| Hand grip for exercise yoke -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
  Hand grip for exercise yokeRelated Patent Categories: Exercise Devices, User Manipulated Force Resisting Apparatus, Component Thereof, Or Accessory Therefor, Utilizing Weight Resistance, Handheld Bar With Weight At Each End (e.g., Barbell, Dumbbell, Etc.) Or Component ThereofHand grip for exercise yoke description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070243977, Hand grip for exercise yoke. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATION DATA [0001] The present application has no claim for priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 or 35 U.S.C. 120. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to the filed of exercise equipment, exercise equipment using contact with the hands or feet, and especially exercise equipment that is pushed or pulled by limbs acting in symmetry. [0004] 2. Background of the Art [0005] Exercise has become an essential part of a regimen for health and mental well-being. It is part of this regimen to assure that there is a proper balance in the format of the exercise. Even though swimming may be a nearly ideal form of exercise, it does not fully and equally exercise opposing muscles or provide enough resistance for bulk muscles. To assist in complete muscle development, exercise equipment has been developed to enhance the different patterns of muscle use. [0006] Although equipment may be used for specific muscle training and development, it is not always ergonomically effective or safe. Various structures have been taught to facilitate hand, wrist, ankle and leg movements in exercise equipment. Among these structures are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,399,133; 5,062,633; 5,080,349; 5,273,509; and 4,690,400. [0007] One of the problems with conventional exercise machines is that they often have fixed hand grips or pedals. These hand grips have several shortcomings. Because the spatial orientation of the hand grip is fixed relative to the machine, the muscle groups used are often flexed in only a single plane. This tends to overuse certain muscles and under use other muscles because of the restricted nature of the movement. Another problem which has arisen is the incidence of injury to the user, including carpal tunnel syndrome. It is believed that this occurs because the fixed grip units cause the hand and forearm to often be misaligned since the machine is not specially fitted to each individual user. Even if a fixed grip were fitted to a particular user, many, if not most, exercises can cause the hand and forearm to become misaligned over much of the exercise movement. It is believed that this misalignment of the hand and forearm can cause various problems, including carpal tunnel syndrome. Similar problems can arise from foot pedals which are fixed or pivot about only a single axis. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] The present invention is directed to appendage interface assemblies, typically a hand grip assembly, used with an exercise machine to reduce some of the angular misalignment problems of conventional hand grips while increasing the benefits of the exercise. The hand grip assembly is particularly effective in an exercise yoke system where the hands and arms move in tandem and symmetry, with the hand grips positioned in symmetry with a connecting yoke or bar. [0009] The hand grip assembly on each hand grip independently rotates in one dimension to enable the hands and wrist to pronate about an axis translated along a connecting bar between the grips and the yoke or bar. The connecting bar may be rigidly connected to the yoke or provided with a 360 degree rotating connection (e.g., ball bearing, arm and socket). By 360 connection it is meant that from a single perpendicular alignment of the connecting bar and the yoke, the connecting bar may be moved along any angle about the connection, even though the range of movement is limited by the physical constraints of the yoke or bar. [0010] The yoke or bar may be straight or curved or angular, but the hand grips should be approximately symmetrical with respect to the application of force through the hand grips. By symmetrical is does not mean that the grips are visually symmetrical with respect to the entire yoke or bar structure, but rather that the grips are symmetrical with respect to the application of the hands and arms to the grips. [0011] The yoke or bar may be connected in turn to a cable, cords, cables, pulleys, chains, gears or other resistance or inertial systems. [0012] The hand grip assembly includes an assembly support securable to the exercise machine. An intermediate support is pivotally mounted to the assembly support, a hand grip support is pivotally mounted to the intermediate support, and a hand grip is pivotally mounted to the hand grip support by first, second and third pivots for movement about first, second and third axes respectively. This arrangement provides a gyroscopic-type hand grip assembly to permit the user to grasp the hand grip and orient the hand grip in virtually any desired spatial orientation; doing can minimize or eliminate any angular misalignment between the hand and forearm. The hand grip assembly preferably provides a hand grip in which the pivots are permitted to pivot freely or to pivot with a drag or retarding force hindering the pivotal motion. The drag or retarding force applied at the pivots preferably can be made sufficiently large to enable the user to selectively lock, for example, the first and second pivots, so to fix the angular orientation of the hand grip when desired. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES [0013] FIG. 1 shows a top view of an angular yoke or bar assembly according to the present teachings. [0014] FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the grip attachment of the present teachings. [0015] FIG. 3 shows a section of the yoke used in a preferred structure for the present teachings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0016] The system of the present invention may work with foot grips or hand grips, but because of the nature of most exercise equipment focusing on upper body strength and arm strength, and the motions performed in exercising for these particular efforts, the system is most applicable for hand grips. [0017] The hand grip assembly on each hand grip is attached to a yoke or bar for assurance of symmetry in hand and arm action. The grips may be used on separate and independent hand/arm movement elements (e.g., individual pulleys), but the natural flexibility of the pulley cable or cord itself acts as an ergonomic facilitator for flexibility in the exercise activity, so the benefits of the present technology are still evident, but not as significant. Each hand grip independently rotates in at least one one dimension to enable the hands and wrist to pronate about an axis translated along a connecting bar between the grips and the yoke or bar. The connecting bar may be rigidly connected or rotationally connected to the yoke or provided with a 360 degree rotating connection (e.g., ball bearing, arm, spring-lock engagement, ball and socket, etc.). By a 360 connection it is meant that from a single perpendicular alignment of the connecting bar and the yoke, the connecting bar may be moved, rotated, pronated, and adjusted along any angle (e.g., 0 to 360.degree.) about the connection. Even though the range of movement is limited in some directions by the physical constraints of the yoke or bar, the initial movement of the connecting bar may be directed in any of 360 degrees around the connecting point. [0018] The yoke or bar may be straight or curved or angular, but the hand grips should be approximately symmetrical with respect to the application of force through the hand grips. By symmetrical is does not mean that the grips are visually symmetrical with respect to the entire yoke or bar structure, but rather that the grips are symmetrical with respect to the application of the hands and arms to the grips. [0019] The yoke or bar may be connected in turn to a cable, cords, cables, pulleys, chains, gears or other resistance or inertial systems. Continue reading about Hand grip for exercise yoke... Full patent description for Hand grip for exercise yoke Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Hand grip for exercise yoke patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Hand grip for exercise yoke or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Exercise machine having safety feature on the weight selection pin Next Patent Application: Exercise device Industry Class: Exercise devices ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Hand grip for exercise yoke patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 1.30302 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Novartis , Pfizer , Philips , Polaroid , Procter & Gamble , |
||
