000021 to Dolcetti discloses an exoskeleton system that includes a full body suit wherein the suit is capable of supporting weights that can be used for training. U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,369 to Prince discloses an exercise suit that includes a jacket and pants having numerous pockets. The pockets carry weights to provide a weight load and massaging muscle stimulation during body movement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,940 to Vitello et al. discloses a hand or leg bracelet that is filled with water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,293 to Kung discloses a cooling vest arranged with a pocket between a denim outer layer and a linen inner layer to receive a flexible vessel containing separate pockets filled with water. The vest is used for cooling the body of a user either during recreation, or while working in hot conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,870 to Pollack discloses another limb exercising device that includes a fluid filled compartment with internal baffles. The device includes a peripherally defined containment structure that is adjustably filled with water for selected, finely determinable weight. U.S. Pat. No. 8,262,545 to Beber et al. discloses a weighted vest with a plurality of weight packets secured within the vest interior by fabric attachment pads. 
         [0005]    While each of the foregoing devices describe garments or devices that can be worn or used by a user and increase the weight of the user, there are shortcomings associated with each of the devices with respect to mobility exercising, such as comfort, adaptability, and rapid inertial response. Further, the prior art lacks a garment or device that can be worn by a user, and provide virtually instantaneous feedback to an acceleration by a user, be it straight line acceleration, centripetal acceleration, and/or change in velocity. The present invention is a comfortable, adaptable system that solves the problems of the prior art. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention, in a first embodiment, is a vest that incorporates a body harness worn about the torso of a user, and includes a liquid filled bladder that encircles the user. The continuous bladder allows fluid to freely circulate completely around the user, dependent upon the forces (acceleration) experienced and created by the user. The continuous movement of the fluid about the user creates a resistance force in the opposite direction to the movement of the user. Because fluid moves freely around the user, the resistance force is almost instantaneous to a change of direction to create a constantly changing and continuous impeding force. For example, when a user begins to run, as the user accelerates the fluid rushes around the bladder to the rear, creating an impulse that must be overcome by the user. As the user changes direction, the impulse changes and the fluid moves around the user to apply a continuously changing and varying force. A greater acceleration will create a greater force on the user. The shift in weight due to the movement of the fluid can also create forces in planes other than a horizontal plane centered about the user. That is, where the bladder is only partially filled, the weight will shift forward, back, sideways, around, up, down, diagonally, etc. 
         [0007]    The invention may take the form of a vest and/or a belt having an outer layer and an inner layer. The inner and outer layers of the vest house a fluid carrying chamber or bladder that contains a liquid or gel that flows inside the bladder. The bladder encircles the user, such that the fluid or gel within can flow freely around the user for a full 360 degrees. Such a device permits an impulse that is directed not only circumferentially, but depending upon the movement of the user may shift up, down, forward, back or diagonally. 
         [0008]    In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the garment and its bladder/chamber is worn around the circumference of the thorax and the hips, close to the center of gravity and mass of the subject wearer. The bladder is preferably fabricated from flexible, impermeable material such as a polyurethane film, RF-welded at the seams and sealed with the fluid weight inside it. Alternatively, the bladder may have a closable spout that allows the bladder to be adjusted in weight to the needs of the user. The garment may be fastened together using a variety of means and methods, such as hooks and loops fasteners, snaps, webbing and buckles. 
         [0009]    As stated above, the invention provides a garment by which a user is subjected to the forces imposed by the shifting weight and redistribution of a freely flowing fluid while doing physical activity such as exercise. During exercises, changes in position, speed, velocity, and acceleration causes the weight to shift and mass to be redistributed in three dimensions around the person wearing the device. Such a shift of weight will elicit a compensatory and stabilizing motor reaction from the user&#39;s core and peripheral musculature of the subject wearer. The benefits of such an interplay of action-reactions include changes, improvements and increases in strength, skill, speed, agility, balance, proprioception, kinesthetics. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is an elevated, perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an elevated, perspective view of a bladder used in the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the bladder of  FIG. 2 ; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is an elevated perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0014]      FIG. 1  illustrates a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, comprising a vest or harness  10  worn by a user. The harness  10  has first and second over-the-shoulder straps  12 , each connecting to respective ends of a torso-enclosing circumferential band  14 . The torso-enclosing circumferential band  14  may be secured to the user by hook and loop fastener material (e.g., Velcro®) or other adjustable fastening means. The harness  10  includes a neck hole and two arm holes that allow the harness to be slipped over a user&#39;s head and fastened by the fastening means, such as that shown in  FIG. 1 . The over-the-shoulder straps  12  may be fastened together such as by stitching in the back to form a cross pattern or “X” arrangement, which can lead to a more secure fit of the harness  10 . Note that the harness  10  may be outfitted to incorporate pockets, pouches, straps, buckles, measuring devices, and other features that can assist with a workout or provide a convenience. The shoulder straps  12  can also be replaced with a more traditional vest type arrangement for additional support using heavier weights, or with a similar garment design that may fit a more particular need of specific populations. The material for the harness  10  is preferably a light but sturdy fabric that will not stretch or wear thin, such as a polymer blend. However, the invention is not limited to any particular type of material and all materials should be considered part of the present invention. 
