Forearm Exerciser

Abstract

A forearm-exercising device being free weight in design. A wrist and forearm conditioner and exerciser useful for conditioning and strengthening the wrist and forearm for such activities as golf, tennis, softball and baseball. One end will supply a weighted resistance. The opposite end supplies the gripping end. The two ends are connected by a shaft of predetermined length. The resistance end will be weighted in accordance with the user's ability to control/grip the weight and perform the exercise. The free weight design allows the user exercise the specific forearm muscles needed in their specific sport. Including the muscles that control the radial and ulnar deviation movements of the wrist.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many areas of athletics and physical therapy in which it is desired to rehabilitate or increase the strength in specific areas to the exclusion of all others. It should be appreciated that in the prior art, wrist development and lower forearm development has been an area that has been neglected by most health equipment manufacturers when in fact, the wrist and forearm are vital not only in the performance of daily functions but particularly in sports such as tennis, bowling, and golf where wrist snapping provides a substantial increase in power and control. To this end, that is rehabilitation and improving strength of athletes and the like, this specific device has been designed. Further, the design of said device allows the user to strengthen the muscles associated with the radial and ulnar deviation of the wrist. Further, the design of said device allows for multiple variations in the exercises.

A general problem with prior art is the limitations of exercising certain muscles or groups of muscles. Prior art [5092588] and [654097] does not allow the exercising of muscles that control the radical and ulnar movements of the wrist. These movements are a necessary to perform many functions of the tennis swing, swinging a ball bat and other sport related activities. Prior art [675,314] and [6,569,066] allows the user to exercise the radial and ulnar movements of the wrist, however, it's bulky and multi-piece construction makes isolating and exercising a specific muscle groups or movements difficult and/or cumbersome. Another drawback to prior art free weights and exercise machines is their inability to exercise the stabilizer and rotator muscles of the upper extremity kinetic chain. This is due to the fact that free weights and machines involve two-dimensional exercise movement paths while stability and rotational strength stimuli require three dimensional exercise movement paths. During prior art upper extremity free weight and exercise machine exercises, one or both hands are typically used to grasp an exercise machine handle, barbell or dumbbell. An exerciser's hand/wrist is normally fixed in either a fully supinated or in a partially pronated position. A prior art barbell biceps curl, for example, is typically performed with the hand/wrist in a fully supinated position and in a static isometric contraction. Other than a limited static hand/wrist muscle-joint resistance to extension/flexion that occurs as the wrist is statically held in a neutral position between full wrist flexion and full wrist extension, there is no further hand/wrist muscle-joint complex flexion/extension, supination-pronation, or ulnar-radial deviation training stimulus. Moreover, there is no hand/wrist muscle-joint complex range of motion stimulus and little or no stability strength stimulus since the center of gravity of the bar or handle is located in the center of the exerciser's fist.

In a prior art barbell biceps curl, the exerciser's hand/wrist muscle-joint complex does not have to stabilize with respect to radial/ulnar deviation, nor does the elbow muscle-joint complex have to resist supination/pronation. Thus, an upper extremity exercise such as the barbell biceps curl is designated a dead hand exercise, because it stresses the elbow flexor muscles (i.e., the major movers for a barbell biceps curl) almost exclusively, and, at best, only minimally stimulates the stabilizer muscles of the upper extremity kinetic chain, including the hand/wrist, the limited isometric flexion/extension of the hand/wrist muscle-joint complex discussed above being the minimal stabilizer stimulus. The term dead hand refers to an essentially fixed isometrically contracted hand-wrist position which predominates during the use of a traditional barbell in particular, dumbbell use to a lesser degree, and most exercise machines. The isometric dead hand position is neutral between wrist flexion and extension, and wrist ulnar and radial deviation. Once the start position of a dead hand exercise is assumed, the hand-wrist remains isometrically fixed for the duration of the exercise.

