AU658998B2 - Exercising equipment - Google Patents

Description

658998

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Name of Applicant VINCENT HUGHES and ANGELA NICOLA HUGHES Actual Inventor VINCENT HUGHES Address-for-Service GRANT ADAMS COMPANY Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level Santos House 215 Adelaide Street BRISBANE QLD 4000

AUSTRALIA.

Invention Title "EXERCISING EQUIPMENT" Details of Associated Provisional Applications 0* *0 0 0

S

Numbers PL2354 The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to us.

THIS INVENTION relates to exercising equipment.

It is well established that aerobic-type exercise is of considerable value in the reduction of the likelihood of heart disease, due to improved cardiovascular fitness. Not everyone wants to undertake aerobic exercises in a gymnasium and there has been a trend towards so-called "aqua-aerobics" where the exercises are carried out in a swimming pool the peak loads on the body are reduced, the vater acting on the "load", and the cool water is a more pleasant environment to exercise in.

It is an object of the present invention to provide exercising equipment which enables the effectiveness of many "aqua-aerobics" exercises to be increased.

It is a preferred object to provide such equipment which is simple to use and inexpensive to manufacture.

It is a further preferred object to provide equipment which enables different muscle groups in the body to be selectively exercised.

Other preferred objects will become apparent from :..the following description.

25 In a broad aspect the present invention resides in exercising equipment including: a body portion mountable on, or attachable to, a person's arm or leg; S.means to releasably secure the body portion to the arm or leg; and flexible and/or semi-rigid blade or paddle oo means on the body portion to cause a resistance on load to be applied to the arm or leg as it is moved through water in a pool or the like; wherein: S 35 the blade or paddle means is of g substantially figure-8 shape, with the body portion at its base, and with a transverse handle to be gripped by a user's fingers which are received in holes in the blade or paddle means separated by the handle.

The body portion and the blade or paddle means are preferably formed (eg. by moulding) integrally and may be formed cf suitable elastomeric material, including rubber or plastics (or a combination thereof).

The semi-rigid portions may be fibre-reinforced.

The body portion may comprise a sleeve eg. to receive a hand and/or lower arm; a flexible panel to be secured, eg. around the lower arm.

The means to secure the body portion to the arm may include strap(s) with buckles or clips; or "Velcro" (trade mark) straps or the like.

The blade or paddle means may be of increasing flexbility away from the body portion, and may be of different sizes, shapes, and thicknesses. Ribs and/or fins may be provided on the blade or paddle means to increase the resistance thereof in the water.

To enable the invention to be fully understood, a preferred embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG 1 is a plan view of the equipment (with a 25 hand shown in dashed lines); FIGS 2 and 3 are respective end elevational and side elevational views thereof; and FIGS 4 to 11 show alternative aqua-aerobic exercises using the equipment.

Referring to FIGS 1 to 3, the exercising equipment 10 is moulded integrally of polyethylene, polypropylene or rubber and has a sleeve-like body portion 11 with a blade 12 attached thereto.

The body portion 11 comprises a convergent 35 sleeve with an outer mouth 13 and inner mouth 14.

c) The blade 12 forms a substantially Figure 8 shape with the body portion 11 at the base thereof. A transverse handle 15 interconnects the side portions 16, 17 of the blade, provided with reinforcing angles 18, 19. The substantially planar end portion 20 of the blade 12 has parallel reinforcing ribs 21 of decreasing height towards the flexible tip portion 22.

The handle 16 separates slots 23, 24 which enable the user's hand 30 to grip the handle 16.

As shown in FIG 1, the user inserts his lower arm 31 and hand 30 into the body portion 11 and wraps his fingers 32 around the handle 15 to form a fist.

The ribs or fins 21 may be provided on one (or both) faces of the blade 12 to increase the resistance for the latter as it is moved through the water. The size, shape, thickness and/or flexibility of the blade 12 may also be varied to vary the resistance of the blade 12 in the water. Experiments have shown that a rigid blade can be difficult to control.

FIG 4 shows an exercise to strengthen the biceps, where the user holds his upper arm rigid and bends his elbows to raise and lower the equipment in the water.

In FIGS 5 and 6, the arms can be held 25 horizontally and swung inwardly and outwardly to .:.exercise the arm, chest and upper back muscles. The user generates a circular motion with one arm to exercise the shoulder muscles in the exercise of FIG 7, while both shoulders are exercised by swinging the arms alternately as shown in FIG 9. A similar exercise is shown in FIG 8 except that the person lies, eg. on an inflatable mattress and swings one or both arms in the water.

In the exercises in FIGS 10 and 11, the user swings his arms vertically, with the paddles overlapped in FIG 11.

By varying the size and flexibility of the blade 12, and the rate at which the equipment is moved through the water, the degree of load applied to the user's muscles can be varied. It is preferred that the body portion engage the user's lower arm 31 above the wrist to reduce the loads on the wrist.

In a modified embodiment, the sleeve-like body portion 11 may be replaced by a socket; or a flexible planar panel, or a preformed channel-like panel, and the panel is secured by one or more straps provided with 7iuckles, clips, "Velcro" (trade mark) strips or the like to enable the panel to be releasably secured to the user's lower arm.

While the blade 12 is preferably planar in cross-section, it may also be curved or sloped, if preferred.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention.

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Claims (8)

1. Exercising equipment including: a body portion mountable on, or attachable to, a person's arm; and flexible and/or semi-rigid blade or paddle means on the body portion to cause a resistance on load to be applied to the arm or leg as it is moved through water in a pool or the like; wherein: the blade or paddle means is of substantially figure-8 shape, with the body portion at its base, and with a transverse handle to be gripped by a user's fingers which are received in holes in the blade or paddle means separated by the handle.

2. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1 wherein: the body portion and blade or paddle means are moulded integrally of elastomeric material, wherein semi-rigid portions are optionally fibre-reinforced.

3. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein: the body portion incorporates a sleeve to receive a hand and/or lower arm; or a flexible panel to be secured around the lower arm.

4. Equipment as claimed in Claim 3 wherein: 25 the means to secure the body portion to the arm includes strap(s) with buckles or clips; or "Velcro" (trade mark) straps.

5. Equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to S* 4 wherein: the blade or panel means is of increasing flexibility away from the body portion; and ribs or fins are optionally provided to increase the resistance of the blade or panel means in water.

6. Equipment as claimed in Claim 7 wherein: reinforcing flanges are provided along the sides of the blade or paddle means from the body portion to a substantially planar end portion with a flexible tip portion, and reinforcing ribs or reducing height extend over the end portion towards the top portion.

7. Exercising equipment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS 1 to 3 of the drawings.

8. A method of exercising using the exercising equipment of Claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to FIGS 4 to 11 of the drawings. DATED this seventeenth day of February 1995. VINCENT HUGHES and ANGELA NICOLA HUGHES, by their Patent Attorneys, GRANT ADAMS COMPANY. o 9 *go *o n 9P gi. 8 Title: "EXERCISING EQUIPMENT" ABSTRACT Exercising equipment (10) for aqua-aerobic type exercises has a sleeve (11) engageable with a user"s lower arm and wrist and a blade (12) with. a transverse handle (15) gripped by the user's fingers The blade (12) has a flexible tip portion (22). Reinforcing fingers (18, 19) and ribs (21) provide at least some rigidity to the blade (12) so that the equipment (10) will generate resistance as it is moved through the water. p. e o go 9 pp