Performance training garment

Abstract

Present invention discloses a performance training garment, particularly a whole-body performance training garment which in a single garment covers, essentially, the wearer's major portions such as torso, arms and legs. The garment body is incorporated with a series of inflatable bladders to provide external resistance to the wearers muscles. The body of the garment also includes a network of supply lines that is responsible for supplying an air inflation medium to the bladders. The inflation and deflation is controlled by a control device that has wearer operated interface. The performance training garment as disclosed herein provides the effect of exercising in a high-G environment by furnishing external resistance against which the wearer's muscles contracts.

Claims

1. A performance training garment comprising: a compression garment; a plurality of inflatable bladders embedded within said compression garment; a network of supply line coupled to each of the plurality of inflatable bladder and to an air source; and an inflation and deflation control system having a wearer operable interface; wherein the air source and the inflation and deflation control system are housed in a waist-height pouch configured to be mounted at a back of a wearer.

2. The performance training garment of claim 1, where the inflation and deflation control system comprises of; a processor; a display; and computer readable instruction for controlling inflation of the said plurality of inflatable bladders and providing said wearer-operable interface on said display.

3. The performance training garment of claim 2, wherein the inflation and deflation control system comprises of; a plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves; and at least one control circuit for actuating said plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves.

4. The performance training garment of claim 3, wherein said control circuit includes logic for: actuating one of said plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves; actuating all of said plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves at once; actuating pre-determines subsets of said plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves; actuating wearer-configured subsets of said plurality of electronically-actuated inflation control valves; and controlling degree of inflation of each bladder of the plurality of inflatable bladders.

5. The performance training garment of claim 2, where the wearer operates the inflation and deflation of the plurality of inflatable bladders on a handheld unit.

6. The performance training garment of claim 1, where the network of supply lines are conducted along channels provided in the compression garment to an inlet and outlet valve on each bladder of the plurality of inflatable bladders.

7. The performance training garment of claim 6, where the inlet and outlet valves are coupled to one or more container of compressed air allowing air passage to the network of supply lines.

8. The performance training garment of claim 6, where the inlet valve allows compressed air from the container of compressed air to enter a respective bladder of the plurality of inflatable bladders for inflation.

9. The performance training garment of claim 6, where the outlet valve allows compressed air from the container of compressed air to exit a respective bladder of the plurality of inflatable bladders for deflation.

10. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein at least portions of said compression garment comprise a fabric bi-layer.

11. The performance training garment of claim 10, wherein said plurality of inflatable bladders are embedded between layers of said fabric bi-layer.

12. The performance training garment of claim 10, where at least one supply line of the network of supply lines is embedded between said bi-layers.

13. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein said compression garment is fabricated from a knitted fabric.

14. The performance training garment of claim 13, wherein said knitted fabric is composed of at least one of Polyurethane, Polyester-polyurethane copolymer and Cotton.

15. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein the said compression garment is configured to include at least one of a shirt, a pair of tights or a full body suit.

16. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein the plurality of inflatable bladders are disposed only at extremities positions of the wearer.

17. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein during use the plurality of inflatable bladders are at least partially inflated.

18. The performance training garment of claim 1, where said air source is removably mounted on the said waist-height pouch.

19. The performance training garment of claim 1, wherein said air source comprises one of: a battery-powered compressor; at least one container of compressed air; or at least one container of nitric oxide air.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

(1) The nature and scope of the present invention will be better understood from the accompanying drawings, which are by way of illustration of a preferred embodiment and not by way of any sort of limitation. In the accompanying drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 represents the perspective view of the performance training garment that includes inflatable bladders that is embedded between the layers of garment fabric;

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates the placement of plurality of inflatable bladders relative to the body of a wearer;

(4) FIG. 3 provides a view of the network of embedded simply lines for supplying an inflation medium to the bladders. Particularly, it shows the view of embedded supply lines threaded into ports of bladders in the upper body portion;

(5) FIG. 4 provides a view of embedded supply lines into ports of a performance training garment in a lower-body portion with ends protruding for coupling with an inflation medium reservoir;

(6) FIG. 5 provides a further side view of embedded supply lines for supplying an inflation medium to the bladders of FIGS. 1 and 2;

(7) FIG. 6 gives a front view of a performance training garment that includes a waist-height pouch mounted at the back for carrying containers of inflation medium and is secured with waist strap towards the front of the wearer;

(8) FIG. 7 shows the view of a performance training garment dust includes a waist-height pouch for carrying containers of inflation medium;

(9) FIG. 8 show the view of a waist-height pouch for carrying containers of inflation medium for use with the performance training garment of FIG. 1;

(10) FIG. 9 illustrates the interrelationship between the components of the present invention in the upper body of the performance training garment;

(11) FIG. 10 illustrates the interrelationship between the components of the present invention in the tower body of the performance training garment;

(12) FIG. 11 shows a high-level flow diagram of a startup/shutdown sequence for a control program for a controller in a performance training garment;

(13) FIG. 12 provides an architecture diagram of the function of control system in the performance training garment; and

(14) FIG. 13 provides a flow diagram of a process for inflating/deflating the bladders.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(15) In the following paragraphs, a brief and non-limiting description of the preferred embodiment is disclosed.

