Resistance Band Adapter for a Barbell

The current application claims a priority to the U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/637,750 filed on Apr. 23, 2024.

The present invention generally relates to accessory adapters and exercise equipment. More specifically, the present invention discloses a removable collar adapter that slips over a barbell sleeve to facilitate the safe and secure looping of a resistance band to the barbell's collar.

The design of an Olympic barbell is over 100 years old and was designed for lifting weight plates. In general, barbells include an elongated shaft with two cylindrical sleeves at each end of the shaft. The weight plates are designed so that the weight plates can be slid over the barbell sleeves by including a center hole on the weight plate. In addition, two sleeve collars are used to separate the barbell sleeves from the barbell shaft, and some designs allow the barbell sleeves to rotate about the central axis of the barbell shaft. Further, the outer surface of the sleeve collar serves as a stop and locating reference point when loading weight plates on the barbell.

The sleeve collars are positioned in the ideal area for the placement of a resistance band, between the knurled gripping area and the plate loading area of the barbell. However, these sleeve collars are in most cases too narrow and too smooth to securely hold resistant bands, which can pose an injury risk to the user. Thus, there needs to be a safe and efficient alternative to facilitate the attachment of resistance bands to a barbell for exercising.

The present invention discloses a resistance band adapter for a barbell. The present invention facilitates the attachment of resistance bands to a barbell to increase the overall load on the user while exercising. The present invention includes a cylindrical adapter with a design that matches the design of the barbell's sleeves and collars. This way, the present invention can be slid over the barbell sleeve and engage the corresponding sleeve collar. The present invention can be designed for sleeve collars with circular-shaped cross-sections, hexagonal-shaped cross-sections, or other commercially available sleeve collars with different cross-sectional shapes. Once engaged, the corresponding sleeve collar is covered by the present invention to accommodate the desired resistance band around the sleeve collar. Two units of the present invention should be used to position two resistance bands on both sleeves of the barbell so that the added resistance is evenly distributed along the barbell shaft.

Further, the adapter of the present invention is designed so that once the adapter is engaged to the corresponding sleeve collar, the mounted weights and the attached barbell clamp keep the adapter in place. This way, the adapter of the present invention nor the attached resistance band obstruct the mounting of the desired weight plates to the barbell. Furthermore, the present invention can include different features that facilitate the use and/or storage of the present invention. For example, different units of the present invention can include ornamental designs with different colors, patterns, decorations, etc., that help the user identify the selected unit and/or the unit's recommended use. Additional features and benefits of the present invention are further discussed in the sections below.

All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The present invention discloses a resistant band adapter for a barbell that can be utilized to facilitate the safe and efficient attachment of a resistance band to the desired barbell to improve the efficiency of the exercise being performed. As can be seen in, the present invention comprises a cylindrical body, a first flange, a second flange, a first adapter hole, and a second adapter holeThe cylindrical bodycorresponds to the main structure of the present invention that facilitates the attachment of the desired resistance band to the target barbell. The first flangeand the second flangelimit the lateral movement of the attached resistance band to prevent the resistance band from disengaging the cylindrical bodyThe first adapter holeenables the cylindrical bodyto slide along the selected barbell sleeve of the target barbell. The second adapter holeenables the cylindrical bodyto engage the corresponding sleeve collar of the selected barbell sleeve.

The general configuration of the aforementioned components enables the user to safely attach resistance bands to a barbell to increase the efficiency of the exercise being performed. As can be seen in, the cylindrical bodyis preferably designed to fit over the corresponding sleeve collar without obstructing the mounting of weight plates to the barbell sleeve. In general, the cylindrical bodycomprises a lateral walla first base, and a second base. The lateral wallcorresponds to the cylindrical wall of the cylindrical bodywhile the first baseand the second basecorrespond to the cylindrical bases of the cylindrical body

In the preferred embodiment, the present invention can be arranged as follows: the lateral wallthe first flange, the second flange, the first adapter hole, and the second adapter holeare axially aligned with each other to form an overall cylindrical structure, as can be seen inThe first baseand the second baseare also positioned opposite to each other about the cylindrical bodydue to the overall lengthof the cylindrical bodyIn addition, the lateral wallis positioned in between the first baseand the second basesince the cylindrical bodyis preferably designed as a solid body. Further, the first adapter holetraverses through the cylindrical bodyfrom the first baseto the second baseto form a through hole that allows the cylindrical bodyto slide along the selected barbell sleeve.

On the other hand, the second adapter holetraverses into the cylindrical bodyfrom the second baseto form a bore that engages the corresponding sleeve collar, as can be seen inFurther, the first flangeis perimetrically connected around the first basewhile the second flangeis perimetrically connected around the second base. This way, an external groove is formed on the cylindrical bodythat accommodates the desired resistance band.

