BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hand held exercise device and system, in particular, but not limited to exercising the upper body and core muscles.

Wheeled devices for press-ups are known, in which a pair of wheels with a handle being used as an axle, functions as a method to carry out movements required to strengthen the upper body and core muscles, tone the whole body and improve flexibility. Such devices function by a user gripping the handle of the device in the hand, which is the axle between the two wheels and carrying out the desired exercise, such as a press up.

The invention seeks to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or provide a useful alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a hand held exercise device, comprising a frame, at least a first pair of wheels mounted to the frame and rotatable about parallel axes; and a handle, provided on the frame, the handle being orientated substantially perpendicularly to the axes which allows a person to make desired exercise movements to train and exercise their body.

The wheels may be rotatable about a first common axis. This provides simplicity in construction.

The handle may be positioned between the first pair of wheels, which aids stability of the device during use.

The frame may comprise an axle extending between the first pair of wheels, the wheels being mounted thereon. This again provides a simple construction of the device. The handle may be rotatable away from being substantially perpendicular to the axis of the wheels. Such rotation allows for a greater range of exercise movements.

The handle may be biased to the orientation substantially perpendicular to the axis of the wheels. This aids the user during the exercise to return the hands to a particular orientation.

The exercise device may further comprise a second pair of wheels rotatable about parallel axes which are parallel to the axes of the first pair of wheels. This provides greatly increased stability when the device is used, as the handle cannot rotate about the axles of the wheels.

The second pair of wheels may be rotatable about a second common axis. Again, this conveniently provides a simple construction.

The frame may further comprise a second axle extending between the second pair of wheels which connects the wheels, and also provides simple construction.

Each of the second pair of wheels may be aligned with a respective one of the first pair of wheels. This ensures that the device travels in a straight line as it is used.

The handle may be rotatable about an axis parallel to the axes of rotation of the wheels. This again provides more variety of movement of the device, which modifies the exercise movements.

The handle may extend between the two pairs of wheels. This, again, provides a simple construction.

The wheels may all be the same size, allowing the device to move in a straight line during use. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an exercise system comprising a pair of devices, the pair being prevented from being separated by more than a predetermined amount by joining means which prevents the user's hands from being separated by too much and stops the user from falling to the ground.

The joining means may comprise an elastic cord which provides an increasing resistive force when it is stretched to bring the devices closer together.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Detailed embodiments of the invention will now be described, purely by way of example, in which:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the hand held exercise device according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 shows a side elevation view of the hand held exercise device of figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a plan view of a pair of hand held exercise devices according to Figures 1 and 2; and

Figures 4 and 5 show a plan and side view of a hand held exercise device according to a further embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In Figure 1 , there is provided a hand held exercise device 1 according to a first embodiment of the invention. The device 1 comprises a frame 0, a first pair of wheels 12, 14 mounted to the frame 0 and rotatable about parallel axes 16, 18. A handle 20 is provided on the frame 10 with the handle 20 being orientated substantially perpendicularly to a plane parallel to the axes 16, 18. In the present embodiment, the exercise device 1 additionally comprises a second pair of wheels 24, 26 rotatable about parallel axes 28, 30 which are, in turn, parallel to the axes 16, 18 of the first pair of wheels 12, 14.

In the present embodiment, the first pair of wheels 12, 14 is rotatable about a first common axis and the second pair of wheels 24, 26 is rotatable about a second common axis. Two pairs of wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 are provided for stability. Each of the second pair of wheels 24, 26 is aligned, substantially perpendicularly to the rotational axes 16, 18, 28, 30, with a respective one of the first pair of wheels 12, 14. The wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 are all the same size, although in alternative embodiments they may be of different sizes. The wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 are sufficiently large to allow them to travel over surfaces such as domestic carpets etc. in use and, in the present embodiment, comprise a rubberised tread.

In the present embodiment, the frame 10 comprises a first axle 1 1 extending between the first pair of wheels 12, 14, the wheels 12, 14 being mounted thereon and the axes 16, 18 being coincident. The frame 10 additionally comprises a second axle 22 extending between the second pair of wheels 24, 26, the wheels 24, 26 being mounted thereon, again with the axes 28, 30 being coincident. The frame 10 has first and second members 13, 23 which are connected to the midpoint of a respective axle 1 1 , 22, at one end, and extends to a distal end, and a cross member 21 which extends between the distal ends of the first and second members 13, 23, so coupling the first and second axles 1 1 , 22 together. The frame 10 extends in a plane substantially perpendicularly to the axes 16, 18, 28, 30 of the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26. In the present embodiment, the handle 20 is provided on the cross member 21 , and is integrally formed therewith. However, alternatively, the handle 20 may be formed as one or more separate parts, mounted on or around the cross member 21 , or other part of the frame 10.

