Rotatable exercise apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus which will allow simultaneous negative (pulling) and positive (pushing) exercise of the upper body muscle groups through the use of rotatable corners.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Domestic Priority

This application does not claim domestic priority.

2. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to personal exercise equipment and more specifically to exercise equipment that assists a user in performing exercises for the abdominal and upper body muscle groups.

3. Description of the Prior Art

Man's quest for a perfect body is as old as time. As early as 1931, L. Novak obtained a patent on what he called “Exercising Device”, U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,920. Using basically a cart with wheels and two handles, a person could work out his/her upper body by pushing the cart forward or pulling the cart rearward. As depicted in the drawings for the Novak patent, the right and left arms would be extended at the same time and at the same distance thereby simultaneously exercising the right and left sides of a person equally.

More recently in U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. 2014/0371040, Nick, David and Justin Vasquez, in an invention entitled “Upper Body Workout Apparatuses and Assembly Thereof”, disclose a wheeled exercising apparatus that replaces the cart in Novak with simple bars. In between the Novak patent and the Vasquez application, there have been numerous variations of a wheeled, handled device that will extend forward and rearward using a person's arms to include U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,286, D. Leroy, Apparatus for Limb Reeducation; U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,454, W. M. Woodman, Ball Supported Device; U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,945, Delbert Rader, Exercise Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,672, Nathan Williams, Fitness Glider Exercise Device; U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,379, James Bling, Exercise Device for the Upper Torso of a User; U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. 2012/0252645, Exercise Device; U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. 2013/0217549, Sammy Marji, Exercise Device; U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. 2014/0018217, Luke Brown, Rolling, Multi Directional Fitness Device; and U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. 2014/0187395, Jay Blahnik, Exercise Device and Methods for Using the Exercise Device. Each of the inventions disclosed in the above referenced applications and patents are designed to allow the left arm and right arm to push/pull the device in the forward or rearward direction together. Meaning that the right and left arm extend either forward or rearward at the same time. None of the inventions disclosed above permit a user to push the exercise apparatus forward using the right arm while simultaneously pulling the other arm in the opposite direction. It is commonly known in the art that working a muscle group in both the positive and negative direction provides for a better and more efficient work out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an exercise apparatus that will allow simultaneous exercise of the muscles in the upper torso in both the negative and positive direction. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which set forth certain embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of the exercise apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates the exercise apparatus of the present invention in its rotated position.

FIG. 3A depicts a side view of the right support member for the exercise apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3B depicts a side view of the top support member of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. It should be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, when assembled the exercise apparatus of the present invention comprises a left [3], right [4], top [1] and bottom [2] support member. The corners of each support member are attached to each other, shown in FIGS. 1 as [11], [12], [13] and [14]. Any conventional means of attachment such as a nut and bolt can be used however the means must permit the corners to rotate relative to each other. Furthermore, in order to permit the proper rotation, the bottom surfaces of the top [1] and bottom [2] support members must be attached to the top surface of the left [3] and right [4] support members. Rotation can also be achieved by attaching the support members to each other using a simple hinge or a tongue and groove assembly in which case all of the support members would be in the same level or plane. Additionally, the attachments [11], [12], [13] and [14] shown in FIG. 1 illustrate the use of eyelets [19], [20], [21] and [22], which will allow resistence bands to be used to increase resistence force.

FIG. 1 also shows that attached to the bottom surfaces of the left [3] and right [4] support members, are rollers [7], [8], [9] and [10]. These rollers must swivel to allow the exercise apparatus to be pushed in any direction. Additionally, the rollers [7], [8], [9] and [10] can either be permanently attached to the support members [3] and [4] or can be removable. While FIG. 1 depicts 4 rollers, at least one roller attached to the bottom surface of the left [3] and right [4] support member is required. FIG. 1 also shows hand grips [5] and [6] extending laterally from the right [4] and left [3] support members. Although two hand grips are shown in FIG. 1, additional handles can be utilized allowing use of the exercise apparatus by more than one person. Furthermore, the hand grips [5] and [6] can be made to be removable using any conventional means such as by threading the end that protrudes through the left [3] or right [4] support member and tightening a bolt on said threaded end.

FIG. 2 depicts the exercise apparatus of the present invention as rotated. The right [5] hand grip is pushed forward whiled the left [6] hand grip is pulled rearward. Clearly shown in FIG. 2 is the aspect that attachment means, [11], [12], [13] and [14] will allow the corners of the left [3] and right [4] support members to rotate relative to the corners of the top [1] and bottom [2] support members. FIG. 3 illustrates two side views of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a side view of the right [4] support member illustrating the rollers [9] and [10] attached to the bottom surface of the right [4] support member. Also depicted in FIG. 3A are the attachment means [12] and [14], attached using bolts [16] and [17] along with the right hand grip [5].

FIG. 3B is a side view of the top [1] support member where attachment means [11] and [12] are shown, attached using bolts [16] and [18]. Both the right hand grip [5] and left hand grip [6] are shown. The use of eyelets [19], [20], [21] and [22] are depicted in both FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B.

While the preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure, but rather, is intended to cover all modifications and alternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. An exercise apparatus comprising a left, right, top and bottom support member wherein the upper surface of the corners to the left and right support members are attached to the bottom surface of the corners to the top and bottom support members and each corner is rotatable relative to the corner to which it is attached, further comprising at least one roller attached to the bottom surface of the left and right support members and wherein one or more hand grips extend laterally from each of both the left and right support members.

2. The exercise apparatus of claim 1 further comprising eyelets located on the upper surface of the corners to the top and bottom members.

3. The exercise apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rollers are removable.

4. The exercise apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means to attach the corners of the left and right support members to the corners of the top and bottom members is adjustable.

5. The exercise apparatus of claim 1 wherein the hand grips are removable.

6. An exercise apparatus comprising a left, right, top and bottom support members of equal length wherein the upper surface of the corners to the left and right support members are attached to the bottom surface of the corners to the top and bottom support members and each corner is rotatable relative to the corner to which it is attached, further comprising at least one roller attached to the bottom surface of the left and right support members and wherein one or more hand grips extend laterally from each of both the left and right support members.

7. The exercise apparatus of claim 6 further comprising eyelets located on the upper surface of the corners to the top and bottom members.

8. The exercise apparatus of claim 6 wherein the rollers are removable.

9. The exercise apparatus of claim 6 wherein the means to attach the corners of the left and right support members to the corners of the top and bottom members is adjustable.

10. The exercise apparatus of claim 6 wherein the hand grips are removable.