Portable and multi-purpose exercise device

#Not applicable.

#The present invention relates to the field of portable, multi-purpose exercise devices. As people become more aware of the health benefits of proper exercise and fitness, the amount of commercial activity directed toward developing and marketing convenient and attractive ways to exercise has increased dramatically. Many types and categories of home exercise devices are currently marketed and sold directly to consumers for use in their own homes. Some of these devices are large mechanical manufactures that are intended to provide a gym-type environment in the home for doing exercise. Some exercise devices are smaller portable devices, typically intended to provide a mechanism to exercise a particular body part of muscle group.

#One type of small portable exercise device is marketed under the trademark Funflexor™. The Funflexor exercise device is an integrally formed molded plastic product, that has been on the market. FIG. 1 is an illustration of this device. The Funflexor exercise device 10 has two arms 12 and 14 connected to each other in a V-shape formation by a hinge section 16. The Funflexor device 10 is made of a resin and fiberglass selected such that the characteristics of the resin and the thickness of the hinge section 16 determine the amount of force which must be exerted on the arms 12 and 14 to bend the device at the hinge section 16. The two arms of a Funflexor device are thus resistant to the forces exerted on them to bring them closer to each other, and the amount of the resistance is dependent on the thickness of the hinge section 16 and the choice of the material for the device. The Funflexor device is intended to be used for many flexibility and muscle toning exercises.

#FIG. 1 shows a flexor device in the prior art.

#FIG. 2 illustrates the exercise device kit in accordance with the present invention.

#FIG. 3 illustrates one configuration of the use of the kit of FIG. 2.

#The present invention is an exercise device or kit including at least one flexor device and a board. The flexor is an integrally molded exercise device which has two arms, which can be flexed under muscle pressure toward each other. The Funflexor device is one preferred embodiment of such a flexor, but it is contemplated that other flexing devices could also be used in this invention. In the flexor as it sits at rest, the corresponding ends of the two arms are some distance apart from each other. Under the physical muscle pressure applied by a human user of the flexor, the two arms of the flexor can move toward each other. The amount of force necessary to flex the flexor depends on the rigidity of the material from which the flexor is made, the thickness of the hinge portion or segment of the flexor, and the length of the arms of the flexor. In fact, flexors of varying resistance can be made by adjusting these parameters. This invention is directed toward making the use of such an integrally constructed flexor device, such as the Funflexor, more adaptable in its use to a wider variety of exercises and muscle groups.

#While the invention here is described in terms of an exercise device, that term is intended to be used expansively. One of the intended uses for the exercise kit of the present invention is physical therapy of hurt or wounded joints or extremities. The exercise kit may be used by sports medicine physicians to design exercises specifically intended to rehabilitate specific muscles or joints from injury or disease. Of course, general exercise use for basic physical fitness and body development is also an intended use of the kit.

#FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention. The exercise device kit illustrated in FIG. 2 includes two flexors, designated 20 and 22. The flexors 20 and 22 are generally similar to the flexor 10 except for the provision for an attachment member 24 located on the exterior of each arm of each flexor. The attachment member can be any manner of physical attachment mechanism that permits easy and efficient attachment and detachment of the attachment members from each other. Preferably and conveniently, the attachment members 24 are pads of statistical fastener material, such as the product sol under the trademark Velcro. The statistical type fastener, also sometimes called hook and loop fasteners, easily grasp and adhere to a similar fastener, but can be removed from attachment to the opposed fastener by a level of force that ah person can readily exert. The kit of FIG. 2 also includes a leverage board 26, which has an elongated attachment member 28 located on one of its surfaces. The leverage board is illustrated as the preferred embodiment of a circular disk, but the leverage board may also be of any convenient geometric shape. What is important, for reasons that will become apparent, is that the leverage board have a significant length in at least one direction and that the attachment member 28 be elongated in that direction. The kit may optionally include more than one leverage board 26 and more than two of the flexors.