Patent ID: 8075458

Claim:
Physical fitness weight lifting apparatus, comprising: first and second weight plates, each weight plate having a lifting opening formed therein and a locking channel running therethrough and communicating with said lifting opening, said first and second weight plates being aligned side-by-side one another so that the respective lifting openings thereof are aligned in order to communicate with one another and thereby establish a lifting channel that runs continuously and uninterruptedly through said first and second weight plates; a weight plate lifting element having first and second weight plate coupling holes formed therethrough, said weight plate lifting element being removably received within the lifting channel that runs continuously and uninterruptedly through said first and second weight plates; a locking cartridge carried by each of said first and second weight plates, each locking cartridge having a locking pin slidable reciprocally through the locking channel of a respective one of said first and second weight plates relative to one of the first and second weight plate coupling holes of said weight plate lifting element received within said lifting channel, said locking cartridge also having a switch arm interconnected with said locking pin and moving to a locked on position for causing said locking pin to slide in a first direction through said locking channel and into receipt by the one of said first and second weight plate coupling holes of said weight plate lifting element by which to attach said respective weight plate to said weight plate lifting element, and said switch arm moving to an unlocked off position for causing said locking pin to slide in a second opposite direction through said locking channel and out of receipt by the one weight plate coupling hole of said weight plate lifting element by which to detach said respective weight plate from said weight plate lifting element; and the lifting opening formed in each of said first and second weight plates to establish said lifting channel for the removable receipt of said weight plate lifting element is a cavity extending from an outside edge of each weight plate to allow said weight plate lifting element to removably pivot in and out of said cavity.