The present invention can be designed with different dimensions to accommodate barbells of different sizes. In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention can be designed to slide over a 50-millimeter (mm) barbell sleeve and the corresponding sleeve collar which is usually about one and a half inches (in.) wide and two and half to three in. in diameter. To accommodate these dimensions, the cylindrical bodyhas an outer diameterof about four inches. The diameterof the first adapter holeis also smaller than the diameterof the second adapter holeFor example, the first adapter holehas an overall diameterof two in., and the second adapter holehas an overall diameterof two and half to three in. In addition, the depthof the second adapter holeis less than half the lengthof the lateral wallFor example, the lengthof the cylindrical bodycan be two to three in., and the second adapter holecan be one to two and half in. deep depending on the manufacturer of the barbell and/or other manufacturing factors. In other embodiments, different dimensions can be implemented to accommodate barbells of different size.

Further, the depthof the second adapter holeshould not be deeper than the width of the collar of the sleeve so that the cylindrical bodystops at the outer face of the sleeve collar, as can be seen in. For example, an Ivanko barbell has a sleeve collar that is 1.625 in. wide, so the depthof the second adapter holeshould be about one and a half in. deep. In addition, a collar-bracing annular ledgeis formed within the cylindrical bodyat an intersection of the first adapter holeand the second adapter holeThis way, when the present invention is held in place by the barbell clamp, the collar-bracing annular ledgeis pressed against the outer face of the sleeve collar. In other embodiments, different clamping mechanisms can be utilized to secure the present invention to the barbell. In addition, the second adapter holecan be in the shape of a hexagon to prevent rotation of the cylindrical bodyabout the corresponding sleeve collar.

In some embodiments, the outer diameterof the first flangeis equal to the outer diameterof the second flange & The thicknessof the first flangeis also equal to the thicknessof the second flange, as can be seen inFor example, the outer diameterof the first flangeand the second flangeshould be about four in. for a sleeve collar with a three in. diameter. This allows for a reduced diameter of the cylindrical bodyof three and a half in. In other words, the grooved formed for the resistance band is a quarter in. deep. The outer diameterand thicknessof the first flangeand the second flangelimit how deep the groove can be. For example, a four in. cylindrical bodywith a three in. second adapter holeallows for a groove of a little over 0.25 in. Most resistance bands used for this purpose are 0.25 in. or less. This ensures that the groove is deeper than the thickness of the attached resistance band. In other embodiments, the first flangeand the second flangecan have different outer diameters and/or thicknesses.

In the preferred embodiment, the inner surfaces of the first flangeand the second flangeare not parallel to facilitate the centering of the resistance band on the cylindrical bodyAs can be seen in, the first flangecomprises a first outer annular surfaceand a first inner annular surfacecorresponding to the two opposite annular surfaces of the first flange. The first outer annular surfacecoincides with the first base, while the first inner annular surfaceis positioned offset to the first outer surface. This way, the first flangeis positioned around the perimeter of the first base. Further, the first inner annular surfaceis oriented at a first acute anglewith the first outer annular surfaceto guide the attached resistance band towards the center of the cylindrical body

Likewise, the second flangecomprises a second outer annular surfaceand a second inner annular surfacecorresponding to the two opposite annular surfaces of the second flange, as can be seen inThe second outer annular surfacecoincides with the second base, while the second inner annular surfaceis positioned offset to the second outer surface. This way, the second flangeis positioned around the perimeter of the second base. Further, the second inner annular surfaceis oriented at a second acute anglewith the second outer annular surfaceto guide the attached resistance band towards the center of the cylindrical body

In some embodiments, the first acute angleand the second acute angleare equal, each being approximately in the range of 10 to 30 degrees. However, the first flangeand the second flangedo not have to be symmetrical, as can be seen inFor example, the second flangemay have a 30-degree angle because the second flangeis positioned on the side that is most used for an anchor point. On the other hand, the first flangemay have a 10-degree angle. Further, the inner outer edges of the first flangeand the second flangecan be rounded to help guide the attached resistance band into the formed groove as well as to prevent damage or cause wear during the movement of the barbell. The rounded inner outer edges of the first flangeand the second flangecan have a radius of 0.030 to 0.125 in. depending on the width of the cylindrical bodyA wider cylindrical bodyallows for a wider groove with steeper inner annular surfaces and inner outer edges with larger radii. In other embodiments, different protective features can be implemented to prevent damage to the attached resistance band.

In general, the material used in the manufacture of the present invention can be metal or plastic, which would also influence the depth of the formed groove, as can be seen in. Further, different external features can be implemented that increase the overall functionality of the present invention. For example, the combined exterior surface of the cylindrical body, the first flange, and the second flangecan be inscribed with a specific color which can be used to color-code the present invention. Specific colors can be used to indicate which barbell the present invention can be used with. This is useful when barbells of different sizes are available, and the user needs to determine which sizes of the present invention are necessary. In other embodiments, additional features can be utilized to help the user identify the correct unit of the present invention that needs to be used with a desired barbell.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.