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Biodynamic apparatus for performing correct sit-up and legs-up exercises and methodsRelated Patent Categories: Exercise Devices, Support For Entire Body Of User (e.g., Bench, Slant Board, Etc.)Biodynamic apparatus for performing correct sit-up and legs-up exercises and methods description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060116262, Biodynamic apparatus for performing correct sit-up and legs-up exercises and methods. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. The Field of Invention [0002] This invention relates to the field of Fitness and wellness of the body, and in particular to the scientific development of a correct apparatus and methods for performing abdominal exercises such as SIT-UP and LEGS-UP exercises free of injuries and with maximum results. In practice, the invention produces new and more complete forms of exercises that extend beyond muscle development and combine the health, integrity, alignment and performance of spine. Abdominal exercises are commonly performed by most athletes and fitness lovers to obtain strong and shapely abdominal muscles, but an analytical study conducted by the inventor reveals their negative side, as far as the methods commonly adopted, which are unscientific because they produce negative stress along the spine and projects the inevitable prospects of long term spinal injuries such as slipped or herniated intervertebral disks, thorn cartilages, and even lordosis and scogliosis. Statistics concerning sports and fitness injuries support this prediction. This invention particularly represents the solution to this problem. It aims at correcting this deficiency of a balanced stress during these exercises by offering an apparatus and methods that allow the body to perform them safely and in optimal dynamic condition, as to achieve equalized abdominal muscles' strengthening and development, at the same time, relieve negative spinal stress. This relief is physiologically referred to as decompressing of the spinal disks, which contributes to better health and better performance. The apparatus, we may say, is an equalizer of applied force for the lower back and abdomen, for, as it will explained in the text of the invention, it engages the right muscles of the lower region in the right order when bending the torso during the sit-up exercise and decompresses the stress in the spine, both prior and after the movement, i.e., during the torso's initial and ending position in each repetition of the exercise. Technically, by helping decompress the spine, the apparatus helps restore proper intervertebral space and allows the disks to refurbish with lymph and reacquire their proper thickness and function as the spine shock absorbers. In addition, the apparatus helps develop spinal alignment, which is the proper positioning of each vertebra of the spine within the natural place thus maintain its proper curvature. Most importantly, the apparatus helps enhance spinal flexibility, which is the ability of the spine to move through a full range of motions. "A flexible spine is a healthy spine" is this inventor's motto. [0003] 2. The Related Prior Art in U.S. Patent [0004] Hatfeld U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,553 [0005] Stefani U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,017 [0006] Jensen U.S. Pat. No. 2,152,431 [0007] Henschel; et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,841; [0008] Oman U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,370; [0009] Pearl U.S. Pat. No. 4,6,21,809; [0010] Lemire U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,0571 [0011] Walter U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,800; [0012] Moore et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,122; [0013] Felice U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,537; [0014] Sessini U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,011; [0015] Brentham U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,840; [0016] Sparks U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,010; [0017] Walker U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,962; [0018] U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,553 to Frederick Hatfeld, discloses a weight lifting device and a method that though different, it exemplifies all that is wrong with commonly done SIT-UP exercises. In a common SIT-UP exercise done freely or with the help of a bench, the user passes from a horizontal to a partial or total bending of the torso--clearly a movement initiated from the neck muscles and that passes tremendous negative stress along the cervical region of the spine. In Hatfeld's device the user is sitting on the bench and has strapped on his shoulder a belt passing through a pulley and connected to some barbell weights, Since the movement of the torso is more or less the same of a SIT-UP exercise, it is obvious that in this case, in addition to the weight of the head, the user adds the weights of the Barbells, which doubles or triples the negative stress on the spine. While very little work is done by the abdominal muscles, most of the work is done by the neck and pectoral muscle while the damage is certainly greater at the two spinal extremities, namely, at the cervical and ends at the lumbar vertebral region. [0019] U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,017 to Hugo Stefani, discloses an apparatus used to passively exercise a person's abdominal muscles. This device consists of a chair whose back reclines into a flat bed or vice versa, thus producing a movement of 90 degrees of bending and extension of the torso of the user. During this movement, the user applies controlled force by the use of weights or with the application of an electric motor. It is obvious that without preserving and protecting the spine, or without a lumbar support any, the exercise, it says in the description, ends up causing negative stress and altering the spine's natural curvature. In fact, the stress exercised by the abdominal and lumber muscles unfortunately acts negatively in modifying substantially the lordosis area or the natural curvature of the spine, thus shifting vertebral position and possibly causing slipped disks. [0020] U.S. Pat. No. 2,152,431 to Sigvard H. Jensen, discloses a device that exercises the lower and upper body resting on two folding planes that allow the bending motion from a wide to a sharp angle, almost to a V. The exercise consists in performing extended repetitions, but here again missing is any concerns for applying the muscles' correct dynamics, which are traction and contraction, spinal posture, preservation and enhancement of the natural spinal posture. [0021] U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,841 to Henschel. et. al., discloses a multilayered lumbar support for a bench press exerciser. Although this device approximates the visual idea of the invention, the scopes and concerns are far from the invention in question. The lumbar support is designed to reduce the indirect weight that from the shoulder may be transferred to the lower back while lifting weights. It may accommodate users with a multiplicity of lumbar lordosis but support needs or correct problems that are far apart from those exhibited in ordinary SIT-UP exercises. The device does not address, nor does it fulfills the purpose set out by the present invention, which is one to provide the ideal position for a pelvic movement, arcual stretch of the spine, total decompression of the stress acquired during the SIT-UP movement and neutralization of the lumbar muscle, and concentration of the work in the abdomen. In synthesis, the application of the device is strictly a lumbar support and is not intended to exercise the lumbar muscles, perform spinal traction, achieve intervertebral decompression, spinal alignment and flexibility, which is the field of the present invention. [0022] U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,370 to Oman, also discloses a weight lifter bench with cervical and lumbar support, the latter being adjustable in a sliding manner in relation to the former. This device again, though similar in some respect to the invention because of the use of adjustable lumbar cushion along the horizontal plane, like the preceding one, is intended to support lumbar muscles during weight lifting exercises, like the many kinds of lumbar cushions in existence, dealing with an entirely different stress, and in substance, not designed to provide ideal dynamic conditions for SIT-UP exercises in accordance with the needs cited above. [0023] U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,809 to William Pearl, discloses a contour bench press that accommodates the body of the weight lifter during the exercise. Providing a mold-like receptacle for the body to allow the same to be firm in place during the stress moment of the weight lifting is rather restrictive. There is no questions as to the shifting of the body and the lateral stress being eliminated. However, this total body stabilization device is not necessary because most of the weight gravitates on the shoulders when the weight lifter is in a supine position, Lateral support is needed only during the initiation of the lifting exercise and only around the lumbar section. This is why the Pearl's bench is somehow restrictive and difficult since a certain amount of shoulder movement is helpful in weight lifting and would not compromise the lifter's commonly weak abdominal muscles. However, one would eventually have to have one device custom molded to one's specific body in order to use this device. The problem is better resolved by the lateral, adjustable supports provided by the padded flanges of the so-called "flexor" adopted in the invention in question and whose detailed description is offered in the apparatus' description. 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