Maximum muscle strengthening resistance device

Abstract

A maximum muscle strengthening resistance device provides a way of exercise that allows the exercising person to exert his/her full power throughout the whole time of exercise. When a volume of fluid is forced to pass through a small opening, it produces a resisting force. This invention uses this resistive force produced by the oil flow along with the mechanical force generated by a power unit such as a hydraulic pump or an electric power motor for the resisting force during the strengthening exercises. Most of the muscle strengthening exercise is consisted of consecutive concentric-eccentric exercise cycles. By using this invention, during the concentric exercise cycle the exercising person actively exert his/her full power to move the exercising handle toward the concentric direction against above mentioned resistive force of oil flow. During the eccentric exercise the power unit moves the exercising handle toward the eccentric direction and the exercising person attempts to stop the movement by exerting his/her full power. The amount of the force exerted by the exercising person during the concentric-eccentric cycle is displayed on the monitor screen for monitoring.

Description

PRIOR APPLICATION

This application emanates from a prior Provisional Patent Application No. 60/684383 filed May 25, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of muscle strengthening exercise device. In particular, this invention involves a device that enables a person to exert his/her full power throughout the full range of motion during the whole time of exercise when the person exercises using this device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Until now most common muscle strengthening exercises have been performed by weight lifting that equal amount of weight is applied throughout the whole range of motion no matter how much the muscle is tired out. Therefore, initially the person performing the weight training lifts weight easily that there is not much exercise effect, and later as his/her muscle is getting tired the exercise gives strengthening effect to the muscle. However, very soon the person is getting more tired, and he/she is no more able to lift the weight and have to stop. If someone wants to increase speed, they need use lighter weight and work fast, but as the weight is light, it is not effective to strengthen the muscle, and need to make more repeat until the muscle is tired up, and at that point he/she is no more be able to exercise fast enough to get the speed.

It is well known that the most effective muscle strengthening exercises are that enable the exercising person exert 100% of muscle power throughout the exercise range of motion.

There are three kinds of exercises. isotonic, isokinetic, isometric exercises.

Isotonic exercise is most common weight training that uses same amount of weight throughout the full range of motion but that can not give 100% muscle power exertion until the muscle is tired up and cannot lift the weight anymore. Isometric exercise gives 100% force exertion but it cannot give range of motion exercise. Isokinetic exercise, if the exercising person gives full effort to push or pull the moving element and if the moving element can move steady speed throughout the range of motion it can give 100% muscle exertion, but it has not been used for muscle strengthening exercises so far, except some rehabilitation purposes. This device is an exercise resistance that can be adapted to any kind of muscle strengthening exercise equipment so that you can receive all the good effects that you might be getting from the isotonic, isokinetic and isometric exercises.

Basically this tool is an exercise resistance in which oil flow and mechanical force (either hydraulic pump or electric power motor) work as the resistance for the muscle strengthening exercises. By combining the hydraulic resistive force produced by oil flow and the force generated by either hydraulic pump or electric power motor, this device gives you a way of exercise with which you can get the maximum muscle strengthening effects throughout the exercising time.

PRIOR ART IN THE FIELD

Until now even though many types of exercising tools adapted the hydraulic resistance for resistive force, there has been no exercise equipment that focused on exerting full power of the exercising person during the whole time of exercise. James Shi in U.S. Pat. No. 761,100 uses the hydraulic resistance for his invention however it is for physical therapy aids purpose, and nothing related to maximum muscle strengthening exercises. Even though John Daniels in U.S. Pat. No. 399,200 also uses variable resisting force for his invention in response to a user-applied force, the mechanism of producing the resistive force is totally different from this invention. The mechanism and structure of this invention is unique. And the idea of combining the hydraulic resistive force and mechanical power unit in concentric-eccentric exercise cycles for maximum muscle strengthening exercises is very unique and has not been applied to any existing exercise equipment until now.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Muscle strengthening exercises is consisted of consecutive concentric-eccentric exercise cycles. Concentric exercise is the procedure that the exercising person actively shortens the muscle to strengthen against a resistant force, while the eccentric exercise is the procedure that the exercising person lengthens the same muscle to the direction of the resistant force. For the concentric exercise cycle, this device uses the resisting force that occurs when a volume of oil is forced to pass through a small opening. For the eccentric exercise cycle, this device uses the force generated by a hydraulic pump (in hydraulic pump version) or an electric power motor (in electric power motor version).

