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Isometric exercise device

Isometric exercise device description/claims

The present invention relates to an isometric exercise device and, in particular, to a hand-held isometric exercise device.

The benefits of physical exercise have long been recognised both with regard to an improved level of physical fitness and muscle strength and also through associated advantages such as improved skeletal strength.

In line with such realisations, the amount and variety of physical exercise undertaken by individuals has increased. For example, for strength training, this has lead to an increase in gym membership and an increase in individuals performing weighted workouts either with free weights or through the use of multi-gym equipment.

However, for those seeking to increase muscle strength, it has been recognised that such use of free weights and multi-gym equipment may not be the most appropriate means for achieving optimal muscle stimulus. Also the manner in which such apparatus is used may itself be preventing the majority of individuals from achieving the results desired from their strength training.

The nature of most individual's weight-related training comprises a twice/thrice weekly gym visit where a level of weight considered comfortable with will be chosen and a predetermined number of repetitions and sets of exercises will be performed. For example, it is common to perform three sets of ten repetitions with a weight which, to the individual, feels suitably heavy. On the next visit to the gym, a fairly similar workout regime will be undertaken.

However, it is generally recognised that, for muscle growth, there has to be a progressive overload of the muscles being exercised at each weight training session. It is recognised that a sufficiently powerful stimulus is required by the brain to produce an adaptive response in the musculature, and such stimulus generally results from making the muscles work harder than they are accustomed to at each and every training session.

The natural course of recovery, repair and growth required by the body of the average individual regularly attending a gym does not arise because the subsequent training session generally occurs too soon after the previous one and before the body has had a chance to complete its adaptive response. It is considered that muscles need in the region of 2-6 weeks, depending of course upon each individual, to fully recover, repair and grow. Thus, if a heavy weighted workout is performed and, within that minimum period, i.e. one week later, the body is stressed again before it is ready and has fully recovered from the previous session, the muscle groups worked are not capable of lifting weights which are greater than those used in the first session and so the above-mentioned progressive overload cannot be achieved. Such general over-training, albeit possibly accidental, is pursued by the vast majority of individuals following strength training regimes, and generally leads to plateaus and stagnation in strength increase and muscle growth, rather than the growth and increase in muscle mass that is sought from following such regimes.

It can therefore be appreciated that the average individual regularly attending a gym is likely to be missing out on potential increases in strength and muscle growth by not pursuing such progressive overload and its resulting adaptive response. By generally repeating the same exercise at each gym visit with more or less the same weight as previously used, the body will not receive sufficient stimulus to produce an adaptive response. What is generally required however is a constantly increasing progressive overload which optimally taxes the muscle each and every workout. The vast majority of individuals performing the above-mentioned sets and repetitions of exercises tend to be working well under their optimal levels of strength. Since the muscles employed can therefore generally easily perform the required repetitions, they are not then forced to adapt and so the adaptive response mentioned above is not experienced and no, or very limited, muscle growth is then experienced. Thus, the general increase in body strength and muscle size sought by those pursuing a strength-training regime is not readily achieved.

The present invention relates to an isometric exercise device wherein a force is applied by the tensing or extension of one or more muscles against a generally immovable object for a period of a few seconds in order that the individual can exert a maximum possible force against that object.

It should of course be appreciated that isometric exercises are distinguished from isokinetic exercises where muscle force is applied to a movable object so as to move the same through its permitted motion such as with an exercise machine, and also from isotonic exercises, such as that generally employed in weight training, where a constant weight is lifted through a particular range of motion.

Isometric training was first introduced in the 1960's and it is appreciated that such isometric exercise can create massive stimulus to a muscle.

However, while such massive stimulus can be readily applied to a muscle, it is nevertheless important to employ such isometric exercise within a proper exercise regime allowing for the above-mentioned progressive overload and adaptive response in the musculature.

Various forms of isometric exercise apparatus are known and which generally serve to mimic known multi-gym apparatus. However these are relatively expensive, bulky and unnecessarily complex and are not readily adapted for use within a domestic environment.

Isometric exercise devices are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,808 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,874 and which both utilise elastic stretch band arrangements as resistance elements. However, such apparatus can prove to be unnecessarily bulky, prone to breakage and malfunction and the range of exercises that can be performed, and the manner in which the devices can be utilised so as to achieve the above-mentioned adaptive response, is disadvantageously limited.

The present invention therefore seeks to provide for an isometric exercise device having advantages over known such devices.

According to the present invention there is provided a hand-held isometric exercise device comprising a handle portion and a deformable portion, the deformable portion being arranged to be deformed responsive to a user-exerted force when the device is gripped by the handle and urged against a surface, the device further including means for determining and indicating a level of force applied by the user to deform the deformable portion.

The device of the present invention, being hand-held and comprising a deformable portion which is to be urged against a, generally stationary surface, advantageously provides for a particularly compact and simple device which can be gripped by the user and used in relation to any appropriate surface, whether horizontal, vertical or otherwise, to allow for a wide variety of exercises to be performed.

Yet further, through the determination and indication of the level of force applied by the user to the device, when deforming the deformable portion against the said surface, it readily becomes possible to identify the correct exercise regime that a particular individual should pursue, so as to allow for the appropriate rest, recovery and repair period prior to using the device again.

The present invention therefore advantageously allows for the pursuit of an increase in strength and muscle growth, in a simple manner and within a wide variety of environments, such as, for example, a standard domestic environment. The apparatus is compact and readily stored and used and can easily be enhanced with appropriate surface decoration in order to improve the aesthetic qualities thereof.

Preferably, the handle portion is formed integral with the deformable portion and, further, the handle and deformable portions can be formed as a unitary member.

Further, the handle portion itself can, to some extent, be deformable. Also, and particularly if the handle exhibits some rigidity, the handle can be arranged to be urged by the user onto the deformable portion to at least partly assist in the deformation thereof.

Further, the handle can advantageously be generally elongate and arranged to be gripped in a clenched manner by the hand of the user.

The handle can then advantageously allow for the knuckle portion of a user's clenched fist to engage with a surface of the deformable portion so as to assist with the deformation thereof when urged against the said surface.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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