Upper body exercise apparatus and method of use
AssigneeJohnson Health Tech Co., Ltd.
InventorsThomas H Moran, Noel R Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An exercise apparatus including a frame, a flywheel, a drive unit for imparting rotation to the flywheel, a pair of crank arms, and a pair of hand pedals for rotating the crank arms. The drive unit is rotatably mounted to the frame to allow the operator to rotate the drive unit 180 degrees relative to the frame so that the hand pedals and crank arms are reversed when the drive unit is rotated.
Claims20
An exercise apparatus, comprising:
- a frame designed to rest upon a floor surface and defining a vertical longitudinal midplane;
- a drive unit pivotally connected to the frame and rotatable relative thereto about a first generally vertical axis between a first position and a second position;
- a flywheel operatively connected to the drive unit;
- a pair of hand pedals, each hand pedal configured to engage an operator's hand;
- and
- a pair of crank arms operatively connected to each respective hand pedal and rotatably mounted to the drive unit about a second axis which extends substantially perpendicular to the first axis, wherein the drive unit in the first position is configured to position the pair of crank arms on either side of the vertical midplane such that the second axis is extended substantially perpendicular to the vertical midplane, and wherein the drive unit in the second position is configured to reverse the position of the crank arms on either side of the vertical midplane such that the second axis is again extended substantially perpendicular to the vertical midplane, and wherein the drive unit is configured to impart rotation to the flywheel upon rotation of either crank arm in at least one direction about the second axis.
An exercise apparatus, comprising:
- a frame designed to rest upon a floor surface, the frame having a front end, a right side and a left side;
- a drive unit pivotally connected to the frame and rotatable relative thereto about a first generally vertical axis between a first position and a second position rotated 180 degrees relative to the first position;
- a flywheel operatively connected to the drive unit;
- a first and second crank arm rotatably mounted to the drive unit about a second axis which extends substantially perpendicular to the first axis;
- a pair of hand pedals, each hand pedal operatively connected to each respective crank arm and each hand pedal configured to engage an operator's hand, permitting an operator to rotate at least one hand pedal about a closed loop path;
- and
- the drive unit configured such that when the drive unit is in the first position, the first crank arm is on the right side and the second crank arm is on the left side with respect to the frame and rotation of either crank arm in a first direction about the second axis imparts rotation to the flywheel and rotation of either crank arm in a second direction opposite to the first direction allows the crank arm to freewheel about the second axis,
- and when the drive unit is in the second position, the crank arms are reversed, such that the first crank arm is on the left side and the second crank arm is on the right side with respect to the frame and rotation of either crank arm in the first direction allows the crank arm to freewheel about the second axis and rotation of either crank arm in the second direction about the second axis imparts rotation to the flywheel.
A method of performing an upper body spinning exercise having a frame, a first hand pedal and a second hand pedal, a drive unit rotatably mounted to the frame for rotation about a first generally vertical axis, a pair of crank arms rotatably mounted to the drive unit about a second axis and respectively connected to the hand pedals, and a flywheel, the method comprising the steps of:
- Grasping at least the first hand pedal;
- Rotating at least the first hand pedal around a closed loop path about a second axis in a first direction to impart rotation to the flywheel;
- Releasing at least the first hand pedal;
- Rotating the drive unit about the first axis from a first position to a second position to reverse the positions of the hand pedals and crank arms;
- Grasping at least the second hand pedal;
- and
- Rotating at least the second hand pedal around the closed loop path about the second axis in a second direction opposite to the first direction to impart rotation to the flywheel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.