         [0015]    The bottom edge of the harness  10  is preferably folded inward and sewn to create a hem defining a circumferential pouch  16  at the lower portion of the harness. Within the circumferential pouch  16  is a bladder  18  (see  FIGS. 2-3 ) filled with a liquid or gel (generally referred to as “liquid filled”). The bladder  18  is partially filled with fluid  22 , and forms a toroid when placed in the pouch as it defines a path around the user, i.e., allows the fluid to circulate continuously around the bladder as the bladder  18  is seated in the pouch  16  of the harness  10 . The bladder  18  may be constructed of any fluid tight, flexible, light weight material, and may be permanently sealed or resealable and refillable. In a first embodiment, the bladder  18  is filled and then sealed using RF welding to enclose the fluid in the bladder. Alternatively, the bladder  18  may have a spout  24  that can be used to fill/empty/refill the fluid. Allowing the user to fill the bladder via the spout  24  enables adjustment to the inertial resistance of the vest, thereby providing flexibility to the user as to the amount of weight and impulse. The fluid  22  may be any liquid, gel, suspension, or mixture as long as the fluid  22  can circulate freely around the circumference of the bladder  18 . Fluids with a lower viscosity will have a higher response time, as the fluid moves more quickly through the bladder, while higher viscosity fluids will have more inertia and will react more slowly to a change in direction. The fluid  22  may be chosen based on the criteria for the desired training, or the fluid may be chosen as a matter of convenience or safety (e.g., water). 
         [0016]    When the toroidal bladder  18  partially filled with fluid  22  is secured inside the harness  10 , and the harness is placed on a user, there is initially a downward force acting on the user due to the gravitational force associated with the harness  10 , the bladder  18 , and the fluid  22 . The gravitational force of the harness  10  and bladder  18  remain essential constant, but the force of the fluid  22  can change when the fluid is in motion. For example, a user wearing the harness  10  can accelerate from a standstill to a run, causing the fluid  22  within the bladder  18  initially to move toward the rear of the user and collect in the back portion of the bladder. The movement of the fluid bearing against the rear of the bladder creates an impeding impulse that the user must overcome to continue accelerating. If the user decelerates, the fluid conversely will rush to the front of the bladder creating a new impulse that resists the deceleration. In similar fashion, every start, stop, or change of direction causes the fluid  22  in the bladder  18  to migrate in an opposite direction, shifting the weight of the harness  10  and creating a constantly changing, constantly opposing impulse to the user&#39;s motion. Moreover, because the bladder  18  is less than completely filled, there can be a vertical component to the impulse due to the fluid moving upward within the bladder  18 , as well as other directions. Thus, the harness  10  can create a universal impulse generating system where any movement results in an opposite, opposing force that results from a shifting of the mass of fluid within the garment. 
         [0017]      FIG. 4  illustrates an alternate embodiment to the present invention, where the harness  10  is replaced with a belt  20 . The belt  20  encloses a bladder  18  similar to that described above, but is simply secured around the user&#39;s waist without support from the user&#39;s shoulders. The belt can be secured with a fastening system such as hook and loop fasteners, a draw string, snaps, buckles, or the like. The operation of the belt  20  is similar to the harness and creates the same impeding forces, but allows the bladder to be more securely located around the user&#39;s waist and closer to the center of mass of the user. 
         [0018]    Although the foregoing describes the best modes contemplated by the inventor of the present invention, the descriptions and illustrations herein are not intended to be limiting, but rather exemplary. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate modifications, substitutions, and alternate constructions, and such should be considered within the scope of the present invention. Nothing herein should be deemed as limiting, other than the words of the claims below, using their common and ordinary usage in view of, but not limited by, the preceding descriptions and illustrations.