Exercise apparatus

An exercise apparatus, comprising:

• a frame;
• at least one chamber supported by the frame, the chamber comprising an elongate internal cavity extending through the chamber;
• a piston disposed in the internal cavity, wherein the piston is in a sealed airtight arrangement with an inner wall of the internal cavity and is adapted to slide back and forth between a first cavity end and a second cavity end of the internal cavity;
• and
• a cable assembly supported by the frame, wherein the cable assembly comprises a first end connected to the piston and at least a second end remote from the first end such that when an applied force is exerted on the second end, the piston is pulled by the cable assembly towards the second cavity end causing a vacuum to be created between the piston and the first cavity end, the vacuum thereby causing a resistance force that opposes the applied force to be exerted by the piston on the first end of the cable assembly, and wherein the cable assembly comprises at least one cable subassembly extending between first and second parts of the cable assembly, wherein the cable subassembly is configured to be pulled into tension by the applied force and by the resistance force and comprises:
• a pulley wheel rotatably attached to the first part of the cable assembly;
• a cable extending around the pulley wheel, wherein the cable comprises first and second cable lengths at respective opposed ends of the cable, wherein the cable lengths and the pulley wheel are arranged such that when either or both of the cable lengths is/are pulled relative to the pulley wheel, the cable causes the pulley wheel to move translationally relative to the frame and to exert a pulling force on the first part of the cable assembly;
• first and second stoppers attached respectively to the first and second cable lengths, wherein at least the first of the stoppers is operatively configured to engage a bearing member provided on the exercise apparatus to restrain translational movement of the first of the cable lengths relative to the frame when only the second of the cable lengths is pulled relative to the pulley wheel;
• and
• releasable connector means configured to connect either or both of the cable lengths releasably to the second part of the cable assembly to allow a user of the exercise apparatus to choose a magnitude of the resistance force that is transferred to the second part of the cable assembly by the cable subassembly and experienced by the user against the applied force.