U.S. patent application number 10/962203 was filed with the patent office on 2006-04-06 for hand-held exercise weight.
Invention is credited to Richard H. Walkow.
Application Number | 20060073951 10/962203 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36126275 |
Filed Date | 2006-04-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060073951 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Walkow; Richard H. |
April 6, 2006 |
Hand-held exercise weight
Abstract
An improved hand-held barbell type exercise weight that reduces
muscle fatigue consists of a circular disk that has a vertical axis
perpendicular to the base of the disk, a horizontal axis
perpendicular to the vertical axis and a lateral axis perpendicular
to both the vertical and horizontal axes and intersecting the axes
at the approximate centroid of the circular disk. The disk has an
axially extending cylindrical void extending axially along the
vertical axis and through the disk forming a hollow circular disk
where the void is symmetrical to the plane of the vertical axis. A
cylindrically shaped grip bar having a central axis that is
co-axial with the lateral axis extends laterally across the void
and through the centroid of the disk.
Inventors: |
Walkow; Richard H.; (Beverly
Hills, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE LAW OFFICES OF FREDERICK GOTHA
80 SOUTH LAKE AVENUE, SUITE 823
PASADENA
CA
91101
US
|
Family ID: |
36126275 |
Appl. No.: |
10/962203 |
Filed: |
October 6, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/109 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 21/072 20130101;
A63B 21/0601 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
482/109 |
International
Class: |
A63B 15/00 20060101
A63B015/00 |
Claims
1. An improved hand-held exercise weight comprising: (a) a disk
having a vertical axis and a base where said vertical axis is
perpendicular to the plane of said base and intersects said base at
its geometrical center, said disk having an axially extending void
therethrough where said void is bounded by said disk forming a
boundary surface such that said boundary surface is symmetrical to
a plane containing said vertical axes, said disk further having a
horizontal axis perpendicular to said vertical axis and a lateral
axis perpendicular to both said vertical and horizontal axes, and
where said disk has a centroid located approximately at the
intersection of said axes. (b) a grip bar having a central axis
carried by said disk where said central axis is substantially
co-axial with said lateral axis and extends laterally through said
void.
2. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 1 where
said grip bar is cylindrically shaped.
3. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 1 where
said boundary surface is a cylindrical surface.
4. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 1 where
said boundary surface is a regular polygon surface.
5. An improved hand-held exercise weight comprising: (a) a right
prism having a regular polygon base, and a vertical axis
perpendicular to the plane of said regular polygon base, said
vertical axis intersecting said plane at the geometrical center of
said regular polygon base, where said right prism body has an
axially extending void therethrough, and where said void is bounded
by said right prism body forming a boundary surface such that the
boundary surface of said void is symmetrical to a plane containing
said vertical axis, said right prism body further having a
horizontal axis perpendicular to said vertical axis and said
horizontal axis and where said right prism body has a centroid at
the intersection of said axes; (b) a grip bar having a central axis
carried by said right prism body where said central axis is
substantially co-axial with said lateral axis and extends through
said centroid, and where said grip bar extends axially through said
void.
6. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 5 where
said grip bar is cylindrically shaped.
7. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 5 where
said boundary surface is a cylindrical surface.
8. The improved hand held exercise weight recited in claim 5 where
said regular polygon base is a polgon having a sufficient number of
sides to approximate a circle.
