WO2021244720A1 - A system for fitness - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a system (1) for fitness comprising: an elongated balance beam (2) and a console (4) placed on the balance beam. Balance beam and console are in a mutually adapted and demountable engagement so that a person balancing on the balance beam can touch and / or operate the console or equipment placed on it.

Description

A system for fitness

The invention relates to a system for fitness comprising: an elongated balance beam and a console placed on the balance beam.

Outdoor fitness is today considered as a good way to achieve exercise, and various types of equipment that can withstand wind and weather are today a regular part of the exercise options found in many forests.

Typically, the equipment can be part of an actual exercise path, where the user has the opportunity of using many muscle groups as the challenges can span equipment such as climbing frames to climb, balance beams, ropes or obstacles to crawl under, and the exercise equipment can be part of an obstacle course, where they are used successively as one traverses the course. However, the equipment can also be placed together so that the user can use one or more of the set equipment of his choice without these having to be selected in a specific order.

Although balance beams can be included as part of e.g., an obstacle course, the challenges on balance beams are only associated with having to pass / balance on this.

Other challenges on an obstacle course can consist of straining certain muscles or muscle groups and usually obstacle courses, exercise paths and collections of equipment are built so that the user can achieve a versatile exercise that strengthens and exercises many muscle groups. But no known system combines balance challenges with other challenges.

It is an object of the invention to provide an exercise system that challenges the users balance while at the same time further challenging the user.

This is achieved by the balance beam and console being in a mutually adapted and demountable engagement so that a person balancing on the balance beam can touch and / or operate the console or equipment placed on it.

In this application the word, "Console" means an object that forms a support or forms an attachment for something else. When you mount a console on a balance beam, you thus create an opportunity for other objects to be placed or mounted on the balance beam via the console. But the console can also pose a challenge in itself, it can e.g., be designed so that part of it can form a support for a user's foot. On the known balance beams, the user is only faced with the challenge of having to balance while moving along the balance beam. By providing the beam with a console, the user can be faced with far more nuanced and versatile challenges as the console can be provided with objects that can be operated. It can be something as simple as a bell - to be rung - placed on the console. By this, the user's simultaneous capacity is challenged as the user must be able to perform several actions at the same time.

In one embodiment, the system comprises several balance beams arranged in functional extension of each other so that a user can move while balancing between the balance beams arranged in extension of each other.

By providing the system with several balance beams, it is achieved that the user can be challenged more versatile as the balance beams do not have to be identical, neither in shape nor in length. One can thus e.g., force the user to change speed and/or direction while using the system.

In one embodiment, the system is made so that all the balance beams comprise a console.

By providing all the balance beams with one or more consoles, the user can be challenged throughout the passage of the balance beams.

In one embodiment of the system, the console includes means for demountable mounting of exercise equipment. By making the console so that an exercise equipment can be easily mounted and dismounted, one can partly ensure that one can remove expensive equipment from the console, and it can of course be an advantage if the system is to be left unused and unattended for a period of time.

But the actual dismounting of equipment from the console can also be made part of the "task game" that the user must perform to complete the balance beam. E.g., the console can be provided with a task that requires the user to dismount / mount or move an object from / to / on the console or from one console to another.

In one embodiment of the system, the means for demountable mounting of exercise equipment comprises openings in the console. Hereby the exercise equipment can be attached to the console via e.g., padlocks, carabiners, bolts, chains or similar, which are fastened / inserted into the openings. The openings can be made as through openings, e.g., through a plate part on the console. The openings can also be holes provided with threads, in which an exercise equipment comprising a threaded part complementary thereto can be fastened. In one embodiment of the system, the console comprises a plate, which can form a support for a user's foot. A simple challenge for the user of the system can be to stand on the console, but even touching a bell placed on the plate will for many be a challenging and demanding task.

In one embodiment of the system, the console comprises a round plate with elongate recesses arranged along the periphery of the plate. These recesses serve to fasten exercise equipment, and the placement along the periphery is advantageous, as equipment which comprises e.g., a chain can thereby be easily mounted by a chain link extending through the recess. Furthermore, the elongated shape promotes that each recess can attach several objects such as e.g., carabiners.

