Patent ID: 8562495

Claim:
An upper body exercise apparatus, comprising: a housing defining an interior area; a spring situated in said housing interior area in a normally unbiased configuration; a first cable having a first end operatively coupled to said spring and a second end extending away from said housing interior area, an outward movement of said first cable causing said spring to move toward a biased configuration; and a second cable having a first end operatively coupled to said spring and a second end extending away from said housing interior area, an outward movement of said second cable causing said spring to move toward said biased configuration; a transmission operatively coupled to said spring and to said first and second cables, said transmission being configured such that an outward movement of said first cable without an outward movement said second cable causes all of a resistance of said spring to be transmitted to said first cable, an outward movement of said second cable without an outward movement said first cable causes all of said resistance of said spring to be transmitted to said second cable, and an outward movement of both first and second cables causes said resistance by said spring to be distributed evenly between said first and second cables; and wherein said transmission comprises: a first gear train situated in said housing interior space and said first end of said first cable is connected to said first gear train; a second gear train situated in said housing interior space and said first end of said second cable is connected to said second gear train; wherein said first gear train, said second gear train, and said spring are operatively coupled together such that a rotation of any of said first gear train, said second gear train, and said spring causes simultaneous rotation of each other of first gear train, said second gear train, and said spring; and wherein said spring, said first gear train, and said second gear train include respective sprockets that are coupled to one another with a chain such that a rotation of any of said first gear train, said second gear train, and said spring causes simultaneous rotation of each other of said first gear train, said second gear train, and said spring.