Another of the drawbacks of prior art free weights and exercise machines is their inability to provide moment arm variations in the exercises they are designed to allow a exerciser to perform. The term moment arm variations refers to the ability to change not only the amount of inertial resistance applied during the exercise, but also its point of application, so that the torque, linear resistance, and/or stabilizing resistance applied to the upper extremity kinetic chain can be varied and customized to train strength and flexibility across all movement potentials of all four muscle-joint complexes of the upper extremity kinetic chain.

By variation of the moment arms applied to the upper extremity kinetic chain during an exercise, changes in the resistance curve of the exercise and the stress placed on the major and minor movers as well as the rotator and stabilizer muscles of the upper extremity kinetic chain during the exercise could be varied so that the rehabilitation and training goals of the exercise could be more readily and optimally achieved. Optimal training and rehabilitation requires full anatomic range of motion movement capability across the hand/wrist, elbow, shoulder, and scapular muscle-joint complexes with four-dimensional strength-stimulus (i.e., forward/backward, side-to-side, up-down, and rotational) to provide optimal training of the upper extremity kinetic chain. Such optimal training enables maximal speed and power expression in all movement potentials. In addition, the ability to vary the moment arm permits an exerciser to more precisely tailor the exercise to a real-world and/or real sport activity for which he wants to train and/or rehabilitate. Unfortunately, prior art exercises and devices do not permit such optimal training or rehabilitation.

It is well known that a prior art dumbbell can be used with a single slightly varying moment arm along the axis of the handle, which extends between the two weighted discs. In particular, an exerciser sometimes will grip the handle of the dumbbell with one side of their fist abutting against one of the weighted discs so that the center of gravity of the dumbbell is no longer in the center of the fist. By so doing, the exerciser can slightly vary the moment arm in such a way as to increase the torque applied, for example, during either pronation or supination of the elbow muscle-joint complex. However, the ability of a prior art dumbbell to accommodate moment arm variations is limited and does not adequately stimulate the rotator and stabilizer muscles of the upper extremity kinetic chain because the supination/pronation function of the elbow muscle-joint complex is minimally stressed, while the other muscles of the upper extremity kinetic chain remain basically unaffected.

The said grip end of said device could be ergonomically designed to allow the user to handle a heavier weight and maximize the benefits of said device. The said grip end can also be made in various sizes to enhance the benefit for a specific sport. The said grip can be manipulated to increase or decrease the degree of strengthening of the hand and finger muscles by size, shape and texture. Said grip of a smooth surface increases the amount of hand development by forcing the user to demonstrate more hand strength than a rough surface or a surface with a soft type covering. The larger said grip the more hand and finger strength is needed to perform the exercises.

Said device can also function as a muscle memory tool. Tennis players using a continental grip while serving can use said device to teach muscles involved the motion of the swing and translate the memory to increase speed, power, and control. Whereby allowing the user new to the swing to learn quicker.

This invention is also made for rehabilitating the forearm muscles after injury or other ailments such as carpel tunnel. The gripping and lifting combination keeps tension constant. This forces a slower, more beneficial movement for exercising an injured muscle. The user of this device can prepare the muscles for repetitive work as to help prevent ailments such as carpel tunnel via keeping the tendons stretched and the muscles strong.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of this invention contemplates providing a free-weight device in which the wrist and lower forearm can be exercised with the inclusion of the radial and ulnar deviation controlling muscles of the wrist.

A further object contemplates an exercise device in which multiple exercises involving the wrist and forearm can be performed. Whereby, positioning the said shaft between the fingers, a user can perform a multitude of exercises.

A further object contemplates an exercise device being free weight in design which allows for multiple weight resistance exercises including but not limited to; squats, lunges, shoulder shrugs, tricep extensions, and bicep curls.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device that is capable of rehabilitating muscles which have been weakened due to injury or other ailments such as carpel tunnel.

A further object of the invention is to provide a weapon of self-defense while walking, running, or jogging.

Claims

1. A finger, wrist, hand, and forearm exercise device comprising: a weighted resistance end of predetermined weight, a predetermined grip end, said grip end and said weighted resistance end are connected by a rigid shaft of predetermined length whereby allowing a user to strengthen and develop the muscles of the fingers, wrist and forearm.