In one embodiment, the console is made of a metallic material, e.g. steel. This provides a strength advantage, but the console can also be manufactured in e.g. hard plastic.

In one embodiment of the system, the console comprises a rod element with thread and this rod element is removably mounted in a complementary opening in the balance beam. Threaded rod elements provide a good grip in a balance beam, especially if it is made of wood. The balance beam can be fitted with a complementary internal thread, but this is not a condition.

In one embodiment of the system, the console comprises supports mutually adapted to the balance beam so that the supports raise the balance beam between 5 and 50 cm - or more preferably between 5 and 25 cm - above the underlying surface.

Since the system in all its embodiments can be provided with a balance beam of wood and since the system is typically for outdoor use, it is advantageous to prevent / prevent rot in the balance beam by simply raising it above the ground. At the same time, one should aim not to raise it too much, as one thereby exposes the user to danger. In these respects, the mentioned dimensions have proved to be advantageous.

An embodiment of the invention will now be explained with reference to the figures, in which: fig. 1, shows, in perspective, a system as described; fig. 2, shows, in perspective, a console as described. Figure 1 shows - in perspective - an embodiment of a system 1 for fitness. The system comprises two elongated balance beams 2. The balance beams are usually included as part of e.g., a fitness trail in a forest, but the system can also be used alone, and although the exemplary embodiment shown comprises two connected balance beams, the system may contain a single or for that matter several balance beams. The balance beams are usually made of wood, and to protect the wood from moisture from below and thus prevent rot, the balance beams are placed on supports 3 (only one shown in the figure).

Balance beams as shown in Figure 1 are known, and similar constructions exist today. The idea behind them is that a user must balance on the top of the beams from end to end.

With the invention, however, it has been realized that one can further challenge the user by combining balancing with other challenges and the mere fact of bending down while maintaining balance is for many people associated with such a considerable difficulty that the challenge lies beyond what to expect.

It thus seems that there is synergy in challenging a user with other tasks while at the same time challenging the user's balance.

It is therefore necessary to make sure that users do not fall far when they lose balance, as the system will often be sought customized with appropriate choice of consoles and equipment in order to challenge the user to the edge of (and sometimes beyond) their ability.

The supports 3, shown in figure 1, are therefore usually made so large (high) that the balance beam is just lifted free of the ground. This minimizes the risks associated with a fall from the balance beam. Furthermore, the console with the flat plate is also designed so as not to raise the user's center of gravity more than is necessary. In the embodiments shown in Figures 1 and 2, the use (activation) of an exercise equipment on the console will normally require the user to bend down, thereby further reducing the risk associated with a fall.

It is similarly necessary to ensure that the tasks can be varied in difficulty. The latter especially because a system that is difficult to some users, all too often turns out to be boring to others.

In order for everyone to benefit from a system, where the user is challenged on the balance at the same time as the user is challenged on other parameters, it is necessary to be able to vary the degree of difficulty of the challenges, depending on the users' competencies.

In order to be able to vary the degree of difficulty of challenges, the balance beams shown in Figure 1 are provided with each their own consoles, onto which challenges of different kinds can be attached / mounted.

In the embodiment shown, the consoles shown are provided with a bell and the idea behind this arrangement is that a user balancing on the balance beams must operate this, and this can - depending on the user's ability - either happen by foot or by hand, but of course the consoles can be provided with far more demanding tasks.

In a simple configuration of the system, the challenge for the user may lie in simply stepping on or touching the top surface of the console.

Bell and console can be customized such that the bell can be attached to the console by means of e.g., a threaded joint, but the bell can also simply be set on an upper side of the console. A console according to the invention is mounted on the balance beam in such a way that it can be removed again and the purpose of this is that one can thereby easily service consoles or change their configuration with regard to mounted equipment, but also a safety aspect is present here, as one in certain situations may be benefit from removing the consoles completely, e.g. if the balance beams are to be used in the dark.

