Patent ID: 7811214

Claim:
Resistance training apparatus comprising a load system for providing resistance comprising an axially extending tubular housing having a valve seat therein, a poppet axially movable in said housing into and out of engagement with said valve seat to closed and open positions, respectively, to block and permit passage of fluid past said poppet, a biasing member biasing said poppet into engagement with said valve seat to said closed position, said tubular housing having first and second chambers on axially distally opposite sides of said poppet, a selected one of said first and second chambers being fluidly motively coupled to a user-engaged exercise member such that movement of said user-engaged exercise member creates fluid pressure differential across said poppet, and when said pressure differential overcomes the bias of said biasing member, said poppet moves out of engagement with said valve seat to said open position permitting fluid flow past said poppet between said first and second chambers, an auxiliary fluid passage in fluid communication with a given one of said chambers, a one-way valve in said auxiliary passage providing uni-directional fluid flow therethrough, such that during movement of said user-engaged exercise member in a first exercise direction, fluid flows past an open said poppet and in a first flow direction in said given one of said chambers and is blocked from flowing through said auxiliary passage by said one-way valve, and such that during movement of said user-engaged exercise member in a second exercise direction, fluid between said first and second chambers is blocked by a closed said poppet and flows through said auxiliary passage through said one-way valve.