Exercise bench

Abstract

An exercise bench has a main support frame with a floor engaging member at one end and a folding front leg assembly at the other end which can be locked in a deployed position or a folded position. A user engaging foot stabilizer is pivotally associated with the front leg, and a thigh support is adjustably mounted on the front leg assembly or main support frame for engaging the thighs of a user when performing exercises while supported on the bench. The thigh support may be separate from or form part of a seat pad mounted on the frame. The bench is adjustable between positions for performing abdominal crunch or lower back exercises and is adjustable in both positions to allow different users to perform exercises effectively.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION [0001] The present application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 249,987 entitled EXERCISE BENCH, of concurrent ownership, filed on Oct. 12, 2005, which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 664,454 filed on Mar. 22, 2005, and the contents of both of the aforementioned preceding applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to exercise benches for supporting a user while performing exercise, and is particularly concerned with an exercise bench for performing both abdominal and low back exercises. [0004] 2. Related Art [0005] Exercise benches designed for performing abdominal or sit up exercises as well as lower back exercises such as hyper-extensions are known in the field. A simple inclined bench may be used to perform sit up exercises. Devices for performing hyper-extensions typically ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In one embodiment, the user engaging foot stabilizer is pivotally mounted on the front leg so as to extend in front of the leg, and a stop device is provided for limiting the pivotal range of motion of the foot stabilizer in at least one direction. The stop device may be designed to prevent the foot stabilizer from pivoting to a position in which it is at a lower elevation than the pivot connection point to the front leg. This keeps the foot stabilizer within range of a user's feet when positioning themselves for either a seated abdominal exercise or a standing low back exercise. The foot stabilizer is designed to keep the user secured and properly positioned when performing exercises. It is designed to rest on top of the user's feet during an abdominal crunch exercise, keeping their feet securely on the bench by preventing the feet from sliding forward and preventing them from tipping over when they lean rearward. The foot stabilizer rests above the user's heels during a back hyper-extension exercise, keeping their feet securely on the bench by preventing them from sliding rearward.

[0022] The exercise bench allows a user to perform either abdominal or lower back exercises, and has a folding front leg assembly so that it can fold up flat for easier storage The bench is readily adjustable to allow various size exercisers to perform both exercises effectively, and also to adjust the exercise difficulty. A thigh pad of adjustable height is provided either on the main frame or front leg assembly, and self-aligning, ankle engaging foot stabilizer pads are pivotally mounted on a part of the front leg assembly, so that the thigh pad can be adjusted independent of the ankle engaging pads.

Problems solved by technology

This exercise bench has a large number of parts and is relatively heavy.

It is also not foldable for storage or shipping.

This makes movement of the bench between the folded and deployed positions inconvenient and does not allow for safe storage of the separated component.

Images