Exercise frame

Abstract

A floor plate is suitably sized to receive a wheelchair and also supports a base frame along rear and side edges. Prepositioned brackets on the floor plate secure the base frame using quick-connect fasteners. Opposite side portions of the base frame carry elevated, horizontal, tubular, side housings that telescope over elongated exercise bars. A fastener secures each exercise bar in a housing at a variably selected degree of insertion. An upright tube at the rear of the base frame has an open top forming a socket. An upright standard engages the socket and carries an overhead bar supporting a transverse crossbar over the center of the floor plate. The ends of the crossbar, the front ends of exercise bars, the front end of the floor plate, and various other locations on the base frame carry C-shaped attachments for clip-on resistance members. The attachments are sized to serve as handgrips. Casters on the rear edge of the floor plate are moved into ground-engaged positions with the upward tilting of the front of the floor plate, which is aided by the use of handgrip attachments on the front of the floor plate. Fasteners securing the base frame to all other components are quickly released for rapid disassembly of the exercise frame, enabling it to be transported by hand or by vehicle to a next site.

1 . A portable exercise frame, convertible between assembled and disassembled configurations, wherein the exercise frame in assembled configuration comprises:
 a floor plate having first and second side edges, a rear edge, and a front edge;   a base frame carried on said floor plate with portions of the base frame establishing opposite, first and second side frames located near opposite, first and second side edges of the floor plate, and a rear frame located near a rear edge of the floor plate, together with said front edges of the floor plate defining an operator area suitably sized to receive thereon a user in a wheelchair;   said opposite, first and second side frames each including an upstanding portion carrying a respective first and second longitudinally elongated side housing spaced above the floor plate and defining a passage oriented from front-to-rear of the floor plate, spaced above the floor plate at approximately shoulder height of user seated in a wheelchair in said operator area;   first and second longitudinally elongated exercise bars slidably received in said passages of said respective first and second side housings such that the exercise bars are slidable between a forward extended position and a retracted position with respect to said operator area;   exercise bar fastening means for releasably securing said first and second longitudinally elongated exercise bars in a selected position through the respective side housings, chosen from a plurality of available positions; and   a plurality of anchoring members configured suitably for, in use, attaching a resistance element to said exercise frame when the frame is in assembled configuration and suitable for hand engagement for carrying disassembled portions of the exercise frame when in disassembled configuration, wherein at least some of said anchoring members are mounted to the floor plate, to the base frame, and to the exercise bars.   
     
     
         2 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 1 , wherein in assembled configuration said base frame is arranged in a predetermined position on said floor plate and further comprises:
 a plurality of brackets secured to said floor plate in fixed positions bordering said predetermined position on the floor plate, wherein said brackets and said base frame define apertures that are mutually aligned when the base frame is in the predetermined position; and   base frame fastening means removably carried in said mutually aligned apertures of the base frame and brackets, for securing the base frame in the predetermined position on the floor plate.   
     
     
         3 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 1 , wherein said rear frame of said base frame comprises:
 a rear bar arranged transversely along the rear edge of said floor plate;   an upright bar connected to said rear bar near the center of the rear bar and defining an open-topped socket housing at the top end of the rear bar;   first and second junction bars, each connected at a first end to said upright bar and respectively connected at the second end to a component of said first and second side frames; and   a body support member located forward of said upright bar and extending into said operator area, positionable to engage the back of a user in a wheelchair backed into the operator area.   
     
     
         4 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 3 , wherein:
 said second ends of said first and second junction bars respectively are connected to said first and second longitudinally elongated side housings.   
     
     
         5 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 1 , wherein said base frame further comprises:
 an upwardly open socket housing located near a vertical rear plane of the floor plate;   a upright standard removably carried in said socket;   an overhead bar extending forward from near the top of said standard to near the center of said floor plate; and   an elongated crossbar transversely connected to said overhead bar near a forward end of the overhead bar and carrying at least one of said anchoring members near each longitudinal end of the crossbar.   
     
     
         6 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a pair of laterally spaced caster wheels attached near the rear edge of said floor plate, arranged to be engage an underlying floor when the front edge of the floor plate is elevated; and   wherein said anchoring members mounted to the floor plate include at least a spaced pair of hand engagable anchoring members attached near the front edge of the floor plate for elevating the front edge to engage said caster wheels with the underlying surface.   
     
