Total body strengthening and toning workstation and method of using same

Abstract

A stand-alone exercise apparatus includes a seat to support a user in a position thereon, and upper and lower body exercising assemblies which are configured for activation either sequentially of simultaneously to permit the concurrent exercising movement of his or her upper body area and lower body leg muscles, respectively, without necessitating that the user stop exercising when switching from upper body exercises to lower body exercises. The lower body exercising assembly includes a lower frame assembly which is operable to provide resistance exercise to the user's leg muscles, and which includes a selectively reciprocally movable pedal, platform or bar which is coupled to a suitable resistance mechanism and which is engageable by the user's feet and/or legs as they are moved together in unified movement to effect leg extensions or curls. The upper body exercising assembly includes one or more reciprocally movable frame members, hand pulleys or swing arms coupled to a resistance mechanism, and which are engageable by the user's hands and/or arms. The resistance mechanisms used to provide the selected resistance to the upper and lower exercising assemblies are operable independently from each other, and enable the user to select the degree of resistance to each of the upper and lower body exercising assemblies separately.

1 . An exercise apparatus for providing toning exercising movement of a user's upper and lower body muscle groups, the apparatus including, 
 a seat for supporting the user in a seated position thereon,    a lower frame assembly actuable to exercise leg muscles of said user, the lower frame assembly being selectively reciprocally movable from a first rest position to a second displaced position, and including a leg support having support surfaces which are engageable by a portion of both of said user's legs or feet, whereby engagement of the support surfaces by said user's legs or feet as said user's legs are symmetrically extended or retracted together in unison moves the lower frame assembly between said first rest and second displaced positions,    a first resistance mechanism coupled to said lower frame assembly and operable to selectively vary resistance to movement of the lower frame assembly,    an arm exercising assembly actuable to exercise arm muscles of said user, said arm exercising assembly including at least one reciprocally movable member, the at least one reciprocally movable member being reciprocally movable by the engagement of at least one of said user's arms or hands between an initial rest position and a subsequent displaced position,    a second resistance mechanism coupled to said arm exercising assembly and operable to selectively vary resistance to movement of said arm exercising assembly independently from said first resistance mechanism, whereby said lower frame assembly and said arm exercising assembly are selectively operable in at least one of simultaneous or alternating sequential movement,    a first pulley system mechanically coupling the lower frame assembly and the first resistance mechanism, and a second pulley system mechanically coupling the arm exercising assembly and the second resistance mechanism.    
   
   
       2 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said lower frame assembly and said arm exercising assembly are selectively operable in both simultaneous and alternating sequential movement.  
   
   
       3 . The exercise apparatus of  claim 2  wherein said first resistance mechanism is selected from the group consisting of a user selectable array of vertically displaceable weight plates, an array of resiliently deformable elastomeric members, and an array of resiliently deformable bendable rods.  
   
   
       4 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said arm exercising assembly comprises a pivotally movable upper frame and a pair of generally horizontally spaced hand grips mounted to said upper frame and positioned for gripping by said user, said hand grips being selectively reciprocally movable between a first position spaced a first vertical distance from said seat when said arm exercising assembly is in said initial rest position, and a second position moved vertically from said first position when said arm exercising assembly is in said displaced position.  
   
   
       5 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  wherein said first resistance mechanism is selected to provide a maximum leg resistance force selected less than about 300 lbs, preferably less than 250 lbs, and said second resistance mechanism is selected to provide a maximum arm resistance force of less than about 200 lbs, preferably less than 150 lbs.  
   
   
       6 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 5  wherein the lower frame assembly is actuable to perform leg presses, in said first rest position said support surface assumes a position spaced towards said seat at a proximal location selected to be engageable by said user's feet with said user's legs in a partially bent orientation, and in said second displaced position said support surface being moved to a distal location selected to be engageable by said user's feet with said user's legs in a fully extended orientation.  
   
   
       7 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 4  wherein said seat is positionable in a partially inclined orientation selected to support said user seated thereon during exercise of said arm muscles with said user's spine inclined at an angle of between about 10 and 60° from vertical.  
   
   
       8 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 7  wherein said seat is pivotable about a substantially horizontal axis between said partially inclined orientation, and a substantially upright orientation selected to support said user in the seated position thereon during exercise of said leg muscles with said user's spine aligned in a generally vertical orientation.  
   
   
       9 . An exercise apparatus for simultaneous toning of a user's arm, abdominal and leg muscles including, 
 a seat for supporting the user in a forward facing seated position,    a lower frame assembly actuable to provide exercising movement to said user's leg muscles, the lower frame assembly being reciprocally movable between a first rest position and a second displaced position, and including a leg support positioned for simultaneous symmetrical engagement by each of said user's legs and feet with said user's legs in substantially juxtaposed unison alignment, the leg support being actuable in movement by movement of said user's legs between extended and retracted positions to move the lower frame assembly between said first and second displaced positions,    a first resistance mechanism coupled to said lower frame assembly and actuable to selectively vary resistance to movement of the lower frame assembly,    an upper body exercising assembly actuable to provide exercising movement to said user's arm muscles, said upper body exercising assembly including at a reciprocally movable member which is movable by said user's arms between an initial rest position and a subsequent displaced position,    a second resistance mechanism coupled to said arm exercising member and operable to selectively vary resistance to movement of said arm exercising assembly independently from said first resistance mechanism, and    wherein said exercise apparatus comprises a free standing unitary workstation having a sub-frame, each of said lower frame assembly, said upper body exercising assembly and said first and second resistance mechanisms being coupled to said sub-frame.    
   
