GB2562292A - Exercise harness - Google Patents

Abstract

An exercise harness comprising a pair of elastic bands, each of which extends between a shoulder loop and a foot hold. The harness has means for gathering the cords together at a point between their ends such that the bands cross one another and are arranged in an X shape on the front of the wearers body in use. The means for gathering the bands together includes a lock for fixing it at a certain height, and the length of the elastic bands can be varied using adjustment means provided at the shoulder loops. The means for gathering the cords together may be provided as a tube through which the bands are threaded, with a button thereon which, when pressed and held, allows the tube to be slid up and down. The shoulder loops may include apertures allowing the bands to be shortened or lengthened.

Description

Exercise harness

In today’s world, many people are trying to get more exercise than their normal everyday routine demands of them. In this vein, gyms are springing up everywhere, people join the club, pay a subscription, go a few times and then, fairly quickly, lose interest and stop. Good for the club owners, but not for the punter. Not many persist, unless it is very easy to do and does not disrupt the essential daily routine.

Thus harnesses for taking exercise at home are steadily growing in demand. Such harness, if they want to be used regularly, need to be light, small, compact and easy to use. This is where the problem lies. Many are bulky, heavy and get in the way of normal life. Not everybody has space in their bedroom for even a small rowing machine or a weight lifting bench.

Thus, suitable fitness aids are few and far between. Suitable fitness gadgets are the “wearable harnesses”. The user attaches elastic bands to the body part he or she wishes to exercise and stretches and releases these elastic bands against their resistance.

One such harness is disclosed by the US8784285 (I.A. Lopez et al). This discloses a relatively compact exercise harness which is to worn by the user and folds up fairly compact after use.

It consists of a waist belt and four elastic bands, one end of each of those is articulated to the waist belt. Two of the bands are meant to be clipped to the user’s shoes (special shoes may be supplied with the harness) and the other two have a sort of glove attached at the other ends.

In this way, the user can exercise his/her arms and legs more or less simultaneously, by stretching and releasing the elastic bands.

The connections to the waist band are adjustable to accommodate people of differing heights and physique.

Although this harness is essentially a harness and thus fairly easy to use, it does embody quite a few problems. It represents a sizable outlay in money terms for something which has limited use.

Moreover, the connection points between the elastics and the waist band are complex and susceptible to malfunction and breaking. The special shoes which come with the harness will quickly show wear and tear and the gloves will get sweaty and unpleasant to put on the wearer’s hands.

Moreover, the harness is not simple to put on and during this process it can easily get tangled and knotted thus wasting valuable time which should be used for exercise.

The disclosed invention aims to alleviate these problems. It consist essentially of two elastic bands descending from the user’s shoulders to the feet and have foot holds in the appropriate place at the bottom ends of said elastic bands. The two bands are gathered at about navel level by a tube which acts as a stop thus allowing for adjustment the height of said stop.

At the shoulders the bands are attached to shoulder loops which allow for the overall length of the bands to be adjusted to the height of the user. The shoulder loops each comprise a series of apertures through which the elastics are threaded and held in place with pegs. The more pegs are used, the shorter the elastic and the more tensioned the elastics will be.

Now, having pulled on the shoulder loops and adjusted the pegs to an appropriate number, the feet of the user are introduced into the footholds, the exercises can begin.

The advantage of this inventive system is that, despite its simplicity, this system will exercise leg muscles, the gluteus maximus, groin, abdominal and shoulder muscles. And probably several more.

Exercises can be done standing upright or sitting down and the system provides back support, because the top of the elastics connect to the shoulders.

Statement of the invention. A light weight exercise harness consisting of two elastic bands, two shoulder loops at one end and foot holds at the other end of said elastic bands, said harness comprising means for gathering said two elastic bands at any convenient point between the shoulder loops and the foot holds, which means for gathering comprise means for locking it at a chosen level thus forming a long “X” on the front of the user’s body and which system further allows for adjusting of the total length of the elastic bands by adjustment means at the shoulder loops.

The drawings show the essential elements of the invention. They show a person wearing the harness. From in front, from behind and from the side of the body. Beside the person waring the harness, he figures show the gathering tube from in front and in section A-A, illustrating the operation of said tube.

The user simply slides the shoulder loops over each shoulder and lets the harness hang down his or her front. Then engages the feet into the foot holds and adjust the overall length and position of the gathering tube according to the exercises to be done.

Claims (11)

Claims.

1. A light weight exercise harness consisting of two elastic bands, two shoulder loops at one end and foot holds at the other ends of said elastic bands, said harness comprising means for gathering said two elastic bands at any convenient point between the shoulder loops and the foot holds, which means for gathering comprise means for locking it at a chosen level thus forming a long “X” on the front of the user’s body and which system further allows for adjusting of the total length of the elastic bands by adjustment means at the shoulder loops.

2. A light weight exercise harness according to claim 1 wherein the elastic bands are permanently attached to the shoulder loops.

3. A light weight exercise harness according to claim 1 wherein the elastic bands are removable from the shoulder loops.

4. A light weight exercise harness according to claims 1 to 3 wherein the shoulder loops are made from flexible but non-elastic material.

5. A light weight exercise harness according to claim 1 wherein said foot holds are special foot shaped loops.

6. A light weight exercise harness according to claim 1 wherein said foot holds are simple loops tied into the ends of the elastic bands.

7. A light weight exercise harness according to claims 1 to 5 wherein the means for gathering said elastic bands consist of a tube through which said elastic bands are threaded and which tube comprises a button on its front which, when pressed and held in that depressed state, releases the locking means and allows for the tube to be slid up or down along said elastic bands.

8. A light weight exercise harness according to claims 1 to 4 wherein the shoulder loops comprise several apertures which allow for the lengthening or shortening of the overall length of said elastic bands.

9. A light weight exercise harness according to claim 8 wherein the adjustment to the length of said elastic bands is achieved by pulling a piece of said elastic band through one of said apertures on said shoulder loops and holding said loop of elastic band in place by inserting specially provided pegs through the loops thus created.

10. A light weight exercise harness according to claims 1 to 9 wherein said gathering tube is made of hard plastic, any type of metal or metallized plastic.

11. A light weight exercise harness according to claims 1 to 8 wherein elastic bands are made of any suitable material and can be of any colour.