     
         7 . A portable exercise frame, comprising:
 a generally rectangular floor plate having first and second side edges, a rear edge, and a front edge;   a base frame having a rear bar, a first side bar, and a second side bar supporting the base frame on said floor plate, wherein said rear bar is arranged along said rear edge of the floor plate, said first side bar is arranged along said first side edge of the floor plate, and said second side bar thereof arranged along a said second side edge of the floor plate opposite from the first side edge, together with said front edges of the floor plate defining an operator area suitably sized to receive thereon a user in a wheelchair;   base frame fastening means for securing said base frame to the floor plate, wherein said base frame fastening means also are releasable for disassembling the base frame from the floor plate;   a first tubular housing joined to said base plate and spaced above said first side bar at said first side of the floor plate at approximately shoulder height with respect to a user seated in a wheelchair in said operator area, having an open core positioned in a front-to-rear orientation with respect to the floor plate;   a first elongated exercise bar, engagable in a front-to-rear orientation in said first tubular housing, and defining a longitudinally spaced plurality of transverse apertures;   exercise bar fastening means for securing said exercise bar to the first tubular housing at a selected one of said spaced plurality of transverse apertures, wherein said exercise bar fastening means also is releasable for altering the horizontal position of the first exercise bar in the first tubular housing or disassembling the exercise bar from the first tubular housing; and   a plurality of anchoring members configured for, in use, attaching a resistance element to said exercise frame when the frame is in assembled configuration, and for hand engagement for carrying disassembled portions of the exercise frame when the frame is in disassembled configuration, wherein at least some of said anchoring members are mounted near the front edge of the floor plate, to the base frame, and near the front end of the first exercise bar.   
     
     
         8 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 7 , further comprising:
 a socket housing spaced above said rear bar at said rear edge of the floor plate, having an open top and positioned in an upright orientation with respect to the floor plate;   an upright standard engagable at a bottom end thereof in said socket housing;   a fastener securing the standard in the socket housing, wherein said fastener also is releasable for permitting removal of the standard from the socket housing;   an overhead bar connected to the standard at a position spaced upwardly from the socket housing, wherein said overhead bar extends forward from the standard to a position overlying a central area of said floor plate;   a crossbar connected to the overhead bar at a position overlying a central area of the floor plate, wherein said crossbar extends transversely from the overhead bar and carries at least one of said anchoring means near each end.   
     
     
         9 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 7 , wherein said base frame fastening means comprises:
 a plurality of brackets affixed to said floor plate in a pattern defining a predetermined area of the floor plate for receiving said base frame with at least two of the brackets juxtaposed to each of said rear bar, first side bar, and second side bar when the base frame is received on said predetermined area, wherein said brackets and base frame define pairs of pin-receiving apertures that are mutually aligned when the base frame is positioned on said predetermined area; and   a plurality of quick-release pin fasteners engaged in said pairs of mutually aligned apertures, releasably securing the base frame to the floor plate in said predetermine area.   
     
     
         10 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 7 , wherein said base frame further comprises:
 a body support member carried in a position with respect to said base frame that said body support member extends forward into said operator area from the rear end thereof, suitably positionable to engage the back of a user in a wheelchair backed into the operator area.   
     
     
         11 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 10 , wherein said body support member comprises:
 a torso support pad located in said operator area; and   an adjustment bar carrying said torso support pad at a front end thereof and extending rearward therefrom; and   wherein said base frame supports an adjustment bar housing carrying said adjustment bar rearward of the torso support pad at a suitable height such that the torso support pad is engagable with the back of a user in a wheelchair backed into the operator area.   
     
     
         12 . The portable exercise frame according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 means for selectively varying the forward position of said torso support pad into the operator area.   
     
     
         13 . An exercise frame, comprising:
 a floor plate having right and left side edges, a rear edge, and a front edge;   a frame extending upward from said floor plate, having a rear portion, a right side portion, and a left side portion, together with said front edge of said floor plate defining an operator area suitably sized to receive thereon a user in a wheelchair in backed-in position;   a torso support pad extending into said operator area from said rear portion of said frame at a suitable height above the floor plate to engage the torso of a user seated in a backed-in wheelchair in said operator area;   an adjustment bar carrying said torso support pad at a front end thereof and engaging the rear portion of the frame with a rear portion thereof;   an adjustable mechanism supporting said adjustment bar at a variably selected extension from the rear portion of the frame for supporting the torso support pad at a selectively variable forward position from the rear portion of the frame;   right and left side exercise bars, longitudinally elongated in a front-to-rear dimension with respect to said floor plate;   a right side housing joined to said right side frame portion near said rear frame portion, elevated above the floor plate at about shoulder height of a user seated in a wheelchair, defining a front-to-rear passage for receiving said right side exercise bar, and a left side housing joined to said left side frame portion near the rear frame portion, elevated above the floor plate at about shoulder height of a user seated in a wheelchair, defining a front-to-rear passage for receiving said left side exercise bar;   exercise bar fastening means for releasably securing said right and left side exercise bars in a selected position through the respective right and left side housings, chosen from a plurality of available positions; wherein said exercise bars are slidable in said housings between a forward position wherein the fronts of the bars extend in front of the operator area for use in exercise by a user in a backed-in wheelchair and a rearward position wherein the fronts of the bars are retracted to near said respective side housings; and   a plurality of anchoring members configured for, in use, attaching a resistance element to said exercise frame, wherein at least some of said anchoring members are mounted near the front edge of the floor plate, to the frame, and near the fronts of the right and left exercise bars.