During the concentric exercise the exercising person actively moves the exercising handle toward the concentric direction. Because the exercising handle is connected to the piston of the resistance cylinder set by a steel wire, this procedure causes outward pulling of the piston of resistance cylinder set. As the piston is pulled outward, the oil in the upper chamber of the cylinder is forced to move through a small hole called Resistance Control Opening. By changing the size of this opening with automatic valve, the resistance against the concentric exercise can be adjusted to the most desired level.

As the said piston reaches to its highest point, it triggers the automatic valve to close the resistance control opening at the same time it triggers the hydraulic pump or electric power motor to start pushing the piston inward of the resistance cylinder set, that is the start of the eccentric procedure. As the said piston moves inward, it pulls the connected steel wire and accordingly pulls the exercising handle toward the opposite direction of exercising person's pulling force. The exercising person attempts to stop above mentioned reverse movement of the exercising handle by exerting his full power. However because the hydraulic pump or electric power motor is stronger than the exercising person, the exercising handle still moves in spite of his effort to stop the said movement. And, during the attempt to stop the said movement, the exercising person is actually performing eccentric exercise using his full power. As the said piston reaches its bottom position, it triggers the hydraulic pump or electric power motor to stop and the automatic valve to open the resistance control opening so allow the exercising person to actively perform the next concentric exercise cycle.

As described above, this invention allows the exercising person exert his maximum power in both concentric exercise and eccentric exercise procedure. An oil pressure sensor is installed in the resistance cylinder set and shows the pressure inside of the resistance cylinder through the connected monitor screen that allows the exercising person monitors how much power he is exerting during the exercises. By changing the size of resistance control opening with automatic valve in the concentric exercise and by changing the speed of the said hydraulic pump or electric power motor in the eccentric exercise, the person can exercise in various speeds while he is still using his full power.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates 3-D view of the Resistance Cylinder Set.

FIG. 2 illustrates cross section view of the Resistance Cylinder Set.

FIG. 3 illustrates a general view of the hydraulic pump version of the device system.

FIG. 4 illustrates the mechanism of the device system during the concentric exercise (hydraulic pump version).

FIG. 5 illustrates the mechanism of the device system during the eccentric exercise (hydraulic pump version).

FIG. 6 illustrates a general view of the electric power motor version of the device system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ENABLING AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

For a better understanding of the invention, we turn now to the drawings.

FIG. 1 offers a visual understanding of how the resistance cylinder set that is the main part of this invention looks like.

FIG. 2 shows the cross section of the resistance cylinder set that includes cylinder 1, piston 2, automatic valve 3, oil cannel 4, hose from the hydraulic pump 5, hose to the oil tank 6, upper chamber 7, lower chamber 8, steel wire connecting loop 9, oil pressure sensor 10, lead wire to the oil pressure sensor 11, and resistance control opening 19. In the electric power motor version, both of hoses 5 and 6 go to the oil tank directly.

FIG. 3 shows the general system of hydraulic pump version that includes the resistance cylinder set previously shown in FIGS. 1 & 2, steel wire 12 that connects the resistance cylinder set and the exercising handle 13, hydraulic pump 14 that runs during the eccentric exercise, monitor 15 that is connected to the oil pressure sensor 10 and displays the amount of force the exercising person exerted during the exercise, oil tank 16, and steel wire pulleys 17 & 18 that convert the direction of exercises.

FIG. 4 shows the concentric exercise cycle in hydraulic pump version in which the hydraulic pump 14 stops and the automatic valve 3 opens the resistance control opening 19. The exercising person starts pull the exercising handle 13 downward as hard as possible that pulls the steel wire 12 and causes the upward movement of the piston 2. As the piston 2 moves upward, the oil in the upper chamber 7 passes through the resistance control opening 19 and moves to the lower chamber 8. At this time, by adjusting the size of opening 19 by means of the automatic valve 3, the resisting force for the exercise can be modified. The oil pressure sensor 10 senses the pressure of the upper chamber 7 and displays it on the monitor 15, and it enables the exercising person monitor the amount of force he is exerting for the exercise.