Description
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to an improved hand-held barbell type
exercise weight that minimizes torsion induced muscle fatigue.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Barbell type hand-held exercise weights are well known in
the prior art. The hand-held barbell has a grip extending between
two opposing bodies of the same weight which are generally disk
shaped. The centroid, or center of gravity, is a point where the
entire mass of the weights and grip can be centered. The centroid
in a barbell is usually located at the mid-point of the grip that
extends between the weights. When exercising with a barbell, the
exerciser will repeat movement of the weights in a cyclic manner
using a barbell of identical weight held by each arm. The movement
is intended to exercise the biceps, triceps, deltoids, and other
muscles of the arms and shoulders. Forearm muscles include the
brachioradialis, the mensor carpi radialis, the pronator teres, the
flexor carpiradialis, and the palmaris muscle. When there is a
slight imbalance between the opposing weights, the exerciser
compensates by instinctively applying an opposing torque to counter
balance the barbell. If the exerciser, for example, works on toning
the bicep muscle, he pivots the barbell about his elbow. As the
bicep is flexed and contracted, rotation of the barbell also occurs
that is counteracted by the forearm muscles. The cyclic rotation of
the barbell produces an internal offsetting torque that is
dependant upon the mass moment of inertia of the barbell; this
cyclic internal torque eventually fatigues the forearm muscles and
consequently the effectiveness of the exercise routine in
developing or toning the biceps muscles. It is therefor desirable
to have a hand held exercise weight that substantially reduces the
mass moment of inertia about the mutually perpendicular axes for
the same weight being held. An object of this invention therefore
is to provide a hand-held weight that is regular toroidal or
regular polygon configured having its centroid at its geometrical
center and a grip bar extending across the toroid with the grip bar
centroid coincident with that of the toroid or right prism body
having a regular polygon base (The toroid being the limit of the
regular polygon when the number of sides increase substantially
such that the polygon approaches a circular shape).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] There is, therefore, provided according to the present
invention, a hand-held exercise weight that has a mass moment of
inertia that substantially reduces the cyclic forces acting on the
forearm during an exercise routine to reduce muscle fatigue.
[0004] The preferred embodiment of the present invention consists
of a disk that has a vertical axis perpendicular to its circular
base at the geometrical center of the circular base. The disk has
an axially extending void that extends vertically through it
forming a cylindrical boundary surface that is symmetrical to a
plane containing the vertical axis. The mass moment of inertia of
the disk about the vertical axis is approximately the difference
between the mass moment of inertia of a solid disk less the moment
of inertia of a solid disk having the moment of inertia of the mass
that would occupy the void. A grip for having a central axis
perpendicular to the vertical axis extends through the void and has
a center of gravity coincident with the centroid of the disk. When
the disk rotates perpendicularly to the vertical axis, cyclically,
a torque is induced that is the product of the mass moment of
inertia about the vertical axis and the angular acceleration of the
disk which is maximum as the disk cyclically changes direction of
rotation. However, the moment of inertia for the disk is
substantially less than the moment of inertia of a barbell
resulting in less stress upon the forearm muscles.
[0005] Another embodiment of this invention consists of a right
prism body having a regular polygon base with a finite number of
sides and a vertical axis perpendicular to the plane of the regular
polygon base at its geometrical center. (A right prism having a
regular polygon base with an infinite number of sides in the limit
is a disk which is the preferred embodiment.) The right prism body
has an axially extending void extending through the right prism
body where the void is bounded by the right prism body forming a
boundary surface. The boundary surface is symmetrical to a plane
containing the vertical axis. A horizontal axis of the right prism
is perpendicular to the vertical axis and a lateral axis is
perpendicular to both the vertical axis and horizontal axis. The
axes intersect and the point of intersection is coincident with the
centroid of the right prism. A grip bar having a central axis is
carried by the right prism body such that the central axis is
co-axial with the lateral axis and extends through the void where
the centroid of the grip bar is coincident with the centroid of the
right prism body.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] These and other features and advantages will become
appreciated as the same become better understood with reference to
the following specification, claims and drawings wherein:
[0007] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of
this invention;
[0008] FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1;
[0009] FIG. 3 is a right side elevational view of FIG. 2;
[0010] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of FIG. 2;
[0011] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a typical barbell of the
prior art; and
[0012] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of
this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of
this invention, namely, an improved exercise weight that reduces
the cyclic forces acting on the forearm of the user and
consequently muscle fatigue. As can be seen in FIG. 1, a
cylindrical disk 1 is illustrated where the hollow portion of the
disk is a void 2 extending axially along vertical axis 5 where the
vertical axis is co-axial with the x-axis. As can further be seen
in FIG. 1, vertical axis 5 (x-axis) is perpendicular to the plane
containing lateral axis 8 (z-axis and horizontal axis 7 (y-axis)
and intersects axes z and y approximately at the centroid 3, or
center of gravity, of cylindrical disk 1. A grip bar 4 has a
central axis 6 which is co-axial with the z-axis. In the preferred
embodiment, grip bar 4 is cylindrically shaped and has a centroid
that is approximately coincident with centroid 3 of cylindrical
disk 1. Thus, the entire weight of the composite of the cylindrical
disk 1 and grip 4 is centered at centroid 3.