(16) All through the specification, the technical terms and abbreviations are to be interpreted in the broadest sense of the respective terms, and include all similar items in the field known by other terms, as may be clear to persons skilled in art. Restriction or limitation if any referred to in the specification, is solely by way of example and understanding the present invention. Ranges may be expressed herein as from about or approximately another particular value. Also, it will be understood that unless otherwise indicated, dimensions and material characteristics stated herein are by way of example rather than limitation, and are for better understanding of sample embodiment of suitable utility, and variations outside of the stated values may also be within the scope of the invention depending upon the particular application.

(17) Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure as described hereto generally include a wearable performance training garment that provides the effect of exercising to a high-G environment by furnishing external resistance against the wearer's muscles. Accordingly, while embodiments of the disclosure are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example to the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit embodiments of the disclosure to the particular exemplary embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, embodiments of the disclosure cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

(18) The present invention seeks to address the drawbacks associated with the existing compression gear wearable garments which only provide minor to moderate pressure benefits to its wearer and which mostly work due to placebo effect. To achieve this purpose, the present invention discloses a performance training garment that is designed to augment exercise workouts and can be worn on the lower, upper or entire body. It mimics the effects of working out in high G-environments. It achieves this by providing external resistance against which the muscles of the wearer must contract and thus subsequently strengthens them.

(19) In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the performance training garments provides for a compression garment that comprises a plurality of inflatable bladders embedded within said compression garment. Wherein the plurality of bladders are disposed only at extremities position of a wearer. The positions are selected to resist movement of the wearer's extremities when the plurality of bladders are partially inflated. The inflatable bladders may be placed within sleeves fabricated from carbon-fiber fabric that direct pressure toward the muscles of the wearer's extremities to increase the load tolerated during exercise. The garment further includes a reservoir for air source and at least one air supply line, a control system for the inflation that has a wearer operable interface. The reservoir may be carried in a pouch or pack worn at the user's waist. The body of the garment also includes a network of supply lines that is responsible for supplying air inflation medium to the bladders. Inflation and deflation system works through the network of embedded supply lines that conduct an inflation medium to the bladders from the reservoir. The network of supply lines further comprises a plurality of vales for regulating flow of the air medium in and out of the bladders. Further, certain portions of the garment may comprise a fabric bi-layer where the plurality of inflatable bladders are embedded between the layers of said fabric bi-layer. Also, the air supply lines are embedded between the layers of the bi-layer of the fabric.

(20) For carrying out its working operation, the garment includes a control system having a wearer operable interlace that controls inflation and deflation of the bladders. During use, the wearer operates the controller to inflate, at least partially, any of all of the bladder(s) in order to simulate the effect of resistance trailing on the muscles and skeletal system of the wearer.

(21) The performance training garment is useful in providing a full functional performance training. The inflatable bladders are disposed at positions only on the extremities in order to fully stress and develop the peripheral musculature. Performing physical training with some or all of the bladders inflated to one degree or another has the effect of making the training movements more difficult requiring greater muscle exertion on the part of the wearer, thus simulating an increased gravitational load that would be experienced if the wearer were training in a multiple-G environment.

(22) In addition to increasing the gravitational load on the extremities, the full functional training enabled by the training garment of this invention, allows the wearer to subject his/her peripheral muscles to greatly increased pressure and impact levels, stressing the wearer's muscles in novel ways not previously possible with conventional resistance training equipment or compression apparel.

(23) In other embodiments of this present invention, the resistance garment can assume the form of a long-sleeved top, an arm sleeve, a pair of leggings or tights, a knee-high stocking and a thigh-high stocking.

(24) Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the performance trailing garment 101 of the present invention is shown to its preferred embodiment. The performance training garment 101 is preferably to the form of a shirt and a pair of tights. However, in other embodiments, the performance training garment may be a one-piece suit that covers substantially the wearer's entire body. In still other embodiments, the performance training garment may be an arm sleeve or a pair of arm sleeves. In further embodiments, the performance training garment may be a legging or a pair of leggings.

