IT202300001227A1 - “TRAINING EQUIPMENT” - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION

Attached to the patent application for industrial invention entitled:

?training equipment?

The present invention refers to an apparatus for "isoinertial training", often also called "flywheel training". This training methodology is now widely established and widespread in the field of physical exercise and has demonstrated its usefulness in training for various sports disciplines, as well as in physical rehabilitation and injury prevention, thanks to its ability to induce physiological and neuromuscular adaptations that are useful for increasing muscle strength and hypertrophy.

The growing interest in physical activity and training, even at an amateur level, has accelerated the study and research in this field, contributing to the development of new working methods, new machinery and equipment, as well as the development of software dedicated to carrying out specific and innovative exercises compared to traditional ones.

As regards the technology of the isoinertial machines introduced above, it essentially comes back to a system in which an inertial mass consisting of a flywheel and set in rotation by a user, produces a resistance for the operator himself during both the concentric and eccentric phases of the exercise. This makes it clearly distinguishable from other ergometer devices (such as cycle ergometers and rowing machines) where the resistance of the flywheel acts only during the concentric phase. Specifically, an isoinertial machine is commonly equipped with a flywheel and a flexible traction device, generally a belt or a rope, which unwinds and re-winds on the flywheel shaft, in alternating directions. At the beginning of the exercise, the traction device is partially or completely wrapped around this shaft. During the concentric phase of the exercise, the traction device is pulled by the operator and begins to unwind from the shaft, setting it in rotation together with the flywheel connected to it. At the end of the concentric movement, when the flexible traction device is completely unrolled, the flywheel mass continues to rotate in the same direction due to its inertia, rewinding the flexible traction device on the same shaft, but in the opposite direction. During this (eccentric) phase, the operator practices trying to slow down or stop the rewinding of the traction device, so as to be able to interrupt the exercise or start a new concentric phase, in which the traction device begins a new unwinding from the shaft.

Isoinertial training apparatus of this type are described in previous documents: US 1,783,376, US 3,841,627, WO 90/10475 and US 6,283,899.

The drawbacks of this type of machine essentially derive from the fact that the resistance in opposition to the muscular work of the operator, both in the concentric phase and in the eccentric phase, depends on the inertia of the flywheel, which is determined by the mass, the diameter and the distribution of the mass along the diameter of the flywheel itself. Therefore, in order to vary the resistance it is commonly necessary to change different flywheels or the masses arranged on them. The limited practicality in changing the resistances of these machines is burdensome, in particular when an operator must perform different exercises with the same machine and which require different resistances, or when the same machine is used alternately by subjects with different levels of strength, as can happen in gyms or on sports teams.

In fact, this method of varying resistance requires the time required to remove and attach several flywheels (or masses) on the rotation shaft.

The purpose of this invention is therefore to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, eliminating the need to modify the resistance by acting directly on the flywheel or by using a tapered shaft to modify the exercise resistance.

The invention, as it is characterized by the claims, achieves the purpose thanks to the use of a rotational pulley, connected to a flexible traction device (generally a belt or a rope), and mounted on a pin, on which at least one additional flywheel is fixed, which can be connected or disconnected from the pulley using a special attachment system. In this way, the flywheel (which acts as additional resistance) is already present on the isoinertial device and only needs to be attached to the pulley, making the operation considerably quicker. Furthermore, this system helps to keep the training environment tidier, as the flywheels are already all inserted in the device and do not need to be removed and placed on special shelves.

Further advantages and features of the invention will be more clearly evident in the detailed description that follows, made with reference to figure 1 in the attachment.

As shown in figure one, the present invention includes a support structure (101) and a pin (102) connected to it. A rotational pulley (103) is inserted on the pin to which a cord (104) is fixed that can roll up and unroll from the rotational pulley (103) itself, so as to be able to perform the exercise by exploiting the isoinertial resistance of the rotating pulley. Ideally, inside the rotational pulley (103) there are bearings (109a; 109b) that aid its rotation by reducing friction. A rotational flywheel (105) is also inserted on the pin (102), ideally also having a bearing (109c) inside it. The rotational flywheel (105) has a hooking system (106) that allows it to be connected to the rotational pulley (103). The illustrated coupling system (106) comprises a pin (106a) screwed onto the rotation flywheel (105) and capable of being further screwed onto a complementary hole (106b) present on the rotational pulley (103). The figure also shows a second flywheel (107), with rotational bearing (109d) and coupling system (108) similar to the first coupling system (106), capable of connecting to the opposite side of the rotational pulley (103). The support structure also features a coupling system (110) which allows the device to be fixed to a fixed support during use.

Claims (5)

1. Isoinertial training apparatus, characterised by a support structure (101) and a pin (102), on which is inserted at least one rotational pulley (103) with a connected cord (104) capable of rolling up and unrolling from the rotational pulley (103) and at least one rotational flywheel (105), which can be connected to the rotational pulley (103) via a hooking system (106) so as to vary the inertia of the rotational pulley (103). 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the coupling system (106) is composed of at least one pin (106a) screwed onto the rotation flywheel (105) and capable of fitting into a special complementary hole (106b) present on the rotational pulley (103). 3. System according to claims 1 and 2 characterised in that at least one other rotational flywheel (107) is inserted on the pin (102) which is able to fix itself on the opposite side of the rotational pulley (103) through a special attachment system (108), similar to the first attachment system (106), so as to further vary the inertia. 4. System according to claims 1, 2 and 3 characterised in that both inside the rotational pulley (103) and inside the rotational flywheels (105; 107) there are bearings (109a; 109b; 109c; 109d) to optimise their rotation on the pin (102). 5. Apparatus according to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4 characterised in that the support structure (101) has a special attachment system (110) to be fixed to a support during use.