1. Field
Example embodiments in general are directed to a wheeled exercise device, more particularly a wheel exercise device including handles for performing abdominal or core exercises.
2. Related Art
A number of hand-grasped, wheeled exercisers are known in the art. A conventional device comprises a roller/wheel mounted centrally on a shaft, with the shaft having gripper members on opposite ends. As a force is applied to the gripper members to rotate the wheel/roller along a surface, the user may conduct an exercise, such as an exercise for the abdominal or core region of the body.
Another conventional wheeled exercise device employs coil springs to provide resistance and restoring forces. Known commercially as the AB SLIDE™ slider roller, this device is a wheeled abdominal exerciser with handles, which through internal coil springs generates resistance in moving the exerciser forward, and also generates a restoring force after traveling forward to a desired position, so as to lessen the manual effort required to move the wheeled exerciser backward to its original starting position.
The AB SLIDE™ is arranged with two main traction wheels and two auxiliary wheels pivoted on a housing having handles protruding perpendicularly from the vertical sides thereof. One or two springs are used to provide a restoring force against forward movement of the exerciser. One end of each spring is fixed to the housing of the exerciser and another end of the spring is attached to a main traction wheel of the exerciser. Bearings are used to provide some friction on the main traction wheels when the user presses them against the floor or the ground.
Other conventional hand-grasped wheeled exercisers either require the user to hold the handles firmly against the restored turning force of the spring(s) or have the storing force of the spring(s) transmitted through a set of gears which may tend to reduce the effectiveness of the restoring spring force. Many conventional wheeled exercisers have one or more non-optimal characteristics, such as being cumbersome, costly, unstable, complex and/or otherwise non-optimal. Very little effort has been made in addressing the ergonomic design of the handles or design of the roller/wheel in these wheeled exercises devices, nor has there been significant implementation of electronics or software processing therein which provide real-time visual feedback of progress during exercise in such wheeled exercise devices to the user.