Exercise lifting bar with translating hand grips

Abstract

The problems of efficiency and safety when exercising is solved in at least one aspect while maintaining low-complexity and portability by use of the presented translating exercise lifting bar. Further provided here is an exercise lifting bar having hand grips with integral loading surfaces, the loading surfaces having plates applied. Also provided is an exercise lifting bar with a spring to and resist the translation, a translation limiter to limit the motion between the members, and an attachment feature configured to connect a cable.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An exercise lifting bar comprising:
 two members each comprising a hand grip and an integral loading surface coupled to the hand grip, wherein the two members are collinear and translate relative to one another;   a translation limiter, wherein the translation limiter is contained inside at least one of the two members and is adapted to limit translation via mechanical contact with at least one of the two members;   at least one weight applied to each integral loading surface; and   wherein a distance between a free end of each of the integral loading surfaces, as measured along a longitudinal centerline of the exercise lifting bar, is configured to vary during use.   
     
     
         2 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 1 , wherein the weight ranges from 5 pounds to 45 pounds. 
     
     
         3 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 2 , further comprising a spring, wherein the spring provides resistance to the translation of at least one of the two members. 
     
     
         4 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 3 , further comprising a damper, wherein the damper is contained inside at least one of the two members and is adapted to absorb energy from the translation limiter contacting at least one of the two members. 
     
     
         5 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 1 , wherein the exercise lifting bar weighs from about 75 pounds to about 10 pounds. 
     
     
         6 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 1 , wherein the hand grip has a circumference from about 3.9 inches to about 5.2 inches. 
     
     
         7 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two members is configured to prevent the weight from moving during translation. 
     
     
         8 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 7 , wherein the integral loading surface is configured to prevent the weight from moving during translation. 
     
     
         9 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 8 , wherein the diameter of integral loading surface is about 1 inch to about 2 inches. 
     
     
         10 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 6 , wherein a diameter of the translation limiter is less than a diameter of the hand grip. 
     
     
         11 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two members further comprises at least one bearing selected from the group consisting of rolling element bearings, PTFE bi-material bearings, unreinforced PTFE composite bearings, and reinforced PTFE composite bearings. 
     
     
         12 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of the two members further comprises an elongated member and a rolling element bearing. 
     
     
         13 . An exercise lifting bar comprising:
 two members each comprising a hand grip, wherein the two members translate relative to one another;   a translation limiter, wherein the translation limiter is contained inside at least one of the two members and is adapted to limit translation via mechanical contact with at least one of the two members;   a spring, wherein the spring is contained inside at least one of the two members and provides resistance to the translation of at least one of the two members;   an attachment feature configured to connect a cable to the exercise lifting bar; and   wherein a distance between a free end of each of the two members, as measured along a longitudinal axis of the exercise lifting bar, is configured to vary during use.   
     
     
         14 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 13 , wherein the hand grip has a circumference from about 3.9 inches to about 5.2 inches. 
     
     
         15 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 13 , wherein the two members are collinear. 
     
     
         16 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 13 , further comprising an integral loading surface coupled to the hand grip, the integral loading surface having an integral loading surface length measured along a longitudinal centerline of the integral loading surface, wherein the integral loading surface length is larger than the diameter of the integral loading surface, wherein the diameter of the integral loading surface is about 1 inch to about 2 inches. 
     
     
         17 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 14 , wherein a diameter of the translation limiter is less than a diameter of the hand grip. 
     
     
         18 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the two members further comprises at least one bearing selected from the group consisting of rolling element bearings, PTFE bi-material bearings, unreinforced PTFE composite bearings, and reinforced PTFE composite bearings. 
     
     
         19 . The exercise lifting bar of  claim 13 , further comprising an elongated member, wherein the elongated member is collinear with the two members and wherein at least one of the two members is configured to translate on the elongated member, and wherein the material of the elongated member is a metal selected from the group consisting of ferrous, aluminum, titanium, ferrous alloy, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         20 . An exercise lifting bar comprising:
 two members each comprising a hand grip, wherein the two members translate relative to one another;   a translation limiter, wherein the translation limiter is contained inside at least one of the two members and is adapted to limit translation via mechanical contact with at least one of the two members;   a spring, wherein the spring provides resistance to the translation of at least one of the two members;   an elongated member, wherein at least one of the two members is configured to translate on the elongated member via a rolling element bearing or a bushing, and wherein the material of the elongated member is a metal selected from the group consisting of ferrous, aluminum, titanium, ferrous alloy, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, and combinations thereof;   an attachment feature configured to connect a cable to the exercise lifting bar; and   wherein a distance between a free end of each of the two members, as measured along the exercise lifting bar, is configured to vary during use.