[0014] By referring to FIGS. 1,2,3, and 4 the mass moment of
inertia for cylindrical disk 1 about the x-axis can be seen to be
approximately the difference between the moment of inertia about
the x-axis of the solid disk having a radius of r and the moment of
inertia about the x-axis of a disk having a radius r. The moment of
inertia, I.sub.x, therefore is Mr o 2 2 - M i .times. r i 2 2
##EQU1## where M is the mass of cylindrical disk having a radius r
and M is the mass of a cylindrical disk having the radius r. The
moment of inertia for grip bar 4 about the x-axis is likewise
illustrated in FIGS. 1,2,3, and 4, and is one-twelfth ( 1/12) of
the mass (m) of cylindrical grip bar 4, multiplied by the length
(L) squared of the grip bar. The moment of inertia of the
cylindrical disk 1 with the cylindrical void 2 there through and
grip bar 4 is Mr o 2 2 - M i .times. r i 2 + 1 .times. .times. mL 2
12 . ##EQU2## Any angular acceleration about vertical axis 5
(x-axis) will result in forces acting on the forearm muscles of an
exerciser who resists a torque about vertical axis 5 (x-axis).
[0015] The moment of inertia of cylindrical disk 1 about horizontal
axis 7 (y-axis) is Mr o 2 4 - M i .times. r i 2 4 ; ##EQU3## the
moment of inertia about horizontal axis 7 of cylindrical disk 1 and
grip bar 4 is approximately Mr o 2 4 - M i .times. r i 2 4 + 1
.times. .times. mL 2 12 . ##EQU4## Thus, any angular acceleration
of cylindrical disk 1 about horizontal axis 7 (y-axis) will result
in forces acting on the forearm muscles of an exerciser.
[0016] Similarly, the approximate moment of inertia about the
lateral axis 8 (z-axis) may be derived and will be found to be I =
Mr o 2 4 - M i .times. r i 2 4 + 1 .times. .times. mL 2 3 .
##EQU5## FIG. 6 illustrates a typical prior art barbell 10 which
consists of a pair of cylindrical disks 11 and 11'. The centroid of
each disk is displaced from the centroid of the barbell (not shown)
by a distance which is approximately one-half of the length of grip
member 12. The mass moment of inertia about lateral axis 13
(z'-axis) barbell 9 is I=MR+1/2mr where M is the mass of a
cylindrical disk 11, R is the radius of the disk, and 1/2 mr is the
moment of inertia of grip member 12 about lateral axis 13
(z'-axis). Thus, for angular accelerations equivalent to those
experienced by an exerciser using the preferred embodiment of this
invention, the forces acting on the forearm of the exerciser would
be substantially less and consequently less fatiguing.
[0017] Another embodiment to this invention is illustrated in FIG.
6. Exercise weight 14 has a vertical axis 16 (x''-axis), a
horizontal axis 17 (y''-axis), and a lateral axis 18 (z''-axis)
that intersect approximately at the centroid or center of gravity
of exercise weight 14. As can be seen in FIG. 6, exercise weight 14
has a right prism shape with a base 19 having a regular polygon
shape, namely, of equal length sides and equal angles formed by the
intersections of the sides. Although FIG. 6 illustrates an axially
extending void 21 having regular polygon shaped walls 22, forming
the boundary surface of void 21, the boundary surface could also be
circular with a center located on vertical axis 16 (x''-axis). The
boundary surface of void 21 is symmetrical to the place containing
vertical axis 16 (x''-axis) and a handle or grip bar 23' extends
axially through void 21 and has a central axis that is co-axial
with lateral axis 18. As the number of sides of the polygon base
increase to an infinitive number, the polygon base approaches a
circle. Consequently, the moments of inertia of cylindrical disk 1
approximate those of exercise weight 14 and both weights,
therefore, when contrasted to the forces produced in the
exerciser's forearm when exercising a bicept muscle, would be
substantially less than a prior art barbell resulting in less
muscle fatigue.
[0018] While I have shown and described embodiments of an improved
hand held exercise weight, it is to be understood that the
invention is subject to many modifications without departing from
the scope and spirit of the claims recited herein.
* * * * *