A training device includes a tether having inelastic portions disposed between its ends, where each inelastic portion is separated by an elastic portion, and where each of the ends is configured for engagement with hands of a trainer. The training device may include a belt that wraps around an athlete's body, the belt including a ring on a back portion thereof having an opening for receiving an end of the tether therethrough. When the belt is secured around the athlete's body and the tether is disposed through the ring, the training device may create a coupling between the trainer and athlete when the trainer secures the ends of the tether. The coupling may be substantially released when the trainer releases one end of the tether such that the released end is substantially unrestrained to traverse through the ring thereby fully disengaging the tether from the belt.

Exercise apparatuses that may be particularly useful or treating and strengthening connective tissue. For example, apparatuses that may have or be reconfigured to have multiple (e.g., three or more) configurations that are suspended from above by a ceiling or stand. The equipment facilitates the stabilization of the body according to the principle of tensegrity, so that the tension in all movements is omni-directionally coherent, thus creating omni-tensional integrity, which may be helpful in treatment and strengthening of muscular connective tissue (fasciae) in musculoskeletal dynamics, to restore, rebuild, strengthen and regain elasticity within the human fascial network. These apparatuses can support the user at an oblique body angle while the user performs various movements.

An acrobatic training apparatus for training individuals to perform acrobatic tricks is provided. The apparatus includes a main frame having a first base section having first and second parallel base struts connected by first and second cross member; a platform mounted on the first base section of the main frame; a plurality of elongated vertical members extending vertically upward from the first and second parallel base struts of the first base section; a first upper support member connected between a first pair of elongated vertical support members of the plurality of elongated vertical members; a second upper support member connected between a second pair of elongated vertical support members; a height adjustment mechanism adjustably mounted on the main frame configured to adapt to the height of the user; and a spotting apparatus mounted on the main frame and secured to the height adjustment mechanism.

A method and apparatus for performing individual or group exercises with a heart-shaped exercise device are disclosed. The device includes a heart-shaped body and two or more handles. In some embodiments, the two or more handles form a generally concave surface. The heart-shaped body further includes a tail, which may form a generally concave surface in a direction opposite the handles. The heart-shape body include two lobes that direct movement, whether being used with one or two hands or with one user, partners, or in a group. In some embodiments, the center of gravity is asymmetric with respect to latitudinal axis. In some embodiments, the heart-shaped device is configured to stably rest on a surface.

A locomotor training system, including device and methods of use, is provided. The locomotor training device is a simple mechanical device which includes a rigid supporting member coupled to the front-thigh side of a user's proximal lower extremity and a hinged member coupled to the lower extremity distal to the rigid supporting member. Manipulation of the device by an operator, in some cases facilitated by an adjustable handle, facilitates the user's normalization of joint mechanics associated with unimpaired ambulation while providing neuromuscular re-education and muscle strengthening.

An exercise equipment exercise equipment that can readily switch arrangement of a person exercise apparatus and a dog exercise apparatus between the state where a person and a dog run facing each other and/or the state where the person and the dog run side by side. The person exercise apparatus includes a frame, a crank mechanism having a crank shaft rotatably supported by the frame, a crank coupled to the crank shaft, and a pedal rotatably supported by the crank, and a joint rotatingly driven by the crank mechanism. An annular travelling belt travels with a dog, a roller drives the travelling belt, and a transmission mechanism transmits rotational motion of the joint to the roller An input shaft is aligned with a rotary shaft of the joint with respect to a mounting face of the exercise equipment. A coupling mechanisms is detachably engageable with the joint at each end.

A method and device are provided that allow a competent skier to train and/or assist a trainee downhill skier with the acquisition of basic downhill skiing techniques. The trainee skier is tethered to an uphill instructing skier by a pair of reins attached to the trainee at the ankles, ski tips, or to the ski tips via ski tip handles. The instructing skier has substantially independent control over each tethering point to assist or train the novice skier to execute turns, control speed, and promote proper balance and stance for the maneuver and terrain at hand. The method and device may also comprise the use of adjustable ski tip couplers that limit divergence, and optionally convergence, of the trainee's ski tips. Handicapped skiers may be assisted and guided in downhill skiing using this method and device.

A pole vault swing-up rack includes a frame body with upper hooks and a lower push bracket. The rack is designed to hang vertically from a horizontal baras a pull-up barby the hooks. An athlete hanging from the pull-up bar in an upright vertical position may kick his/her legs and torso up to an inverted vertical position to simulate movement of a pole vault. The athlete's shoulders rest against vertical uprights of the rack to maintain the athlete's shoulders and body in front of a vertical plane as in a pole vault movement. A trainer can use the lower push bracket to assist the athlete in the kicking motion. The parts of the rack that come into contact with the athlete may be covered in foam padding and a rubber coating.

A walking training system includes a treadmill, a center-of-gravity position detection unit that detects a center-of-gravity position of a trainee from a load received from a sole of the trainee on a belt of the treadmill, a posture detection unit that detects a posture of the trainee, a center-of-gravity position estimation unit that estimates the center-of-gravity position of the trainee from the detected posture of the trainee, a determination unit that determines whether a difference between the detected center-of-gravity position and the estimated center-of-gravity position exceeds a predetermined value, and a notification unit that sends, when the determination unit determines that the difference exceeds the predetermined value, a notification notifying that whether the difference exceeds the predetermined value.

A variable height adjusting spotting bar for a spotting system for spotting lifting of weights engaged to a barbell, the spotting system including one or more flexible members coupled to the barbell, comprising one or more bar sections configured to be gripped by a spotter; one or more flexible member take-up spools configured to roll up or roll down along the one or more flexible members to set the variable height adjusting spotting bar to an optimal height for the spotter to provide the best ergonomic force to assist a lifter of the barbell.