Exercise devices – Support for entire body of user – Including hold down for foot or ankle
Patent
1999-03-02
2000-11-21
Donnelly, Jerome W.
Exercise devices
Support for entire body of user
Including hold down for foot or ankle
482143, 482144, 482147, A63B 2600
Patent
active
061495603
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercise device, and more particularly to an exercise device which includes a mat constructed to achieve its rotation through a certain angle and to stably and tightly hold the ankle portions of a user in a wider contact area, thereby allowing the user to perform a simple exercise, such as a repeated retraction of the upper body of the user, as in sit-ups, under the condition in which the mat is maintained at a horizontal position or a position inclined by an optional angle from the horizontal position.
2. Background Art
Generally, a person, such as a student or office worker, who studies or works in one position for a long period suffers back pain which is the central part of his body, or may be subjected to a variety of diseases through lack of exercise. In order to prevent diseases caused by lack of exercise, exercise devices, which are capable of allowing the user to perform a repeated retraction of his upper body thereby achieving an abdominal exercise or waist exercise, have been proposed to be placed at homes or in health rooms.
However, such conventional exercise devices are expensive due to their need for a complex drive unit for rotating a mat through a desired angle, thereby resulting in an increase in the manufacturing costs. Furthermore, such conventional exercise devices have difficulties in transportation and installation because of an increase in the volume and weight of the entire construction.
Although such conventional exercise devices have a foot holder adapted to hold the feet or ankle portions of a user, it is difficult for such a foot holder to meet different physiques of users because the foot holder is fixed to the mat. Moreover,such a foot holder, which is in contact with the body of the user during an exercise, has the shape of a straight extension. Due to such a shape, the foot holder is in contact with the body of the user in a local fashion. For this reason, the portion of the user's body locally contacting the foot holder is severely pressed. In severe cases, the user may suffer pain. Thus, the conventional foot holder has a problem in that it cannot hold the ankle portions of the user comfortably and stably.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention has been made in light of the above mentioned problems involved in the prior art. The object of the invention is to provide an exercise device which includes a simple drive unit adapted to rotate a mat frame through a certain angle, thereby being capable of achieving a reduction in the manufacturing costs, the exercise device also having a configuration capable of greatly reducing the entire volume and weight, thereby achieving easy installation and transportation, and comfortably and stably holding the ankle portions of a user.
Another object of the invention is to provide an exercise device including the stable ankle holders capable of holding the ankle portions of the user more comfortably in a wider contact area, and a simple drive unit adapted to rotate a mat frame, thereby achieving an improvement in safety, convenience, and reliability.
In accordance with the present invention, these objects are accomplished by providing an exercise device comprising: a base frame having a stable self-supporting strut structure; a mat frame rotatably mounted on an upper end of the base frame and fixing a mat on which a user can lean or lay; a length-adjustable extension member fixed at one end thereof to one longitudinal end of the mat frame; ankle holding means installed on the other end, namely, a free end, of the extension member and adapted to hold the ankle portions of the user, the ankle holding means including a pair of footholds fixedly mounted to the free end of the extension member while extending laterally from the free end of the extension member in opposite directions, respectively, a pair of support bars fixedly mounted to an end portion of the extension member disposed near the free end of the extension member while
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patent: 5575745 (1996-11-01), Lin
Amerson Lori Baker
Donnelly Jerome W.
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