TRAINING APPARATUS FOR QUADRICEPS SETTING

Abstract

Training apparatuses configured to receive, and conform to, the back of a user's knee and provide varying resistance and tactile feedback to a user performing quadriceps exercises and methods for using such apparatuses are disclosed herein. A preferred embodiment of the training apparatuses for quad sets comprises a solid, deformable, resilient body that includes a non-skid base and a top surface with a recess configured to receive the back of a user's knee. The body of this embodiment is preferably made of open-cell polyurethane foam with a uniform density ranging between 1 lb/ft.sup.3 and 8 lbs/ft.sup.3, and more preferably between 1.5 lbs/ft.sup.3 and 4.5 lbs/ft.sup.3. The embodiment provides gradually increasing resistance to compression, e.g. tactile feedback to the user's knee, when the user increasingly pushes his/her knee down against the embodiment, and thus allows dynamic quad setting and strengthening.

Claims

1. A training apparatus with a solid, deformable, resilient body for quadriceps setting, the body comprising: (a) a uniform density between 1 lb/ft.sup.3 and 8 lbs/ft.sup.3; (b) a top surface with a recess configured to receive a back of the user's knee; and (c) a base with a flat anti-skid bottom, wherein the body is configured to provide resistance to compression to a user's knee when the user's knee pushes into the top surface, and an area of the bottom of the base is at least as great as a vertical projected area of the top surface.

2. The training apparatus of claim 1, wherein the top surface is horizontal partial cylindrical, extending along a horizontal axis, and the recess is located at a middle of the top surface.

3. The training apparatus of claim 2, wherein the recess is convex downward, curved along the horizontal axis.

4. The training apparatus of claim 2, wherein the recess has a uniform depth along a horizontal direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

5. The training apparatus of claim 2, wherein: (a) the base is a cubic with a dimension of 5″×5″×3.5″ in length, width, and height; (b) the top surface has a dimension of 5″×5″×1.5″ in length, width, and height; and (c) the recess has a width of 4″ along the horizontal axis and a depth of 0.25″.

6. The training apparatus of claim 1, wherein the density is between 1.5 lbs/ft.sup.3 and 4.5 lbs/ft.sup.3.

7. The training apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base further comprises two trapezoidal sides.

8. The training apparatus of claim 1, wherein the body is made of a material selected from polyurethane foam, resin, and rubber.

9. A method for setting a user's quadriceps with a training apparatus including a solid, deformable, resilient body with a uniform density, the method comprising the steps of: (a) resting a user's knee on a recess of a top surface of the body, the recess being configured to receive a back of the user's knee; (b) gently pushing the user's knee downward into the recess by tightening the user's quadriceps and causing the body deform which in turn provides a tactile feedback to the user's knee; and (c) holding contraction of the user's quadriceps, wherein the density of the body is between 1 lb/ft.sup.3 and 8 lbs/ft.sup.3, and the body further includes a flat non-skid bottom with an area at least as great as a vertical projected area of the top surface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the top surface of the body is horizontal partial cylindrical, extending along a horizontal axis, and the recess is located at a middle of the top surface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the recess is convex downward, curved along the horizontal axis.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the recess has a uniform depth along a horizontal direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein: (a) a base of the body is a cubic with a dimension of 5″×5″×3.5″ in length, width, and height and configured to support the top surface; (b) the top surface has a dimension of 5″×5″×1.5″ in length, width, and height; and (c) the recess has a width of 4″ along the horizontal axis and a depth of 0.25″.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the density is between 1.5 lbs/ft.sup.3 and 4.5 lbs/ft.sup.3.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the body further comprises two trapezoidal sides.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the body is made of a material selected from polyurethane foam, resin, and rubber.

17. A training apparatus with a solid, deformable, resilient polyurethane foam for quadriceps setting, the polyurethane foam comprising: (a) a uniform density between 1 lb/ft.sup.3 and 8 lbs/ft.sup.3; (b) a horizontal partial cylindrical top surface, extending along a horizontal axis and comprising a recess curved along the horizontal axis and configured to receive a back of a user's knee; and (c) a base with a non-skid bottom, wherein the foam is configured to provide resistance to compression to the user's knee when the user's knee pushes into the recess, and an area of the bottom is at least as great as a vertical projected area of the top surface.

18. The training apparatus of claim 17, wherein the recess has a uniform depth along a horizontal direction perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

19. The training apparatus of claim 17, wherein: (a) the base is a cubic with a dimension of 5″×5″×3.5″ in length, width, and height; (b) the top surface has a dimension of 5″×5″×1.5″ in length, width, and height; and (c) the recess has a width of 4″ along the horizontal axis and a depth of 0.25″.

20. The training apparatus of claim 17, wherein the density is between 1.5 lbs/ft.sup.3 and 4.5 lbs/ft.sup.3.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OR PICTURES

[0013] FIG. 1A shows the perspective view of a preferred embodiment.

[0014] FIG. 1B shows a side view of the embodiment in FIG. 1A along the line A-A′.

[0015] FIG. 1C shows a side view of the embodiment in FIG. 1A along the line B-B′.

[0016] FIG. 2A shows the perspective view of an alternate preferred embodiment.

[0017] FIG. 2B shows a side view of the embodiment in FIG. 2A along the line C-C′.

[0018] FIG. 2C shows a side view of the embodiment in FIG. 2A along the line D-D′.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0019] The preferred embodiments are illustrated in FIGS. 1A-2C. A preferred embodiment (100) in FIGS. 1A-1C has a solid, deformable, resilient body with a top surface (110) with a recess (112) and a base (120) with a bottom (122). As shown in FIG. 1B, the top surface (110) of this embodiment (100) is a horizontal partial cylinder, extending along the line B-B′ while curved along the line A-A′, with the middle portion of the top surface (110) raised higher than the sides. The recess (112) of this embodiment (100) is located at the top surface (110) in the middle portion. The recess (112) is curved along the line B-B′ which is perpendicular to the line A-A′ so that the recess (112) conforms to the back of a user's knee when the user's leg rests on the embodiment (100) along the line A-A′.

[0020] An exemplary material of this preferred embodiment (100) is a solid open-cell polyurethane foam with a density ranging from 1.5 lbs/ft.sup.3 to 4.5 lbs/ft.sup.3. An exemplary dimension of this embodiment (100) is 5″×5″×5″ with a 5″×5″ bottom surface (122) of the base (120) contacting the surface the embodiment is placed on, the curve of the top surface (110), i.e. the perimeter of the horizontal partial cylinder (along the line A-A′), having a 2.83″ radius, and the curved recess (112) having a 2.32″ length (along the line A-A′), a 4″ width (along the line B-B′), and a 0.25″ height/depth.

[0021] Another preferred embodiment (200) is illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C. This embodiment (200) also has a top surface (210) with a recess (212) and a base (220). The body of this embodiment (200) is a trapezoid on the sides along the line C-C′. The top surface (210) in this embodiment (200) is flat and narrower than the bottom (222) of the base (220) along the line C-C′, and the recess (212) is curved along the line D-D′. This embodiment (200) is also 5″×5″×5″ in overall dimension and made of the same material as the previous embodiment (100) in FIGS. 1A-1C. Since this embodiment (200) has a smaller volume than that of the first embodiment (100), it thus would provide less deformation resistance and tactile feedback compared to the embodiment (100).

[0022] While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those ordinary skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit disclosed herein.

[0023] For instance, an exemplary body may have various densities, shapes, and dimensions in order to provide different resistances and tactile feedbacks. An exemplary body and its recess may additionally be of different shapes and dimensions in order to accommodate various sizes of the users' legs.