Exercise bar having sliding hand grips

Abstract

An exercise apparatus includes an elongate bar having a medial portion and opposed ends disposed outwardly of the medial portion with a pair of hand grips mounted on the bar in spaced-apart relation and configured to slide along the length of the bar against a resistance force from a first exercise position to a second exercise position. A resistance member fixed to the bar and movably attached to at least one of the hand grips increases the resistance force as the hand grip slides along the bar from the first exercise position to the second exercise position. The resistance member includes inner and outer band attachment mounts spaced-apart along the length of the bar and an elastic band attached to and disposed between the band attachment mounts. A user performs push-up exercises from a prone position and barbell exercises from a supine position or a standing position.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE To RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This non-provisional application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 394,413 filed Oct. 19, 2010, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to exercise apparatus for performing anaerobic exercises, and more particularly, to an exercise apparatus having sliding hand grips for performing push-up exercises from a prone position, and for performing barbell exercises from a supine position or a standing position.BACKGROUND AND RELATED ART[0003]Push-up exercises (also known in British-English as “press-up” exercises) have long been used to develop pectoral, triceps and deltoid muscles. Push-ups are a common calisthenics exercise typically performed in a prone (lying face-down) position by raising and lowering the upper body using the arms. Various push-up exercise apparatus exist that increase the difficulty of the exercise and / or the rang...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although known exercise apparatus are suitable for performing either push-up exercise or barbell exercises, it is apparent that none are suitable for performing both push-up exercises and barbell exercises without modification or alteration of the apparatus.

Furthermore, the known exercise apparatus that provide resistance against sliding movement of hand grips on an exercise bar do not permit the amount of the resistance to be readily varied over a significant range.

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