FIG. 5 shows the eccentric exercise cycle in hydraulic pump version. When the piston 2 reaches to the highest point at the end of the concentric cycle, it triggers the automatic valve 3 closes the opening 19, at the same time it triggers the hydraulic pump 14 starts to run. The hydraulic pump 14 pushes the piston 2 downward that pulls the exercising handle 13 upward. During the upward movement of the exercising handle 13, the exercising person attempts to stop it by pulling the handle 13 against its movement. Because the pulling force of the hydraulic pump is stronger than the exercising person's muscle force, the exercising handle still moves upward, and the exercising person exerts his full power by attempting to stop the movement. When the piston 2 reaches to the bottom point, it triggers the hydraulic pump 14 to stop and the automatic valve 3 to open the resistance control opening 19, that allows the exercising person starts to actively pull the exercising handle 13 downward that is the start of the concentric exercise procedure of the next concentric-eccentric exercise cycle.

FIG. 6 shows the general system of the electric motor version that includes the electric power motor 22 along with attached power clutch 23, instead of the hydraulic pump in the hydraulic pump version. During the concentric exercise cycle, the clutch 23 opens and frees the piston 2 from the electric power motor 22 allowing the exercising person to actively pull the exercising handle 13 downward. During the eccentric exercise cycle, the clutch 23 closes, and the electric power motor 22 runs and pulls the piston 2 downward that causes the upward movement of the exercising handle 13.

The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims, as those skilled in the art will make modifications to the invention for particular uses.

Claims

1. A Maximum Muscle Strengthening Resistance Device comprising,

(a) A Resistance cylinder set that consist of one cylinder, one piston, one automatic valve, one oil cannel, two hoses, one steel wire connecting loop, one oil pressure sensor, one pair of lead wires to the oil pressure sensor, and one resistance control opening.

(b) A power unit that is a hydraulic pump.

(c) A power clutch that attached to the electric power motor in the electric power motor version.

(d) A steel wire that connects the piston to the exercising handle.

(e) An exercising handle that the exercising person pulls for strengthening exercises.

(f) An oil tank that provides the oil for the said cylinder of resistance cylinder set and receives the back flow oil from the said cylinder.

(g) A monitor that is connected to the oil pressure sensor in the resistance cylinder set and allows the exercising person monitors the amount of force he is exerting for the exercises.

2. The device of claim 1 includes 2 versions;

(a) Hydraulic pump version: the pulling force for eccentric movement is provided by a hydraulic pump.

(b) Electric power motor version: the pulling force for the eccentric movement is provided by an electric power motor.

3. A device of claim 1 wherein a person who exercises using this device pulls the said exercising handle actively during the concentric exercise cycle, that causes the said piston in the said resistance cylinder set moves outward forcing the oil inside the said cylinder passes through the said resistance control opening that gives the exercising person a resistant force against his pulling force.

4. A device of claim 1 wherein the said power unit (either hydraulic pump) provides the force to push the said piston inward during the eccentric exercise cycle, it causes the said exercising handle to move toward the eccentric direction, and by attempting to stop the said eccentric movement of the exercising handle against the pulling force of the said power unit, the exercising person performs eccentric exercises exerting his maximum power.

5. A device of claim 1 wherein the said automatic valve opens the said resistance adjusting opening automatically during the concentric exercises and allows the oil in the said resistance cylinder set forcefully passes through the opening to produce a resistant force against the pulling force of the said exercising person.

6. A device of claim 1 wherein the said automatic valve adjusts the size of the said resistance adjusting opening so that allows to set various levels of resistance during the concentric exercises.

7. A device of claim 1 wherein the said automatic valve closes the said resistance adjusting opening during the eccentric exercises in the said hydraulic pump version allowing the hydraulic pump pushes the said piston inward to produce the eccentric movement.

8. A device of claim 1 wherein the said clutch of the said electric power motor is opened during the concentric exercise cycle in the electric power motor version that frees the said piston from the said electric power motor and enables the said exercising person to perform the said concentric exercise.

9. A device of claim 1 wherein the said oil pressure sensor senses the amount of inside pressure of said cylinder and shows it on the said monitor.

10. A device of claim 1 wherein the location of the said pressure sensor is not limited to inside of the cylinder, and it can be installed onto any other places like between the piston and the steel wire.

11. A device of claim 1 wherein the said exercising handle in (e) clause is just one example of various exercising harnesses for explanatory purposes and is not intended to limit the application of this device to certain type of exercise, as those skilled in the art will make modifications to the invention for particular exercises.