Aerobic garment

Abstract

An exercise garment having attachments that can selectively positioned about it in order to urge certain body parts along paths of aerobic exercise movement or to provide resistance to them moving along those paths.

Claims

1. An aerobic garment comprising: a body covering for fitting over at least a section of a user's body; a connecting element disposed along the body covering; and an exercise attachment configured to attach to the body covering by way of engaging the connecting element.

2. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said exercise attachment is a buoyant object, and wherein said connecting element is positioned along said body covering to enable said exercise attachment to operate as a water aerobic exercise aid when attached to said body covering.

3. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said exercise attachment is a non-buoyant, weighted object, and wherein said connecting element is positioned along said body covering to enable said exercise attachment to operate as a resistance training exercise aid when attached to said body covering.

4. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said connecting element is a component of at least one of: snap fastener, hook and loop fasteners, or buckle fasteners.

5. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said connecting element is configured such that said exercise attachment may selectively engage said connecting element at discretely different positions along a user's body.

6. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering is fabricated of thermally insulative material.

7. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering is fabricated of buoyant material.

8. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering comprises a torso section and an arm sleeve.

9. The aerobic garment of claim 8, wherein said connecting element is disposed along said arm sleeve.

10. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering comprises an arm sleeve.

11. The aerobic garment of claim 10, wherein said connecting element is disposed along said arm sleeve.

12. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering comprises a glove.

13. The aerobic garment of claim 12, wherein said connecting element is disposed along said glove.

14. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering comprises a pant.

15. The aerobic garment of claim 14, wherein said connecting element is disposed along said pant.

16. The aerobic garment of claim 1, wherein said body covering comprises a bootee.

17. The aerobic garment of claim 16, wherein said connecting element is disposed along said bootee.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an aerobic garment in accordance with the present invention, the garment featuring an upper piece for covering the torso and arms and a lower piece for covering the waist and legsboth garment pieces having exercise attachments attached thereto; and

[0011] FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] The present invention generally relates to exercise garments, and it is specifically directed to a garment configured to have muscle training elements removably attached to itbe those training elements buoyant attachments for aquatic use or weighted attachments. In the descriptions that follow and accompanying illustrations, the invention will be described in its preferred form as a two-piece aquatic garment that is anticipated to be worn while performing water aerobic exercises in a swimming pool. This preferred garment features an upper body piece that covers the torso and arms and a lower body piece that covers the waist and legs, and both pieces have buoyant pads attached to them. However, a variety of alternative embodiments of the garment are contemplated within the scope of the invention. Not only may those alternate embodiments differ with respect to their being adapted for non-aquatic use and employing non-buoyant, weighted attachments designed to place load on certain muscle groups, they can vary with respect to the specific body parts that they cover, the ways in which exercise attachment attach to the body covering(s), and in other respects.

[0013] For instance, another version of garment within the scope of the invention could be arm-covering sleeves or hand-covering gloves or a combination of both that host exercise attachments against the arms and/or hands. In another example, the garment could cover the lower body onlywith or without a feet-covering bootees for mounting attachments at the feet. Or the garment could be in the form of a pair of leg sleeves that each cover portions of the upper and/or lower legs, but not the waist area. There is a wide range of possibilities in terms of what sections of the anatomy the present exercise garment covers.

[0014] Nevertheless, referring to the preferred embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1 & 2, the present invention is an aquatic exercise garment featuring: (1) upper body and lower body coverings 10, 40 that have connecting elements 8 positioned at different locations along each of them; and (2) exercise attachments 4 (buoyant pads 4, in this case) that are attached to the body coverings 10, 40 at those connecting elements 8. The garment upper body 10 has a torso section and arm sleeves, while the lower body 40 is a pant formed by a waist section and legs. In this embodiment, the garment is fabricated of a nylon or polyester blend commonly used in swimwear. Alternatively, it could be constructed of neoprene to provide more thermal insulation in cold water.

[0015] In this preferred embodiment designed for aquatic use, each exercise attachment 4 is a foam pad that is contoured for comfortable placement flush against a specific part of the anatomy. For instance, FIG. 1 shows such pads 4 positioned along the outer part of the garment upper arm (between biceps and triceps) 32, the front part of the lower arm (forearm) 34, the front of the upper leg (quadriceps) 42, and the front of the lower leg (shin) 46, while FIG. 2 reveals additional pads 4 positioned along the back of the upper leg (hamstring) 44, and the back of the lower leg (calf) 48.

[0016] When a user is standing in chest or neck high water, the positioning and buoyancy of the upper arm foam pad attachments 32 will urge her arms away from her torso and toward the water surface along what can be considered a fly exercise path, thus, requiring some degree of physical exertion against those buoyant forces to bring her arms down toward her torso along a return path. Similar phenomenathat is, buoyant pad-forced limb motions and muscle-driven countermotions that, together, constitute aerobic exercisesare created by each of the other pads at their respective limb positions. Furthermore, for a given exercise, a garment user would choose to wear one foam attachment 4 that urges an arm or leg to move in one direction (given the wearer's anatomy), but not wear another exercise attachment that would tend to pull the limb in the opposing direction. For example, one might elect to not wear a pad 4 over the calf 48 when wearing one over the shin 46, and vice versa.

[0017] As mentioned, the exercise attachments 4 are, preferably, foam pads. Within the scope of the invention, though, they can each be formed of any floating device that either is made of buoyant material or is an air-inflatable enclosure. Whatever their configuration, the attachments 4 features some mechanism for engaging connecting members 8 positioned along the body coverings 10, 40.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment, these connecting members 8 are strips of the loop portions of hook and loop fastener systems (i.e., VELCRO) which are either adhered or stitched to the garment fabric, and they engage with corresponding hook strips which are adhered to the inner surfaces of the foam pad attachments 4. The surface areas of these strips can vary in accordance with the corresponding foam pad's surface area and, thus, the detachment force that they will experience due to a pad's buoyancy. The larger the surface areas of the fastener strips 8, the more broadly distributed will be that detachment force over the engaged areas of male and female connecting strips 4. This can mitigate the possibility of foam pads 4 inadvertently detaching from the body coverings 10, 40 or even creating wearer discomfort caused by a high magnitude of buoyant force being concentrated on too small an area of the body. In addition, the body covering-mounted connector strips 4 may completely encircle an arm or leg, or at least be considerably longer than the pad-mounted strips to which they are engage, so as to enable a floating pad 4 to be attached at a wide range of discrete positions about that limb and, thereby, create resistance to different muscle groups based on the pad's exact positioning.

[0019] Although hook and loop fasteners may be preferred, it is certainly the case that entirely different fastening mechanisms can be utilized within the scope of the invention. For example, snap fasteners (e.g., press-buttons), various types of buckles, and other fasteners are contemplated as being employable.