Exercise device

Background of Invention

There is currently a growing demand for convenient low impact aerobic exercise that is rigorous and of varying intensity. Generally, various aerobic exercises have included arm and leg motions. The aerobic exercise is varied by exercising at a faster pace; exercising for a longer period of time; and moving the body, arms and/or legs more vigorously while exercising using weights on the arms, hands or body and using resistance bands or cords for the arms.

It would be desirable if the main aerobic motion exercise could be enhanced by a supplemental exercise wherein resistance is encountered during the normal movement of the arms and/or legs while participating in the main exercise program.

It has been suggested as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5 141 223 issued to Stephen I. Block to provide an exercise device in the form of a belt worn around the waist of the user with elastic cords mounted at one end to the belt and held at the other end by the hands. It has also been suggested to provide a garmentwhich is laced with long, thin rubber bands that provide a workout whenever the wearer moves.

US-A-4,910,802 discloses an exercise suit which is formed of a unitary construction, to envelop a human figure from the neck to the feet. The suit includes a plurality of elastic bands associated with arm and leg portions of the suit. The various bands are positioned within enclosed conduits with the conduit for each band including a spaced region for enabling access to an adjustment buckle to adjust the tension for each band.

Further, US-A-5 176 377 shows an exercise device for enhanced aerobic walking that coordinates the motion of the arms and legs. The device is worn around the torso by means of a belt mounted yoke which has an extension pole extending downwardly and rearwardly. Exercise cords are threaded through guides and brake-lock devices located on the sides of the yoke and a guide loop at the end of the extension pole. At each end of the exercise cord are cuffs, which are attached to the exerciser's extremities.

Summary of Invention

An objection of this invention is to provide an aerobic resistance exercise garment which supplements a main aerobic motion exercise in a manner that fulfills the above needs.

To achieve the above object the present invention provides an aerobic resistance exercise garment as set forth in claim 1.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are claimed in the dependent claims.

In accordance with the invention the aerobic resistance exercise garment includes an article of clothing worn on the body. An anchor member such as a glove or shoe is worn on the hands or feet. Connecting elements which are preferably elastic cords connect the article of clothing with the gloves and shoes.

Rather than having elastic cords, the resistance could be provided by having sections of the article of clothing elastic.

In accordance with the invention, an entire body suit is provided with elastic sections and the arms or legs portions of the suit may terminate in adjustable straps which could be held by the hands or disposed around the feet so that the hands or feet still function as anchor members.

The Drawings:

• Figure 1 is a front elevational view of one form of practice of the invention;
• Figure 2 is a perspective view of a hand anchor member in accordance with this invention;
• Figure 3 is a perspective view of a glove used as an anchor member in accordance with this invention;
• Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of various detachable fastening means in accordance with this invention;
• Figures 6 to 8 are perspective views of various footwear in accordance with this invention;
• Figure 9 is a front elevational view of a harness in accordance with this invention;
• Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view taken through a body suit in accordance with this invention;
• Figure 11 is a perspective view showing detachable fastening means on an enlarged scale for a body suit;
• Figure 12 is a front elevational view of another bodysuit in accordance with this invention; and this invention.

Detailed Description

In general, the invention provides a specially designed body suit that allows a system of webs or elastic cords to be worn over it, attached to it, or inserted through it. Anchor members are provided at the limb extremities such as the hands or feet to anchor an end of the elastic portions of the body suit so as to offer resistance during the motions that occur when performing a main exercise. The various components acting together form a piece of clothing that can enhance a main exercise in, for example, the following ways:

• 1. One or more elastic cords can be attached to the suit to create resistance to motion;
• 2. The cords can be attached to different portions of the suit to permit upper body, lower body or total body exercise;
• 3. The cords can be of adjustable or fixed lengths to fit all sizes of people;
• 4. The cords can be of varying tensions/resistances to give different levels of workout and accommodate persons of different strengths;
• 5. The suit can have permanent or detachable gloves to fixed cords for arms exercises;
• 6. The suit can have guides/loops to position the elastic cords for resistance to various parts of the body and for various types of sport or motion;
• 7. The guides can be permanent or detachable;
• 8. The suit can have a special guide belt around the waist;
• 9. The guides can be located anywhere, but preferably are on the arms, wrists, shoulders, chest, waist, legs, knees, back and ankles;
• 10. The suit legs can have stirrups for the feet or the cords can attach over the shoe by a spat or loop or by a specially designed shoe with spaces for attaching cords such as by having clips, eyelets or loops at the cord attaching locations;
• 11. The suit could have panels or elastic webs joining the arms to the body, joining the arms to the arms or joining the legs to each other;
• 12. The guides can have a padded back to insulate the body from sliding friction and pressure of the elastic cords;
• 13. The elastic cords can run on the front, back or side of the body;
• 14. By varying the number, length, strength or position of the elastic cords the user can adjust resistance to individual preferences and tune "the suit for a particular sport, exercise or motion";
• 15. The guides can have eyelets or holes for cord attachment.