(25) FIG. 2 illustrates the placement of plurality of inflatable bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 that are incorporated within the garment. The bladders are placed around the arms 201, 202, thighs 203 and lower leg 204. The inflatable bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 are inflated to exert a predetermined amount of compression on the large muscles of the wearer's extremities. By exerting compression against the muscles of the wearer's extremities, the performance training garment increases the amount of muscular force that must be applied by the wearer in order to perform normal and or athletic movements such as walking, running, lifting, throwing, jumping and the like. By increasing the muscular force required to perform ordinary athletic movements, the performance training garment is intended to simulate a G-load that is multiple times the normal accelerative force of the earth's gravity. By requiring the wearer to exercise under a higher-then-normal G-load, over time, a training effect is achieved that that has a highly beneficial effect, at least on the wearer's muscular strength. However, additionally, performing skilled movements under a high-than-number G-load also develops the wearer's eye-hand coordination, agility, reaction time and cardiovascular and respiratory fitness, so that notable improvements to overall fitness are achieved with continued use of the performance training garment.

(26) In embodiments, the inflatable bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 may be fabricated from an inflatable fabric such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that has been bonded to a soft, water-proof fabric. The PVC and the fabric may be bonded using either of a heat or pressure bonding process. In another embodiment, the bladders may be fabricated from an inflatable fabric such as polyurethane laminate (PUL). In yet another embodiment, the inflatable bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 may be airtight. In other words, the bladders may be inflated and will stay inflated for an extended period of time, due to the choice of material and method of construction. For current embodiment, pieces of fabric may be joined to form the bladder using high-frequency welding or glue.

(27) In other embodiments, the inflatable bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 may be non-airtight, meaning that the inflatable bladders will stay inflated as long as the air within the inflatable bladders is regularly replenished.

(28) In further embodiments, the inflatable bladders may be placed within a sleeve. The provision of a sleeve to enclose the inflatable bladders, allows the outward compressive force of the inflatable bladders to be directed inward to the surface of the wearer's body, while minimizing external protrusion of the inflatable bladders due to externally-directed compressive force. Minimizing outward protrusion of the inflatable bladders achieves a number of advantages. First, by restraining outward protrusion of the inflatable bladders, a greater portion of the compressive force of the inflatable bladders is directed toward the body surface of the wearer, optimizing the ability of the inflatable bladders to exert compressive force on the wearer's muscles. Second, optimizing the ability of the inflatable bladders to deliver compressive force to the surface of the wearer's body minimizes the necessary thickness dimension for the inflatable bladders. Third, minimizing the thickness dimension of the compression reduces the material cost for the compression garment and generally improves manufacturability. Fourth, minimizing the thickness dimension of the inflatable bladders greatly improves the cosmetic appeal of the garment which serves to encourage more frequent use of the compression garment by the wearer. More frequent use of the compression garment, will, of course, greatly increase the probability that the wearer will derive a significant benefit from use of the garment.

(29) In afore embodiment, the sleeve may be fashioned from a fabric woven from carbon fiber filaments. The carbon fiber fabric may comprise a non-rigid carbon fiber such as CX6 (CARBITEX, INC., KENNEWICK, Wash.). Likewise, other carbon-fiber composites may be used that provides the required properties of non-rigidity and high strength.

(30) FIG. 3 illustrates the network of the embedded supply lines 301 for supplying the inflation medium to the bladders 201, 202, 203, 204 as shown in FIG. 2. The supply lines as described herein are generally referred to air hoses 302, 303, 403, 404, 405 that are embedded throughout the lining of the garment. The air supply hoses 302, 303, 403, 404, 405 provide inflation median to the bladders from a reservoir (as shown in FIG. 8) of inflation medium. The inflation medium is canned, compressed air that is housed to the waist pouch 701, (shown to FIG. 8). In FIG. 3, the supply lines 302, 303, 403, 404, 405 are threaded into ports to the garment and are conducted along channels provided to the fabric body of the garment to an inlet valve 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311 on each bladder. The bladders may be connected to series by a single supply line. In another embodiments, bladders may be connected to parallel by multiple supply lines. FIG. 4 illustrates the view of embedded supply lines 403, 404, 405 into ports of the performance training garment in a lower body portion 401 with its ends 402 protruding for coupling with an inflation medium reservoir.

(31) FIG. 5 provides a further side view 501 of embedded simply lines 303, 403, 404 for supplying an inflation medium to the bladders 201, 202, 203, 204. Outlet valves on the bladders allow deflation of the bladder under control of the wearer. Values couple one or more containers of compressed air to the network of supply lines.

(32) FIG. 6 gives a front view 601 of a performance training garment that includes a waist-height pouch 701 placed at the back for carrying containers of inflation medium and the control system. The waist height pouch is fastened towards the front of the wearer 602.