   
       10 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 9  further including a first pulley system mechanically coupling the lower frame assembly to said first resistance mechanism, and 
 a second pulley system mechanically coupling the upper body exercising assembly to the second resistance mechanism.    
   
   
       11 . The exercise apparatus of  claim 10  wherein each of the first and second resistance mechanisms comprise a user selectable stacked array of vertically displaceable weight plates.  
   
   
       12 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 9  wherein said arm exercising assembly further includes a pivotally movable upper frame, said pair of hand grips being coupled to said upper frame in a substantially horizontally aligned orientation when said arm exercising assembly is in said initial rest position, said hand grips being spaced a first vertical distance above said seat, and when said arm exercising assembly is in said subsequent displaced position said hand grips being moved vertically therefrom to a relocated position spaced a second vertical distance above the seat.  
   
   
       13 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 9  wherein said unitary workstation comprises a portable workstation, and wherein said first resistance mechanism is operable to provide a range of resistance forces selected less than a maximum of about 250 lbs, and said second resistance mechanism is operable to provide a range of resistance forces selected less than a maximum of about 150 lbs.  
   
   
       14 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 9  wherein said seat includes a seat back positionable in a first partially inclined orientation selected to support said user during exercise of said arm muscles and leg muscles with said user's spine inclined at an angle of between about 10 and 60° from vertical, and a second substantially upright orientation selected to support said user seated thereon with said user's spine aligned in a generally upright orientation.  
   
   
       15 . An exercise apparatus for providing simultaneous toning exercising movement of a user's arm, abdominal and leg muscle groups, the apparatus including, 
 a seat for supporting the user in a seated position thereon,    a leg exercising assembly actuable to exercise quadriceps, hip or glutius muscles of said user's right and left legs in substantially unified movement, and including a leg support which is engageable by both of said user's legs and/or feet, said leg support being selectively reciprocally movable from a first rest position to a second displaced position, whereby engagement of the leg support by said user's legs and/or feet as said user's legs are moved together in symmetrical movement actuates the leg support in movement between said first rest and second displaced positions,    a first resistance mechanism coupled to said lower frame assembly and operable to selectively vary resistance to movement of the leg support,    an arm exercising assembly actuable to exercise arm muscles of said user's right and left arms in substantially unified movement, said arm exercising assembly including a pair of hand grips which in the activation of the arm exercising assembly are reciprocally movable by engagement of said user's arms and/or hands between an initial rest position and a subsequent displaced position,    a second resistance mechanism coupled to said arm exercising assembly and operable independently from said first resistance mechanism to selectively vary resistance to movement of said hand grips, and whereby said leg exercising assembly and said arm exercising assembly are operable simultaneously to move said leg support from said first rest position to said second displaced position while said hand grips move from said initial rest position to said subsequent displaced position.    
   
   
       16 . The exercise apparatus of  claim 15  further including a first pulley system mechanically coupling the leg exercising assembly to the first resistance mechanism, and a second pulley system mechanically coupling the arm exercising assembly to the second resistance mechanism, each of said first and second resistance mechanisms being selected from the group consisting of a user selectable array of vertically displaceable weight plates, and an array of resiliently deformable bendable rods.  
   
   
       17 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 16  wherein said arm exercising assembly further includes a pivotally movable upper frame, said pair of hand grips being coupled to said upper frame at substantially horizontally aligned positions spaced vertically above said seat, wherein in said initial rest position, said hand grips being spaced a first distance above said seat, and in said subsequent displaced position being vertically spaced therefrom.  
   
   
       18 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 17  wherein said apparatus comprises a unitary stand-alone workout station, said first resistance mechanism being operable to provide a range of resistance forces selected less than a maximum of about 250 lbs, and said second resistance mechanism being operable to provide a range of resistance forces selected less than a maximum of about 150 lbs.  
   
   
       19 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 17  wherein the leg exercising assembly includes a movable lower frame member, said leg support being coupled to said lower frame member for reciprocal movement therewith and actuable by said user to perform leg extensions.  
   
   
       20 . The exercise apparatus as claimed in  claim 19  wherein said seat includes a seat back positionable in a first partially inclined orientation selected to support said user seated thereon during exercise of said arm muscles with said user's spine inclined at an angle of between about 10 and 40° from vertical, and a second substantially upright orientation selected to support said user seated thereon during exercise of said leg muscles with said user's spine aligned in a generally upright orientation.