Foldable Multifunctional Training Equipment

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to sportsmen and women, whether professionals or amateurs, who live in the city or in flats of few square metres and want to have a bodybuilding equipment at home, offering them a more complete bodybuilding equipment and configured to occupy the smallest possible space.

In the current state of the art, there are different bodybuilding equipment for home use, but they are not designed for use in small spaces, and those that are, do not meet the minimum requirements for progressive muscle development, lacking important elements, for example, the lack of more weights to increase the load, or specific exercises important for lower body muscle development, such as a 45° press, quadriceps extensions and lying femoral curl. Therefore, to train the lower body at home, for a bodybuilder, the current home machines are insufficient, limiting their training to private gyms.

More specifically, the following exercises are important for working the lower body, and currently, it is not possible to perform them with a home machine.

Thus, for example, the 45° leg press is an indispensable element for any gym, as it involves practically all the muscles of the legs, focusing more on the quadriceps and calves, so a high volume of load is needed (i.e., more weight to lift). The main disadvantages why these presses are not used in domestic use are:

Another essential leg exercise is leg extensions, as they work the quadriceps, which is the most powerful and voluminous muscle in the leg, occupying almost a third of its volume. The disadvantages for home training are:

The lying femoral curl trains the femoral leg muscles, which are the muscles at the back of the legs, also known as the hamstrings. The problems that make it impossible to train the femoral leg curl lying down include:

, In the multifunctional equipment available on the market, the femoral curl is usually worked standing, using the leg extension tool, but it is more uncomfortable and complicated to work.

The power rack or power cage is a tool that allows you to perform a variety of strength and power exercises, allowing you to lift very heavy loads safely. It is a great help, both to develop muscles and simply to tone up. The disadvantages of these machines for use in a domestic environment are:

In short, the weight training equipment available on the market for general training of the entire musculature (multifunctional equipment) is not effective or sufficient for lower body weight training. To overcome these shortcomings, a large financial investment is currently required, with the use of independent equipment that takes up a large amount of space, which prevents its use in domestic environments, particularly in private homes in large cities.

Therefore, there is a need for a single piece of equipment that allows a complete and sufficiently loaded training of the lower body, so that it can be used by bodybuilders and/or professional athletes in a domestic environment, which requires that it takes up as little space as possible.

The object of the present invention is to provide a foldable multifunctional training equipment that makes it possible to reduce the volume occupied by a multifunctional bodybuilding equipment, at the same time as it is supplemented with a foldable equipment configured to perform the exercises most commonly used in the training of the lower body, increasing the load with the weights corresponding to this type of exercises. It is another object of the invention that the foldable multifunctional training equipment can be closed in a drawer or cupboard, in such a way that it can be stored as if it were a piece of furniture. These objects are achieved with the equipment of claim. Particular and/or preferred solutions of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

More specifically, the equipment of the invention comprises a foldable power cage, configured to add to it a system of pulleys and towers of weights guided as a load, designed for folding the whole assembly in the smallest possible space, to which is added a removable tool for a guided bar and a second foldable assembly for leg training comprising: a bench and a seat with adjustable position; a 45° leg press; a set configured to train quadriceps extensions; and a set configured to train the lying femoral curl.

Thanks to the equipment of the invention, a multifunctional training equipment is obtained that is different from those described in the state of the art, more complete and in a smaller space. It is, therefore, a more versatile piece of equipment, as it allows all the muscle groups to be exercised in reduced spaces, facilitating access to those athletes who, because they live in cities or small houses, do not have enough space for a complete gym at home.

Throughout the description and the claims, the word “comprises” and variants thereof are not intended to exclude other technical features, additives, components or steps. To those skilled in the art, other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be apparent in part from the invention and in part from the practice of the invention. The following examples and drawings are provided by way of illustration and are not intended to restrict the present invention. Furthermore, the invention covers all possible combinations of particular and preferred embodiments indicated herein.

The training equipment according to the present invention is shown in. This figure identifies the main parts, technical means or assemblies comprising the equipment of the invention. The training equipment comprises, at least:

lower body training aids () that are foldable and transformable for performing the exercise of leg press at 45° (), leg extensions () and/or lying femoral curl ();

Thanks to this structure, the different parts that make up the training equipment of the invention do not interfere with each other, facilitating the performance of the different training exercises. Furthermore, the training means () and the guided bar () can be used independently of each other.

shows an isolated view of the main structure of the training equipment, i.e. the foldable power cage (), whose main characteristic that the cage structure must have is that its folding must not interfere with the other elements incorporated in the machine, i.e. the lower body training means (), the means for positioning the guided bar (); the guided weight towers () and the power transmission means (). To this end, the foldable power cage structure (), in turn, comprises:

shows in detail the locking system of the hinges () that facilitate the folding of the power cage (). The arms (,) in addition to their “L” profile are designed with an upper clearance and locking protrusions () configured to block the opening and closing movement of the arms (,) of the cage () at different angles.