(33) FIG. 7 shows the view of a performance training garment that includes a waist-height pouch 701 for carrying containers of inflation medium. The waist height pouch rests at the back of the wearer.

(34) FIG. 8 shows the view of a waist-height pouch 701 for carrying containers of inflation medium for use with the performance training garment of FIG. 1. The waist-height pouch holds the containers of inflation median and houses the inflation control system of FIG. 12 operated by wearer handheld device. The containers of compressed air may be cans of compressed air such as those available in office-supply stores for cleaning dust from computer equipment. Alternatively, the inflation medium may be compressed nitrogen. The inflation median may be supplied by a miniature compressor carried in the pouch. In this embodiment, the waist-height pouch 701 is generally in form of a bag or pack that has a zipper 801 and is worn around the waist of the wearer and is further secured to a waist strap 602. The waist-height pouch is reposed at the back of the wearer.

(35) FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 illustrates the interrelationship between the components of the present invention. Essentially, it shows the interrelationship of the plurality of supply lines 302, 303, 402, 403, 404, 405 and inflatable bladders in the upper 201, 202 and lower body 203, 204 of the performance training garment. The plurality of valves 304, 305, 306, 307 within the supply lines regulate the flow of air in and out of the respective bladders.

(36) As shown in FIGS. 11-13, the performance training garment includes an inflation control system having a wearer-operable interface. Wearer-operable control valves regulate the flow of medium to the bladders, so that the degree of inflation and the speed at which the bladders inflate under the control of the wearer. Particularly, FIG. 11 shows the electronic flow chart of how the wearer hand held device or app would control the performance training garment. Disclosed invention is configured to control the inflation and deflation of the bladders through any wearer handheld devices such as smart phones and routed to the mobile application for display to a wearer. The handheld device gets connected to the inflation control system of the performance training garment through the mobile application window. At first instance, the control device is powered on to get it started 1101. Then, the system would initialize the inputs from the Microcontroller unit 1102 and verify the program selection 1103. If the selected program is verified, it will next execute the selected program 1104 of inflation or deflation and end the program routine. Otherwise, the system will load the default program 1105 and then execute it 1104.

(37) FIG. 12 shows the process flow of the coordination between the independent components of the present invention to carry out the objective of the invention. The independent components such as the wearer operated hand held device 1209, 1210, Microcontroller unit 1205, Bluetooth 1211, battery 1203, charging circuit 1202, pump controller 1206, etc., Air pups 1212 and Valves 1208, Pressure Sensors 1207. All of these components are housed in the waist height pouch 701. The inflation control system can be put to work through battery that charged by DC Input 1201. The control system has a power button 1204 to activate or deactivate the control device without fully disconnecting it from the power supply. The control system further includes a Microcontroller unit 1205 and Pump controller 1206 and pressure sensors 1207. The microprocessor unit 1205 consists of processors and programmable input and output to control the degree of inflation and deflation relative to the wearer input instructions given at the handheld device. The pressure sensors 1207 herein detect and indicate when the air pressure has reached a specified level weight. The pump controller 1206 regulates the pressure on the inflatable bladder. The control system further provides logic for either, actuating single valves or actuating all valves at once or actuating pre-determines subsets of valves or actuating wearer-configured subsets of valves 1208.

(38) The handheld device may be connected to the Microcontroller of the control system through Bluetooth 1211 or other connector 1213. The handheld device is the wearer operable interface that operates and controls the required inflation and deflation of the bladders 201, 202, 203, 204. The handheld device could be a smartphone, tablet or any similar Bluetooth enabled display devices. The handheld device includes LCD 1209 to display of the functions and keypad 1210 to input the functional operators in the desired manner.

(39) FIG. 13 is a block diagram that shows the logic of the firmware, i.e. how the process of inflation and deflation of bladders functions. Pursuance to the input given on the handheld device, the control device stalls pumping 1301 the bladders 201, 202, 203, 204, next to it, the pressure sensors 1207 checks the pressure generated through pumping 1302. If the pressure is found to be same as the input program 1303, it begins pumping to inflate the bladders according to the timer 1304 and after it reaches the set time range 1306, the control device commands to stop punning 1307. In contrary, if the pressure is found minimal with the program, the program commands for further pumping until the pressure is observed to be at par with the input program 1305.

(40) In this embodiments, the garment is fabricated from a fabric that is highly elastic to fit the wearer's body closely and tightly. The garment is fabricated from a knitted fabric, wherein the knitted fabric may be comprised of polyurethane, polyester-polyurethane copolymer or cotton. In an embodiment, that fabric may be a polymer such as spandex. Additionally, spandex washes easily and withstands repeated washing well without losing its elasticity.

(41) In embodiments, the bladders are situated to cover the larger muscle body parts of the extremities, such as the upper arms and the thighs.