TRAINING LADDER FORMED WITH POLYGON SEGMENTS

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a training ladder used primarily for athletic events, athletic training, and the like.

Background of the invention

Training ladders usually have elongated, spaced apart rungs that are positioned on the ground and substantially parallel to each other. A typical training exercise using the ladder involves the athlete attempting to quickly run between the rungs without touching them with his or her feet. Typical training ladders include a plurality of substantially rigid, elongate, rungs that are spaced apart from each other by a webbing of flexible material such as rope, nylon strips or the like. During use of these known training ladders, the rungs tend to become displaced as the athlete inadvertently contacts them or the webbing holding them apart. Accordingly, these known ladders are typically staked to the ground in an effort to keep them in place during use. These stakes tend to become lost during use and storage of the ladder.

Moreover, such staking limits the ease of use of the ladder. For example, if an athlete inadvertently positions his or her foot under the webbing while performing an exercise drill and then lifts their foot without first removing it from under the webbing, he or she can easily trip, particularly when the webbing is staked to the ground.

Also, such ladders cannot be easily reconfigured to define different training paths and the like, and they cannot be used for other purposes, such as a portable hurdle or support structure.

In addition, the webbing tends to become tangled when the ladder is collapsed and stored, thereby compromising the user's ability to easily set-up the ladder for future use.

EP1008705 discloses collapsible structures having at least one lower panel, each panel having a foldable frame member having a folded and an unfolded orientation, with a fabric material substantially covering the frame member to form the panel when the frame member is in the unfolded orientation. The fabric assumes the unfolded orientation of its frame member, and each panel further includes a first side, a second side, a bottom side and a top side. The first side of one panel is coupled to the second side of an adjacent panel. The collapsible structure according to the present invention further includes an upper panel having a bottom side coupled to the top side of one of the lower panels. In other embodiments, at least two upper panels are provided, with the upper panels provided above the lower panels. The respective panels can be coupled to each other using stitching and/or detachable connectors, or by crossing the frame members of the panels at adjacent left, right, top or bottom sides.

JP2000 102625 discloses a training device comprising a plurality of rings having sufficient diameters for putting both feet in, and connecting means for detachably connecting them. The rings are set spreading by on a floor surface in a connecting state or contained in a lump after stretching them. When a means for alternating a diameter is added thereto, diameters can be optionally alternated.

Summary of the Invention

One aspect of the present invention provides a method of using a training ladder, comprising the steps of: providing a collapsible athletic training ladder comprising: a plurality of substantially rigid polygon-shaped segments; and a plurality of elongate segment connectors each configured to be selectively pivotally connected along a first side, a second side, or a third side of the plurality of segments; joining the plurality of segments together to form a first configuration, wherein a first segment connector of the plurality of connectors pivotally connects a first side of a first segment with a first side of a second segment and a second segment connector of the plurality of connectors pivotally connects a second side of the second segment with a first side of a third segment of the plurality of segments of the athletic training ladder such that the first, second and third polygon-shaped segments define a straight running path in a first direction; and joining the plurality of segments together to form a second configuration, wherein the first segment connector pivotally connects the first side of the first segment with a third side adjacent to the first side, of the second segment and the second segment connector pivotally connects the second side of the second segment with the first side of the third segment, such that the first, second, and third polygon-shaped segments define a second running path in which a portion of the second running pattern formed from the first and the second segments extends a second direction divergent from the first direction; wherein in either the first configuration or the second configuration, said first, second and third segments are pivoted about the first and second segment connectors so that the ladder is configured in a third configuration in which the first segment rests on top of said second segment and the second segment rests on top of the third segment, thereby defining a collapsed stack of said first, second, and third segments.

Further features of the invention are recited in the dependent claims appended hereto.

Brief Description of the Drawings

• FIG. 1 is an assembled portable training ladder.
• FIG. 2 is the ladder of FIG. 1 showing a possible alternative running path configuration.
• FIG. 3 is a top view of the ladder of FIG. 1 showing a possible second alternative running path configuration.
• FIG. 4 is a top view of a polygon segment used to form the training ladder of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 5 is a side view of the polygon segment of FIG. 4.
• FIG. 6 is an isometric view of a possible segment connector.
• FIG. 7 is a top view of the segment connector of FIG. 6.
• FIG. 8 is a side view of the segment connector of FIG. 6.
• FIG. 9 is a front view of the segment connector of FIG. 6.
• FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the segment connector of FIG. 10.
• FIG. 1 1 is an isometric view of an alternative possible segment connector.
• FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of the segment connector of FIG. 11 connecting two polygon segments.
• FIG. 13 is a training ladder showing a possible folded-up configuration.
• FIG. 14 is a left, rear isometric view of the training ladder of FIG. 13 showing a possible orientation as a hurdle.
• FIG. 15 is a right, rear isometric view of the training ladder of FIG. 14.
• FIG. 16 is an isometric view of the ladder of FIG. 13 showing a possible configuration as a portable structure.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

A collapsible athletic training ladder 20 having a plurality of substantially rigid polygon segments 30, 30' joined together with segment connectors 32, 32' is shown in FIGS. 1-16. A first preferred arrangement is shown in FIGS. 4- 10, and an alternative preferred arrangement is shown in FIGS. 1-3 and 11 - 16. In order to reduce undue repetition, like elements between these arrangements are like numbered.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 and 11-16, the polygon segments 30 are preferably shaped like an octagon having sides 34 of substantially the same length. The segment connector 32 (FIG. 11) is sized and shaped to detachably connect two adjacent sides 34a, 34b of different segments 30 as best shown in FIG. 12. It can be appreciated that a plurality of segments can be joined together with a plurality of segment connectors to form various running patterns. For example, FIG. 1 shows a straight running path 40, and FIG. 2 shows a modified running path 42.

In addition, the segment connectors 32 can also allow the segments to pivot with respect to each other. Accordingly, the entire ladder can be collapsed for ease of transport and storage as shown in FIG. 13. Also, the various segments can pivoted with respect to each other to define a portable hurdle 50 as shown in FIGS. 14 & 15, or a portable support structure 52 such as shown in FIG. 16.

Preferably each segment 30 is formed of a light weight, substantially rigid material, such as a molded polymer, formed fiberglass rod, or the like. More preferably, each segment defines an octagon. Alternatively, different polygon shapes, such as a triangle or the like could also be used.

Referring to FIGS. 4-10, a training ladder formed of alternative preferred segments 30' is disclosed. The segments 30' are molded to define a polygon, here an octagon is shown. Recesses 60 are positioned along the sides to allow a segment connector 32' to operably engage therein.

The segment connector 32' is best shown in FIGS. 6-10. Preferably, it is integrally molded to define a first engaging portion 80 for operably engage a first segment, and a second engaging portion 82 for operably engaging a second segment, thereby joining the two segments together. The sides 34 of each segment 30' each include recesses 60 for engaging one of the engaging portions on the segment connector 32'.

The ladder may be assembled by joining a plurality of segments 30' together along adjacent sides 34. It can be appreciated that the individual segments can be placed in a variety of positions with respect to each other and then joined together with segment connectors to define a variety of training paths. One possible training path is shown in FIG. 3.

If desired, rubberized feet (not shown) or the like can be placed on a bottom surface of each segment connector to hold the ladder in place when placed on a slippery surface such as a gym floor or the like.

Having described and illustrated the principles of our invention with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be apparent that the invention can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. Accordingly, in view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles may be put, it should be recognized that the detailed embodiments are illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of our invention. Accordingly, we claim as our invention all such modifications as defined by the appended claims.