Thanks to this arrangement, the arms (,) can be opened depending on the exercise to be performed at the time. In fact, to open or close the arms (,), the arms (,) are simply lifted, folded or unfolded, and then dropped downwards so that they engage the locking lugs () and are retained in position. Finally, a clamping nut or pin (a retainer,) secures the locking position at the chosen angle of the power cage ().

In a particular embodiment, the locking system of the arms (,) will comprise of a single pin, the presence of the locking bosses () not being necessary.

The lower body training means () are shown in.

The lower body training means () are configured as a folding seat or bench () with which three of the most important exercises for working the leg muscles can be performed, the bench can be folded out into three different pieces of equipment in the smallest possible space and can be loaded with weight with the towers ().

In addition, working the lower body requires robust and strong equipment that can bear a lot of weight, so it is not obvious to integrate it into a single foldable piece of equipment. More specifically, the lower body training equipment () comprises, at least:

a foldable and collapsible press base (), wherein said base () is configured as a seat on one of its sides and is divisible into two parts for performing the lying femoral curl exercise (best described in);

The structure of the bench and the adjustable seat are shown in.

The first function which is available only by unfolding the lower body training means () in its use as a bench and/or adjustable seat, since without unfolding any other element, a bench with a padded upholstery is obtained for performing various types of exercises such as, for example, and without limitation, the bench press lying down, seated shoulder press, among others, for which there is a rod () configured to hold the backrest () at the appropriate angle with respect to the seat ().

shows the configuration for performing the leg press exercise at 45°.

To carry out this exercise, the lower face of the base () configured as a seat is used and the removable backrest () is placed in its corresponding anchorage, thus configuring the typical structure of a leg press at 45°. Its weight load would be regulated by means of the towers () whose power would be transmitted through the power transmission means () and, specifically, through the two lower central pulleys (,) and their corresponding transmission cables. Likewise, during the configuration of the structure we have the option of blocking the guided carriage () using retaining bars or supports that are operated by means of levers located on the sides of the “U” shaped guides ().

Optionally, it is possible to place the second tool () to add additional weights or loads and increase the load even more if necessary. Thanks to the two guided weight towers (), however, the number of additional weights or loads will always be much lower than would be required with a separate machine specifically for this exercise.

shows the configuration for performing the leg extensions exercise.

In this case, the reclining or adjustable seat shown in the configuration of, will be used with the lower body support structure () in its horizontal position, deploying legs, to which only the first tool () configured to train the quadriceps and femoral muscles will be incorporated, in such a way that it is possible to lift the load configured on the guided weight towers () by means of the power transmission means () and, specifically, by means of the two lower central pulleys (,) and their corresponding transmission cables.

shows the setup for performing the lying femoral curl exercise.

As for training the quadriceps, the first tool () is also used, configured for the exercise of the femoral “curl”, completely tilting the bench for its practice. The load is configured on the guided weight towers () by means of the power transmission means () and, specifically, by means of the two lower pulleys central (,) and their corresponding transmission cables. The particularity in this exercise, as shown in, is that the base () can be divided into two parts and raised at the junction area, so that the user can give the necessary inclination to the bench, which is typical of this type of equipment, for the best use of the load and user comfort.

shows the means for positioning a guided rod ().

In the state of the art, guided bar equipment has a fixed bar attached to two bearing guides on each side. This structure poses a problem, as it would be impossible to fold the device with a fixed cross bar, which would make it undesirable to dispense with it.

Therefore, in order to provide the equipment with a guided bar without losing the folding capacity of the equipment as a whole, it has been necessary to design an accessory (the positioning means (), located on the arms (,) of the cage ()) that allows the guided bar to be positioned and removed, in such a way that it is possible to fold the equipment and, in addition, to use the loose bar for other exercises, either as an Olympic bar or as a non-Olympic straight bar.

The means for positioning a guided rod () comprises:

In a particular embodiment, the positioning means () will be materialised by means of nylon sheets on the inside which will act as a sliding element.

shows the power transmission means (). The power transmission means () are composed of a plurality of pulleys (to) and cables, preferably of steel, which allow the structure of the equipment, i.e., the power cage (), to be folded. For this purpose, it has been necessary to solve the following technical problems:

In order to overcome these disadvantages, the power transmission means () have been designed in such a way that the transmission cables are passed through a conduit () located in the opening axis of the arms (,) of the power cage () by adding a double pulley (), so that the combination between the conduit and the double pulley allows the arms (,) to be folded without untensioning the transmission cables (). This configuration also means that the other elements are not hindered and increases the number of stretching points necessary for working with the equipment of the invention, even if the space available is very limited.