In general the resistance garment includes a suit with guides or loops and some form of detachable fasteners, such as clips, eyelets or hooks for detachably mounting elastic cords. Additionally, gloves may be provided to anchor some of the cords to the hands. Similarly, other cords may be detachably attached to the shoes. The adjustable length of the elastic cords provides for varying strengths with means to attach the cords to the suit, gloves or shoes.

In the preferred practice of the invention the cords are arranged in mirror image fashion on each side of the body when viewed from head to foot.

The anchor the cords to the feet, it is preferable to use suitable footwear. The cords can be connected to the footwear in three basic ways. In one way the connection is directly to the footwear with the shoe having connecting devices such as eyelets, loops or hooks to which the elastic cords or the suit legs may be secured. An alternative would be to fasten the cords over the shoes by a spat or loop which is disposed around the shoe or footwear. A third alternative would be to insert the cords around the foot inside the shoe or footwear using a loop or stirrup.

To anchor the cords to the hands, different variations could be used. In one variation the cords or suit arms could be attached directly to a glove where the glove includes fastening elements such as eyelets, loops or hooks to which the cords or suit arms would be fastened. A further alternative would be to dispose the cords or suit arms over the gloves by a loop going around the gloves or finger portions of the glove. A further alternative would be to dispose the cords or arm loops over the hand with the glove being worn over the cords or arm loops.

In a desirable practice of the invention fasteners are used which could be conveniently operated to detachably secure the cords or suit arms/legs to the gloves, hands, shoes or feet. Suitable fastening devices includes hooks, clips, straps/buckles, snaps, velcro, bands, loops and eyelets. Such fastening devices may be elastic, but are preferably non-elastic so as to limit the flex/resistance variable to solely the length and/or strengths of the cords or the suit. The fastening devices may be adjustable but are preferably non-adjustable again to limit the resistance variable to the elastic cords and/or suit.

Where elastic cords are used the cords may be attached to the outer portion of the article of clothing or suit. Alternatively, the cords could be attached to a vest or harness worn under the suit. A further variation would be to locate the cords within the suit itself, such as between layers or a multi-layer suit with the cords or the elastic portions of the suit anchored to the limb extremity.

It is to be understood that when the term cord is used with regard to the practice of the invention such term is used in its broadest sense and includes not only cords or circular cross-section but also flat type cords or strips.

Similarly, it is to be understood that when the invention refers to shoes or footwear, any suitable footwear may be used including conventional shoes, sneakers, low cut or high tops, as well as ice skates, roller skates, roller blades or shoes having cleats. As later described, such specialized footwear would ordinarily be used in specific main aerobic exercises where it is desirable to supplement the exercise by use of the resistance garment of this invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a basic garment 48 of the invention wherein elastic cords 32, 38 are secured to anchor members on the hands and feet. As illustrated, for example, shoes 12 are provided with spaced loops 14 with one end of cords 32, 38 being attached to a selected loop 14. The provision of spaced loops offers selectivity in the resistance encountered from cords 32, 38. The other end of cords 32, 38 is attached to a selected loop 16 on the cuff portion 18 of a glove 20, and the cords 32, 38 are also guided through loops or guides 52 provided on a belt 50.

As shown in Figure 1, various other cords 34, 36 and 39, may be attached to loops 14 and 16. The garment 48 is in the form of a full suit having a belt 50 with a series of loops or guides 52. Belt 50 is adjustable in length. Additionally, a tunnel or guide 54 is provided in the chest section while the shoulders include reinforcing strips with a series of loops or fasteners 56 on one shoulder and 58 on the other shoulder. The back of the garment includes tunnels or guides and additional loops. Cuffs or reinforcing bands having loops may be provided near the shoulders.

Garment 48 may be attached in any suitable manner, such as by the provision of a zipper along the back.

As is apparent, in Figure 1, the various cords may be attached in any suitable manner to provide a variety of different resistances to develop different muscles. For example, cord 32 is anchored at one end to shoe 12 and passes through loop 52 on belt 50 with the opposite end being anchored to loop 18 of glove 20. Cord 34 is anchored to shoe 12, passes through a loop 52 on belt 50 and is anchored to shoulder loop 56. Similarly, cord 36 is anchored to the opposite shoe 12 and passes through a loop belt 50 with the upper end being anchored to shoulder loop 58. A further cord 38 is anchored to shoe 12, passes through a loop on belt 50 and is anchored at its opposite end to glove 20. Further cords, extending along the backside of a user may be anchored to shoes 12 and connected to respective shoulder loops. Another cord may be anchored at one end to one shoe 12, passes through a loop on belt 50 and is then anchored at its opposite end to the other shoe 12. Another cord may extend from one hand to another by each end being anchored to loops on the gloves 20 with said cord passing through loops near the shoulders and passes through tunnels or guides, provided on the backside of the garment 48. Cord 39 and the other cord which are anchored to the gloves 20 provide an effective pull across the shoulders.

A pair of cords may also be anchored to respective shoes 12, pass through loops on belt 50, criss-cross on the user's chest and are then anchored at respective shoulder loops 56,58.

The garment 48 may include integral footwear sections and integral glove sections.

