Portable abdominal and aerobic exercise mat
A portable combination exercise mat adjustable for varying degrees of difficulty is disclosed. The exercise mat combines abdominal, aerobic, weight lifting, and resistance exercises. The exercise mat is easy to produce, compact in size, inexpensive, and readily transportable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to floor exercise mats and more particularly to an exerciser that seeks to combine cardio, muscular development and abdominal exercises in one portable device.
2. Description of Related Art
There exist numerous types of exercisers ranging in cost from a few hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars. Often, these exercisers are limited to just one or a few exercise routines, and when enabled to do more tend to be large, heavy, expensive, occupy lot of space and cannot be easily transported. In case where an exerciser is relatively inexpensive and portable, it also tends to be very limited in the number of routines it is capable of performing. Typical of such exercisers are chest expanders that have springs positioned between two hand grips and can be used primarily to develop arm and chest muscles. Limited elongation of the springs and the design of the hand grips make it cumbersome to use these devices to develop any other muscle groups. Similar to these exercisers are stretchable elements, usually made of rubber or similar materials, but also suffering from similar limitations as the chest expanders. Other exercisers employing flexible loops that also usually include handles exist but seem to have difficulties in adopting the loops to the hand or the foot of the user.
A typical exercise mat is a heavy stationary device that may be used to do primarily sit-up type of exercise, thus developing primarily abdominal muscles. Even in case where a mat is portable, its functionality remains limited. Of the aerobic stepper exercisers presently in existence, some are single height and some are adjustable. Some also come with storage compartments for other items, such as weights. While these exercisers provide for good aerobic workout they lack the ability to develop abdominal muscles.
Examples of patented devices which are illustrative of such exercisers are U.S. Pat. Nos.: 6,220,994; 5,697,870; 6.623,270; 6,935,382; 4,905,990.
The exercise system according to the present invention solves all the above shortcomings by providing for aerobic, abdominal and chest, arm and leg muscle development in one inexpensive, compact and easily portable device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple, affordable and portable exercise system that enables development of many muscle groups.
It is an object of the present invention to combine several mat sections to accommodate different types of exercises.
It is another object of the present invention to connect the mat sections to each other and enable easy folding and transportation.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide one or more steps in one of the mat sections.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an incline in one of the mat sections.
Yet another object of the present invention is to employ soft material in different mat sections and firm material in step section of the mat.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide for an adjustable incline in one of the mat sections.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for adjustable height of the step section.
It is another object of the present invention to have two steps in one of the mat sections.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a non-slip surface on the step section of the mat.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide for an absorbent material on top of mat sections.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for anchoring feet while performing abdominal exercises.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an exercise system that is affordable, easy to store and requires minimal storage space.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to those with ordinary skill in the art after having studied the following drawings, description and the claims.
It is understood that while the drawings and the following discussion relate to a particular embodiment of the present invention, this embodiment merely represents what is presently regarded as the best mode of practicing the invention, and other modifications may be made to the particular embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
The side view exercise mat 10 of this invention is first shown in
An aerobic exercise step 23 is formed by longitudinal sides 20 and transverse sides 19. Most commonly a person will step on and off the step from ground level in order to accomplish an aerobic work out. While there may be only one step 23, two steps 23 are preferred. Typically, the space between the sides of step 23 is filled with material firm enough to support the stepping action of a person stepping on and off the step 23. Attached to the step 23 are supports 22. Preferably, supports 22 are of adjustable height. The section of the step 23 that the supports 23 are attached to should be strengthened to better support the stress exerted by the weight of the person exercising. This may be accomplished by using hard plastic, aluminum, light steel or a similar material.
The transverse sides 18 and longitudinal sides 21 form an insert 25. The insert 25 may be made of soft padded material or it may be just a vinyl strap. If padded material is employed, the ends of the insert 25 should be beveled for a better fit with step 23.
The support 24 provides an adjustable angle incline to accommodate variety of abdominal exercise needs. The support 24 is preferably installed between mid point of the section and the distal end 25. The angle adjustment should help accomplish varying levels of difficulty that different users may wish to employ. The section of the exercise mat where supports 24 attach to should be appropriately strengthened to support the weight of the person exercising.
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Claims
1. A portable multi purpose exercise mat assembly comprising:
- several generally horizontal arranged members coupled to each other, wherein one member forms a step, at least another member provides horizontal surface, another member provides an inclined surface, and a carrying handle coupled to the member positioned generally in the center of the exercise mat assembly.
2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
- first horizontal member having two longitudinal sides and top and bottom transverse sides, a proximal end and a distal end;
- at least one second horizontal member having two longitudinal sides and top and bottom transverse sides, a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the distal end of said second horizontal member is foldably coupled to said proximal end of said first horizontal member;
- third horizontal member having two longitudinal sides and top and bottom transverse is sides, a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the distal end of said third horizontal member is foldably coupled to said proximal end of said second horizontal member, said bottom transverse side further adopted with a rigid surface to receive at least one support member, said support members having an extended vertical position and a retracted horizontal position, said retracted horizontal position being generally parallel to said bottom transverse side, said at least one support member being fixedly coupled to said bottom transverse side, said third horizontal member generally forming at least one step when said at least one support member is in extended vertical position;
- fourth horizontal member having two longitudinal sides and top and bottom transverse sides, a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the proximal end of said fourth horizontal member is foldably coupled to said distal end of said first horizontal member, said bottom transverse side further adopted with a rigid surface to receive at least one support member positioned generally between the mid point and a distal end of said bottom transverse side, said at least one support member having an extended position generally vertical to said bottom transverse side and a retracted horizontal position, said retracted horizontal position being generally parallel to said bottom transverse side, said at least one support member being fixedly coupled to said bottom transverse side; and at least one carrying handle attached between the distal end of the second horizontal member and the proximal end of the first horizontal member.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein said horizontal members further comprise a rigid frame disposed between the longitudinal sides and the transverse sides.
4. The device of claim 2, wherein said third horizontal member further comprises at least one strap coupled to top transverse side and adopted to receive feet.
5. The device of claim 2, wherein a soft material is disposed between said longitudinal sides, said transverse sides and said distal and proximal ends of said horizontal members.
6. The device of claim 3, wherein said longitudinal sides further define at least one void therein, said at least one void exposing said rigid frame.
7. The device of claim 6 wherein a spring force element is releasably coupled to said exposed rigid frame.
8. The device of claim 2, wherein said at least one support member are between two and four support members.
9. The device of claim 2, wherein said support members are hingedly and lockably coupled to said bottom transverse surfaces.
10. The device of claim 2 wherein the top transverse side of the horizontal members further comprises liquid absorbing top surface.
11. The device of claim 9 wherein said at least one support member further comprises height adjustment means.
12. The device of claim 2 wherein said third horizontal member further comprises a non-slip surface disposed on said top transverse side.
13. The device of claim 2 wherein said at least one step is further adopted to receive an external device capable of anchoring the feet of the person exercising.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 2, 2006
Publication Date: Mar 6, 2008
Inventor: Gary W. Schletti (San Jose, CA)
Application Number: 11/514,494