Exercise monitoring system

• US 8,062,182 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2010
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TuffStuff Fitness Equipment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TuffStuff Fitness Equipment Incorporated
• Inventors: Somers, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Thanh; Loan
• Assistant Examiner(s): JALALZADEH ABYANE, SHILA
• Application Number:
  US12/698,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20100216603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 482/8, 482/93, 482/99
• US Class Current: 482/8
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/065 Visualisation of specific exercise parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/0628 for vertical array of weights
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/52 Weight, e.g. weight distribution
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/805 Optical or opto-electronic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/20 with means for remote communication, e.g. internet or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance

Abstract

An exercise monitoring system for use with an exercise device including a selectorized weight stack includes a static-stack light transmitter for transmitting a reference light to a static-stack reflector and a static-stack receiver positioned to receive reflected reference light from the static-stack reflector. The exercise monitoring system further includes a weight-determination module that outputs a weight indicator based on an amount of reflected static-stack reference light.

Claims

1. An exercise-monitoring system for use with an exercise device including a selectorized weight stack including a plurality of weights that are separated into a static-stack that is not lifted during an exercise and an active-stack that is lifted from the static-stack during the exercise, the exercise-monitoring system comprising:

a static-stack light transmitter positioned to transmit a static-stack reference light to a static-stack reflector operatively connected to the static-stack, the static-stack reference light transmitted in a direction the static-stack reflector moves when the active-stack is lifted from the static-stack;

a static-stack light receiver positioned to receive from the static-stack reflector an amount of reflected static-stack reference light that is proportional to a distance between the static-stack reflector and the static-stack light receiver; and

a weight-determination module to output a weight indicator based on the amount of reflected static-stack reference light received by the static-stack light receiver.

2. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 1, wherein a ratio of the active-stack to the static-stack is selectable by a user.

3. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 2, further comprising an active-stack light transmitter positioned to transmit an active-stack reference light to an active-stack light reflector throughout a range of motion of the active-stack reflector and an active-stack light receiver positioned to receive an amount of the active-stack reference light from the active-stack reflector that is proportional to a distance between the active-stack light reflector and the active-stack light receiver.

4. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 3, further comprising a range of motion module to output a range of motion indicator based on the amount of reflected active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver.

5. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 4, wherein the range of motion indicator corresponds to a distance the user moves the active-stack during the exercise.

6. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 5, wherein the range of motion module correlates a local minimum amount of light received by the active-stack light receiver to a range of motion for one repetition of the exercise.

7. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 6, further comprising a repetition counting module to output a repetition indicator based on the active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver.

8. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the repetition counting module correlates a number of relative minimum and maximum active-stack reference light values to a number of repetitions of the exercise.

9. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising a shroud configured to block ambient light from the static-stack light receiver while allowing the static-stack reference light to reflect from the static-stack light transmitter to the static-stack light receiver.

10. The exercise-monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the static-stack reflector is operatively coupled to a bottom-most weight in the static-stack.

11. An exercise system comprising:

a selectorized weight stack including a plurality of weights that are selectively separated into a static-stack and an active-stack that is lifted from the static-stack when a user performs an exercise;

one or more compression springs supporting the selectorized weight stack;

a static-stack light reflector located on the static-stack;

a static-stack light transmitter positioned to transmit a static-stack reference light to the static-stack reflector in a direction the static-stack reflector moves when the active-stack is lifted from the static-stack;

a static-stack light receiver positioned to receive from the static-stack reflector an amount of reflected static-stack reference light that is proportional to a distance between the static-stack reflector and the static-stack light receiver;

an active-stack light reflector located on the active-stack;

an active-stack light transmitter positioned to transmit an active-stack reference light to the active-stack reflector throughout a range of motion of the active-stack reflector;

an active-stack light receiver positioned to receive an amount of the active-stack reference light from the active-stack reflector that is proportional to a distance between the active-stack reflector and the active-stack light receiver;

a weight-determination module to output a weight indicator based on the amount of reflected static-stack reference light received by the static-stack light receiver; and

a repetition counting module to output a repetition indicator based on the active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver.

12. The exercise system of claim 11, further comprising a range of motion module to output a range of motion indicator based on the amount of reflected active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver.

13. The exercise system of claim 12, wherein the range of motion indicator for one repetition of the exercise corresponds to a minimum amount of reflected active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver.

14. The exercise system of claim 11, wherein the repetition indicator represents a count of a number of minimum amounts of active-stack reference light received by the active-stack light receiver during the exercise.

15. The exercise system of claim 11, wherein the weight indicator corresponds to an amount of weight selected by the user.

16. A method of monitoring an exercise performed using a selectorized weight stack including a plurality of weights that are selectively separated into a static-stack and an active-stack that is lifted from the static-stack, the method comprising:

transmitting with a static-stack light transmitter a static-stack reference light along an optical path having a length that is proportional to an amount of static weight in the static-stack when active weight is lifted from static weight, the optical path being substantially parallel to a direction the static-stack of the selectorized weight stack moves when active weight is lifted from static weight;

receiving with a static-stack light receiver the static-stack reference light; and

outputting a weight indicator based on an amount of received static-stack reference light.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising reflecting the static-stack reference light with a static-stack reflector located on a bottom-most weight of the static-stack of the selectorized weight stack.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting with an active-stack light transmitter an active-stack reference light along an optical path having a length that is proportional to a range of motion of the active-stack;

receiving with an active-stack light receiver the active-stack reference light;

outputting a range of motion indicator based on an amount of received active-stack reference light; and

outputting a repetition indicator based on the received active-stack reference light.