Exercise apparatus resistance unit

• US 20070054790A1
• Filed: 11/10/2006
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alliance Design & Development Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Alliance Design & Development Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Dodge, David, Doble, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,762,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 482/121
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/02 using resilient force-resisters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/154 using special pulley-assemblies

Abstract

An exercise apparatus resistance unit includes flex members to bend to provide a resistance, a first end piece, a second end piece provided another end of the flex members to secure the flex members to rotate and translate within the body according to a bending motion of the flex members, a main pulley, and auxiliary pulleys rotatably provided on the first end piece. The resistance unit may provide a variable resistance.

Claims

1. An exercise apparatus, comprising:

a body;

a resistance unit to provide a resistance, the resistance unit comprising;

flex members to bend to provide the resistance;

a first end piece provided on one end of the flex members to rotatably secure the one end of the flex members to the body;

a second end piece provided another end of the flex members to secure the flex members to rotate and translate within the body according to a bending motion of the flex members;

a main pulley provided on the second end piece to rotate with respect to the second end piece; and

auxiliary pulleys rotatably provided on the first end piece.

5. The exercise apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a pulley arm to connect the main pulley to the second end piece.

6. The exercise apparatus of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary pulleys rotate on a same axis as the first end piece.

7. The exercise apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flex members are tubular structural members having a variable resistance, and

further comprising a flex member rotator to rotate the flex members with respect to the first and second end pieces.

8. The exercise apparatus of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary pulleys comprise a plurality of pulley drums.

9. The exercise apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plurality of pulley drums have one or more stop holes defined therein to lock the pulley drums to rotate together.

10. The exercise apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first end piece is rotatably connected to the body on a first axis,

the auxiliary pulleys rotate on a second axis,

and the second axis is offset from the first axis.

13. The resistance unit of claim 8, wherein the one or more flex members have a variable bending resistance.

14. The resistance unit of claim 8, wherein the one or more flex members are tubular structural members that have a directionally variable resistance.

15. The resistance unit of claim 13, further comprising:

a tube rotation device to rotate the tubular structural members to change the bending resistance.

2. The exercise apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a first cable and a second cable, wherein:

the auxiliary pulleys comprise a first pulley drum, a second pulley drum, and a third pulley drum, the first, second, and third pulley drums each sharing an axis of rotation;

the first, second, and third pulley drums to selectively rotate together;

the first cable runs between the auxiliary pulleys and the main pulley to form a loop therebetween, the first cable to run from the first pulley drum to the main pulley to the second pulley drum to close the loop when the cable is pulled in a first direction and to open the loop when the cable is pulled in a second direction; and

the second cable is provided on the third pulley drum to rotate the auxiliary pulleys when the first, second, and third pulley drums are selected to rotate together.

3. The exercise apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first and third pulley drums have a first diameter and the second pulley drum has a second diameter to create a mechanical advantage.

4. The exercise apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a cable, wherein:

the auxiliary pulleys comprise a pulley body having first pulley diameter, a second pulley diameter, and a third pulley diameter;

the cable runs between the auxiliary pulleys and the main pulley to form a loop therebetween, the cable to run from the first pulley diameter to the main pulley to the second pulley diameter; and

the cable runs to the third pulley diameter from to rotate the pulley body.

11. A resistance unit, comprising:

one or more flex members arranged in a planar direction to have a bending resistance when compressed;

pulleys provided on each end of the one or more flex members, the pulleys on each of the ends of the one or more flex members with an axis of rotation offset from a plane formed by the one or more flex members; and

a cable provided across the one or more flex members to each of the pulleys to apply a compressive load to the one or more flex cables when the cable is pulled.

12. A resistance unit, comprising:

one or more flex members arranged in a planar direction to have a bending resistance when compressed;

a first end piece provided on a first end of each of the one or more flex members to secure each of the first ends in a planar direction;

a second end piece provided on a second end of each of the one or more flex members to secure each second end in the planar direction;

first end pulleys provided on the first end piece;

second end pulleys on the second end piece; and

a cable to connect the first end pulleys and the second pulleys to provide a compressive load to the one or more flex members when the cable is pulled.