Circular Fitness Apparatus

Abstract

A circular fitness apparatus. The circular fitness apparatus includes plural flexible exercise attachments attached to a vertical pole that is attached to a central base that can be selected and used for simultaneous group or individual fitness exercises by plural exercise participants. The circular fitness apparatus is useable for group and individual exercise activities comprising health based, skill based and functional based fitness activities.

1 . A circular fitness apparatus, comprising: 
 a central base;    a vertical pole attached to the central base and extending in an upright position from the central base, the vertical pole defining a central axis;    a plurality of resilient exercise attachments, each resilient exercise attachment including an elongated resilient resistance member, an attachment mechanism attached at a first end of the resistance member and a handle attachment at a second opposed end of the resistance member; and    a plurality of mounting brackets attached to the vertical pole in vertically spaced relation, each resilient exercise attachment having its attachment mechanism secured to a mounting bracket to attach the resilient exercise attachment to the vertical pole, the mounting brackets permitting rotation of the resilient exercise attachments about the central axis an entire 360 degrees during exercise activity without the exercise attachments wrapping around the vertical pole.    
   
   
       2 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each mounting bracket is mounted to the vertical pole such that it can rotate about the central axis an entire 360 degrees during exercise activity but cannot move vertically toward the central base along the central axis during exercise activity.  
   
   
       3 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the attachment mechanisms include a ring and the mounting brackets include a plurality of mounting points in the form of apertures through which a portion of the rings extend to secure the resilient exercise attachments to the mounting brackets.  
   
   
       4 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein each mounting bracket includes a mounting bracket collar that is releasably affixed to the vertical pole in a fixed vertical position during exercise activity to prevent the mounting bracket from moving vertically toward the central base during exercise activity.  
   
   
       5 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the resilient resistance members are selected from the group consisting of: a band, a tube and a cord.  
   
   
       6 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein each resilient resistance member in a relaxed state has a length between the first and second ends and a thickness perpendicular to the length, and wherein each resilient resistance member has a length-to-thickness ratio, in the relaxed state, between 144:1 and 144:7.  
   
   
       7 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein a first exercise attachment of the plurality of exercise attachments has a first length-to-thickness ratio and a second exercise attachment of the plurality of exercise attachments has a second length-to-thickness ratio that is different than the first length-to-thickness ratio.  
   
   
       8 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the first and second exercise attachments are the same length.  
   
   
       9 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mounting brackets are fixed both angularly and vertically while exercise activities are performed.  
   
   
       10 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein each mounting bracket includes a disk portion that is permitted to rotate about the central axis and relative to the mounting bracket collar, and wherein each attachment mechanism includes a ring and the mounting brackets include a plurality of mounting points in the form of apertures through which a portion of the ring extends to secure the resilient exercise attachment to the mounting bracket, the mounting points being formed in the disk portion.  
   
   
       11 . A circular fitness apparatus, comprising: 
 a central base;    a vertical pole attached to the central base and extending in an upright position from the central base, the vertical pole defining a central axis; and    a plurality of resilient exercise attachments operably secured to the vertical pole, each resilient exercise attachment including an elongated resilient resistance member, an attachment mechanism attached at a first end of the resistance member and a handle attachment attached to the resilient resistance member at an opposed second end, a first one of the plurality of resilient exercise attachments providing a first level of resistance when resiliently stretched from a relaxed state in a direction radially outward from the central axis a first distance and a second one of the plurality of resilient exercise attachments providing a second level of resistance when resiliently stretched in a direction extending radially outward from the central axis the first distance.    
   
   
       12 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first and second resilient exercise attachments have the same length  
   
   
       13 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein each resilient resistance member, in a relaxed state, has a relaxed length between the first and second ends and a relaxed thickness perpendicular to the length and wherein each resilient resistance member has a length-to-thickness ratio, in the relaxed state, between 144:1 and 144:7.  
   
   
       14 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the first exercise attachment has a first length-to-thickness ratio and the second exercise attachment has a second length-to-thickness ratio that is different than the first length-to-thickness ratio.  
   
   
       15 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the resilient resistance members are selected from the group consisting of: a band, a tube and a cord.  
   
   
       16 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the first and second exercise attachments are the same length.  
   
   
       17 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the thickness of the first exercise attachment is different than the thickness of the second exercise attachment.  
   
   
       18 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first exercise attachment is formed of a first material and the second exercise attachment is formed of a second material different than the first.  
   
   
       19 . The circular fitness apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the resilient resistance members are configured to provide tensile resistance in a direction extending generally radially relative to the central axis during exercise activities and not configured to provide resistance in a direction extending angularly relative to the central axis during exercise activities.