In the embodiment shown, the console on the right-hand side of the figure is provided with four identical chains 6. The chains are fastened - via carabiners - in their respective recesses 7 in the console 4. The four recesses are made as elongated (oval) openings which extend essentially along a periphery of the console. These openings 7 are best seen in Figure 2.

Other remedies can also be applied to the console via carabiners, e.g., a box of sweets or other edible items can be connected to the platform, thereby challenging the user of the system on even more parameters. On the one hand, the box must be opened and on the other hand, the sweets must be taken out, but also the taste experience associated with consuming - and possibly guessing - a food, challenges the user's balance ability / simultaneous capacity. A box connected to the console can of course also contain other objects which are intended to challenge the user's simultaneous capacity. Including quiz questions and / or a combination of foods and quiz questions and / or foods to be determined by taste, etc. The invention can thus challenge the adult's balance ability by "distracting / provoking" the user with other tasks while the user must balance. As the use of a console on a balance beam precisely enables an optimized training / challenge, the system will sometimes be so challenging that a user falls / steps off the balance beam, but experience has shown that the system's low use height creates a safe and secure environment for the adult people (up to over 80 years) who want to play, balance and be challenged optimally and thereby maintain and get a better sense of balance, better motor skills, better posture and also strengthen the abdominal muscles.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a console 5 with four elongate recesses 7. The console can be mounted on a balance beam by means of a centrally located rod, which in the example shown is made with thread.

The threaded rod 8 can be made so long that it is inserted all the way through (across the longitudinal direction) a balance beam. By providing a balance beam with a transverse hole complementary to the rod 8, the console can be attached to the balance beam by inserting the rod through the hole and then possibly tightening the console by means of a washer and a bolt which can engage the thread on the rod 8.

The console shown in figure 2 comprises a round plate part with a flat surface 9, on which equipment can be placed or even fastened. The providing of the console with a flat plate member as shown in Figures 1 and 2, has the immediate advantage that objects can be held onto the console alone by placing them on the plate member, which of course requires that the console is placed on the balance beam, so that the plate is substantially horizontal.

In embodiments of the invention, the console does not need to be mounted so that the surface forms a substantially horizontal surface, but it can - as mentioned above - be advantageous as one thereby can provide the console with exercise equipment by simply placing it on the plate 9, but the exercise equipment can also be fastened via the openings 7. In the embodiments of the invention shown, the openings 7 are designed as elongate openings extending along the periphery of the plate. In these openings, exercise equipment can be fastened by means of chains, as shown in figure 1 or with straps carabiners or the like.

Claims

Patent claims

1. A fitness system comprising : an elongated balance beam and a console located on the balance beam, CHARACTERIZED IN that the balance beam and console are in a mutually adapted and demountable engagement so that a person balancing on the balance beam can touch and / or operate the console or equipment placed on it.

2. A system according to claim 1 CHARACTERIZED IN that the system comprises several balance beams arranged in functional extension of each other so that a user can move, while maintaining balance, between the balance beams arranged in extension of each other.

3. A system according to claim 2, CHARACTERIZED IN that all balance beams comprise a console.

4. A system according to any one of claims 1-3, CHARACTERIZED IN that the console comprises means for demountable mounting of exercise equipment.

5. A system according to claim 4, CHARACTERIZED IN that the means for demountable mounting of exercise equipment comprise openings in the console.

6. A system according to any one of claims 1-5, CHARACTERIZED IN that the console comprises a plate which can also form a support for a user's foot.

7. A system according to any one of claims 1-6, CHARACTERIZED IN that the console comprises a round plate with circumferential recesses arranged along the periphery of the plate.

8. A system according to any one of claims 1-7, CHARACTERIZED IN that the console is made of a metallic material, e.g. steel

9. A system according to any one of claims 1-8, CHARACTERIZED IN that a part of the console is made as a rod element with thread and that rod elements are removably mounted in a complementary opening in the balance beam.

10. A system according to any one of claims 1-9, CHARACTERIZED IN that the system comprises supports mutually adapted to the balance beam so that the supports raise the balance beam between 5 and 50 cm - or more preferably between 5 and 25 cm - above the underlying surface.