Figure 2 illustrates a variation of the invention wherein a hand grip 106 is utilized instead of or beneath a glove. Hand grip 106 may be, for example, a leather strap held around the fingers in the manner illustrated. Hand grip 106 would include a series of loops 108 having a conventional spring fastener 110 attached to cord 112 so that cord 112 may be detachably secured to hand grip 106 at any of the locations provided by loops 108.

Figure 3 illustrates a variation wherein a glove 114 includes loops 108 and is adjustably connected by means of velcro fasteners 116 in the wrist area.

Figure 4 illustrates a convenient form of clip fastener for the shoes, gloves, belt, etc. which includes a loop 118 permanently secured to the anchoring member with a housing 120 permanently secured to loop 118. A spring pin 122 is provided in housing 120 for securement into hole 124 of tongue 126 on connector 128 with cord 130 being secured to loop 132 permanently mounted to loop 128.

Figure 5 shows a further variation which provides adjustability of length for cord 134 by means of a housing 136 having a passage 138 through which cord 134 extends with the projecting portion 140 of cord 134 forming a loop fitting through fixed loop 142. A cam member 144 locks cord 134 in place in a known manner.

Figures 6 to 8 show various types of footwear which may be utilized in the practice of this invention. Figure 6 illustrates a form of shoe 146 having a series of loops or eyelets 148 to which the cords may be fastened. Alternatively a loop may be fastened to tab 149. Shoe 146 may be attached to the foot in any suitable manner, such as by adjustable straps 150.

Figure 7 illustrates a variation wherein a spat or band 152 is disposed around shoe 154 with spat or band 152 having its own fastening loops 156 for attachment of the cord.

Figure 8 exemplifies how the invention could be used with special types of exercise footwear. As shown therein the shoe 158 includes roller blades 160 for use in a roller blade type exercise. A series of loops 162 are provided for attachment of the cord. Similarly, the shoes may include ice skates, roller skates, spikes, cleats or any other form of specialized shoe or footwear used for a particular exercise.

Figure 9 illustrates a further variation of the invention wherein a harness 164 is used as part of the article of clothing for attachment of the loops. As shown harness 164 includes a plurality of straps 166 for fitting around the body. Additionally, a belt section 168 is provided as well as shoulder sections 170 which are padded for comfort. The belt 168 and shoulder sections 170 includes loops or other fastening devices 172, 174 as previously described. Harness 164 could be worn directly over an exercise garment, such as said suit or could be worn beneath the garment with the cords extending outwardly for anchoring the hands and/or feet as previously described. Harness 164 could also be located between layers of a multi-layer suit.

Figures 10 and 11 illustrate yet another practice of the invention which includes a one piece suit. Said suit includes elastic cords 178 which are formed within the suit by being disposed between individual layers 180, 182 as illustrated in Figure 10. The ends of the arm sections of such a suit may include cords which are anchored to loops disposed around the fingers in a manner similar to that illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 11 illustrates an alternative form of connection of the arm sections of a suit by having non-elastic connectors 196 formed with hook ends 198 secured through loops 200 on bands or cuffs 192 of gloves 194 with the opposite ends of connectors 196 being permanently fixed at 202 to the cuff portion 204 of suit 176.

The full body suit may include adjustable size loops at the ends of the arms and leg portions. Additionally, the anchor members for the full body suit could include gloves and shoes with cords attached thereto or with the gloves or shoes being integral.

Figure 12 illustrates another variation of this invention wherein a full body suit 210 is made of elastic material, thus avoiding the need to incorporate elastic cords or strips in the body suit. As illustrated in Figure 12 the cuffs 212 at the ends of the arms have a loop or strap 214 attached thereto for wrapping around the hands. Strap 214 may be made of adjustable length, such as by the inclusion of velcro fasteners so as to give proper dimensioning and thereby assure an effective anchoring at the hands. Similarly, the ankles include bands 216 at the ends of the leg sections which likewise include straps or loops 218 which would be similar to straps or loops 214 in the sense of being adjustable in length for wrapping around the user's shoes or feet.

It is to be understood that an advantage of the invention, particularly where various connectors are provided at various parts of the body suit is to enable the user to selectively locate elastic cords when it is desired to enhance particular exercises.

The different variations of the invention thereby range from very simple basic forms, such as the anchoring members with interconnecting cords guided through a belt of Figure 1 or the full body elastic suit with arm and leg loops in Figure 12 to more complicated structures which provide greater versatility in exercise selection. The versatility would be achieved by garments having connectors suitably located at various portions for selective attachment of elastic cords thereby permitting the same structure to be used to provide a variety of different resistance exercises in accordance with the needs and desires of the user.

It is to be understood that while the invention is preferably practiced with the limb anchoring members being in the form of footwear or gloves, the invention may also be broadly practiced by the use of hand bands or spats which fit over the feet or hands.

It is also to be understood that the specific features described in various specific embodiments may be used in other embodiments.

As can be appreciated the aerobic resistance exercise garment of this invention provides an effective supplemental exercise to main motion aerobic exercises. Such main exercises could include, for example, walking, jogging, stepping, cycling, aerobics, warm-ups, skating, hiking, weight training, skiing, and mountain climbing.