Training apparatus

Abstract

A training apparatus comprises a seat 32 mounted on an apparatus body, a training mechanism disposed in front of the seat 32 and provided with a mechanism adapted to exercise legs of a user, a load-applying unit adapted to apply a braking force to a movement of the training mechanism in an electrically adjustable manner, and a tilt adjustment unit adapted to tiltingly move a front end of the seat in a vertical direction. The training apparatus of the present invention allows a user, even an elderly person or a person who requires assistance to readily sit on the seat without an unnatural or forced physical posture.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a training apparatus for training leg muscles of a user in a sitting posture through bending and stretching exercises about legs to be performed while resisting a load imposed therefrom.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]Heretofore, there has been known a training apparatus (multi-exercise machine) as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 07-17325 (“Patent Publication 1”). This training apparatus comprising a seat mounted on a given frame in an angularly adjustable manner with respect to a horizontal plane, a V-shaped arm mounted to the frame at a position adjacent to a front edge of the seat in a swingable manner about an anchor end thereof, a pair of roller pads (foot-holding pad members) fixed to respective distal ends of the V-shaped arm to extend horizontally in parallel relation to each other, and a weight detachably attached, particularly, to a frontward on...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a training apparatus capable of allowing a user, even an elderly person or a person who requires assistance to readily sit on a seat, and adjusting a load to be applied to a roller pad, in a significantly easy manner, so as to quickly offer leg-muscle training in a desired state.

[0012]The above training apparatus of the present invention is equipped with the tilt adjustment unit adapted to tiltingly move the front end of the seat in a vertical direction, so that, when a user gets on the training apparatus, the seat can be set in a horizontal position to allow the user to readily sit thereon. Thus, the need for sitting on a seat while moving the user's hip upwardly as in the sitting movement required for the conventional apparatuses can be eliminated, and the user can readily sit on the seat as if sits on a usual chair. This is significantly helpful for users, particularly for elderly persons or persons who require assistance. After the user sits on the seat, the front end of the seat can be tiltingly moved upwardly to a position allowing for training.

[0013]Further, in the above training apparatus, the load-applying unit is adapted to apply a braking force (i.e., load) to a movement of the training mechanism in an electrically adjustable manner. This makes it possible to electrically control the load so as to adjust the load readily and quickly.

[0014]Thus, the conventional problems that a load cannot be adjusted without replacing a weight with another one or adding / removing a weight, and this time-consuming operation causes difficulty in quickly responding to user's request, can be solved to provide significantly enhanced usability and versatility to the training apparatus.

Problems solved by technology

This is inconvenient for users, particularly, elderly persons or persons who require assistance.

This operation is time-consuming to cause difficulty in quickly responding to user's request.

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