Exercise appliance for abdominal muscles and method of using same

Abstract

An exercise appliance for conditioning the abdominal muscles of an individual includes an elastically resilient structure presenting a yieldable contact surface which provides a restoring force against a force applied thereto. The contact surface has a contour suitably sized and shaped to be at least partially fittable in the space formed between a support surface and a static lordotic curve of a lumbar back of an individual positioned with a remaining portion of the back of the individual in contact with the support surface. By positioning the resiliently yieldable portion of the appliance in the space formed between a support surface and the lumbar back, subsequent attempts by the individual to straighten the lumbar curvature by contraction of the abdominal muscles, forces the lumbar spine to flatten against the counter-force provided by the appliance, conditioning the abdominal muscles responsible for the action. In a further embodiment, the exercise appliance allows selection of the degree of resistance provided by the contact surface, allowing efficient use by individuals of varying levels of physical conditioning.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An exercise appliance for strengthening and toning the abdominal muscles, comprising: 
 a pair of lateral supports sufficiently spaced apart to permit reception of the individual therebetween; and    an elastic layer tensioned between said lateral support structure.    
     
     
         2 . The exercise appliance according to  claim 1 , further comprising in combination: 
 an exercise bench to which said exercise appliance is mounted.    
     
     
         3 . The exercise appliance according to  claim 1 , further comprising means for selectively varying a degree of tension of said elastic layer.  
     
     
         4 . A method of strengthening and toning the abdominal muscles of an individual, comprising the steps of: 
 providing an elastically resilient structure presenting a yieldable contact surface adapted to fit between a static lumbar lordosis of a back of the individual and a support surface when a remaining portion of the individual's back is positioned against the support surface;    positioning said structure between the support surface and the static lumbar lordosis such that the individual's lumbar back is contactable with at least a portion of said contact surface;    supporting at least a portion of said structure in fixed relation with the support surface such that motion of said structure in response to applied force is substantially limited to that attributable to deformation thereof;    straightening the static lumbar lordosis against said resistive counterforce;    returning the static lumbar lordosis at least partially to said static lumbar lordosis; and    repeating said steps of straightening and returning a sufficient number of times to progressively strengthen and condition the abdominal muscles.    
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said step of straightening is accomplished by a contraction of one of a lower and upper region of a rectus abdominous, substantially independent of a remaining one.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein said yieldable contact surface is a portion of an exterior of a resiliently compressible envelope of shape.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , compressible envelope of shape is a mass comprised of a resiliently deformable material.  
     
     
         8 . The exercise appliance according to  claim 7 , wherein said resiliently deformable material includes elastic foam.  
     
     
         9 . The exercise appliance according to  claim 5 , wherein said envelope of shape is an inflated balloon.  
     
     
         10 . An abdominal exercise kit for use in strengthening abdominal muscles of a user, said kit comprising: 
 a plurality of resiliently compressible bodies at least partially fittable between a support surface and a static lumbar lordosis of the user, members of at least a portion of said plurality of bodies each including a different modulus of elasticity.