Dual-Mode Pushup Exercise Device

Abstract

An exercise device employed to increase the level of difficulty of the standard pushup, while increasing strength, endurance, and flexibility. The device may include a flat, circular plate formed with a dome on one side and a low-friction pad affixed to the other side. The device has two modes of employment and is typically used in a pair, one device gripped in each hand during a pushup exercise. In one mode, the dome side is placed on the floor, forcing the user to stabilize his hands, arms, and upper body over inherently unstable, dome-shaped, high-friction surface during a pushup. The second manner of employment requires the user to stabilize the hands, arms, and upper body over the flat side of the device that has negligible friction against a floor. The devices further have embedded magnets that assist in compact storage when not in use.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority to the U.S. Provisional Patent Application for “Dual-Mode Pushup Exercise Device,” Ser. No. 61 / 584,458, filed on Jan. 9, 2012, and currently co-pending.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to fitness and exercise devices. The present invention is more particularly, though not exclusively, a fitness and training aid used to improve the quality of a standard pushup, by concentrating on stabilizer muscles in the upper body.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The pushup is a common calisthenics exercise performed in the prone position as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, using the arms to raise and lower the upper body, as the individual “pushes” the floor away, raising the upper body. The pushup, or “press-up” as it has also been known, has been used since the early 1900s as a fitness exercise as well as punishment in schools and in the military. Pushups are an effective upper body exercise...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a pushup exercise device designed to make the standard pushup exercise more difficult and focus more on the stabilizer muscles in the upper body. The device consists of two two-sided pieces of equipment that are gripped by the user during the exercise. One side of the device is flat, and the other side is formed with a hemispherical surface, creating two different methods for the user to increase the difficulty of the pushup exercise. The dome side of the device has a high friction coating to prevent it from supping on the floor. The flat side is fitted with a pad having minimal friction when in contact with a hard surface, allowing the user to slide the devices on a hard surface during an exercise. The device also contains a magnet embedded within the flat side, which can magnetically couple two of the pushup exercise devices for easy storage.

Problems solved by technology

More complex machines have removed the weighted bar and replaced it with a series of hinges and supports to increase the individual's safety during the exercise, but the exercise remains the same “press.” Most of these exercises, bench press and pushup alike, are limiting in the fact that many of the stabilizing muscles in the forearms, shoulders, and back are ignored during the pushup, because the individual's hands are in a fixed position (either in one place on the floor, or hands gripping the bar) and the linear motion only works the major muscle groups in the exercise, not the smaller stabilizing muscles.

Additionally, the elevated position of the hands on the bars also decreases the amount of stress imparted on the wrist during the exercise, because the individual's hands are not flat against the floor, but curled around the pushup bars.

This variation increases strength and flexibility, but it too is limited by the fixed position of the hands.

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