Figure 2 is a view along the axes 16, 18, 28, 30 of the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 shown in Figure 1. For clarity, the majority of each wheel 12, 14, 24, 26 is shown as transparent, with the tread being shown. The figure shows the first and second members 13, 23 of the frame 10 extending away from the axles 1 1 , 22, in a plane perpendicular to the axles 1 1 , 22. The cross member 21 , with handle 20 mounted thereon, extends between the ends of the first and second members 13, 23 distal to the axle 1 1 , 22 on which they are mounted, in the same plane, perpendicular to the axles 11 , 22, as the first and second members 13, 23. The first member 13 is longer than the second member 23, and the cross member 21 is therefore angled to a plane through the axles 1 1 , 22. The first and second members 13, 23 are each rigidly connected to the cross member 21 , so that there is no relative movement therebetween, and the frame 10 is rigid, while allowing the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 to rotate on the respective axles 1 1 , 22 and therefore allow movement of the device 1 in a direction of the plane perpendicular to the axles 1 1 , 22. As the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 are the same size and mounted on two parallel axles 1 1 , 22, the device 1 travels in a straight line as it is moved. However, if the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 at opposite ends of the axles 1 1 , 22 were made different sizes, and the axles 1 1 , 22 were each fixed rotationally to the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26, or the axes 16, 18, 28, 30 of rotation of the pairs of wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 were not parallel, then a curved arc could be traced with the movement of the device 1 , if required.

The device 1 of this embodiment is conveniently formed from metal and/or plastics, as would be understood by the skilled person.

In the present embodiment, the handle 20 is fixed into the orientation described above. However, in another embodiment the handle 20 is biased to the orientation substantially perpendicular to the axis 16, 18 of the wheels 12, 14, but rotatable away from that orientation. The user of the device 1 can therefore twist the handle 20 in their hand as they exercise.

A system according to an embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figure 3. In the system, two devices 1 as described above are provided. These are joined by biasing means, in the present embodiment in the form of an elastic cord 40, which has a maximum extension and provides increasing resistive force to stretching as it is stretched from an unstretched rest position The cord 40 is conveniently attached to the frame 10 of each device 1 at an attachment point 50. In embodiments the cord 40 may be removable from one or both attachment points 50.

To use the exercise device 1 , a person grips the handle 20 in their hand, or, in the case of embodiment shown in Figure 3, each hand. Two devices 1 may be used, one in each hand, with or without the joining cord 40, and the person faces the ground with their body substantially flat. The wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 of the, or each, device 1 are positioned onto the ground. The inside of the person's hand is positioned at the end of the handle 20 closest to axle 11 , and the first member 13. The wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 rotate freely about their axes 16, 18, 28, 30 which allow the user to move the, or each, device 1 across the ground with little resistance in order to make the desired exercise movements. Use of one device 1 allows one side of a user's body to be trained by moving the hand holding the device 1 away from the body and other hand of the user.

Where two devices 1 are used, conveniently, the devices 1 are positioned with the wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 all aligned with the corresponding wheels 12, 14, 24, 26 of the second device 1 and the pair of wheels 12, 14 on the first axle 11 of each device 1 closest together. The devices 1 are then moved apart by a specific distance, in the direction of the orientation of the handle 20, to carry out the exercise movement, e.g. the lowering motion of a press-up, and then moved closer together again to complete the exercise movement, pinching the arms together. The devices 1 being moved apart means the user's hands and arms are moved wider apart as the person's chest moves closer to the ground, in the downward motion of a press-up. The opposite is true when the devices 1 are moved closer together. The cord 40 of Figure 3 allows a person to use the device 1 safely as the distance between the devices 1 cannot exceed a set width. As a person uses the devices 1 , when they are a specific distance apart, the cord 40 reaches its maximum stretch, and further separation of the devices 1 is prevented, which prevents the user's hands from separating by too much, and making the exercise too hard to complete successfully. When this force becomes greater than the force produced by the person using the devices 1 then the devices 1 will stop their movement across the ground. The feature means that the user will not inadvertently extend their hands too far and fall to the ground, possibly causing injury.

A device 100 of a further embodiment is shown in Figures 4 and 5. These show a further embodiment which is similar to that shown in the previous embodiments of Figures 1 and 2.

However, instead of two pairs of wheels, only a single pair of wheels 112, 122 is provided. This pair of wheels is made up of one wheel 1 12, 122 at each end of a frame 121 , which is configured in the same way as described above except that the frame is mounted on a respective axles 1 1 1 , 122, at the ends of the axles 1 1 1 , 122 rather than in the middle. As shown in Figure 4, the handle 120 extends across between the wheels 1 12, 124, substantially perpendicular to the common axis of rotation of the two wheels 1 12, 124. As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the frame then divides into two fork portions, between the tines of each fork a respective wheel sits. The ends of the tines are fixed to the axles through the wheels so that the wheels can rotate abut the frame. The tines of the fork portions are fixed relative to the frame as a whole.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described purely by way of example and various omissions, modifications and/or additions can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, such modifications, omissions and additions falling within the invention. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprising" and the like are intended to be interpreted in the inclusive, as opposed to exhaustive, sense, ie "including, but not limited to".