Automatically adjustable exercise equipment, and control system and method therefor

Claim 1

A control system for a weight training machine of the type having a vertical stack of weights selectively securable to a lifting bar or the like, each weight including an opening therein communicating with a corresponding opening in the lifting bar by means of which a pin inserted therein may removably secure said weight to the lifting bars, whereby said secured weight and the weights thereabove in the stack are lifted as a unit when the lifting bar is lifted, means operatively connected to the lifting bar and manually operable by the user to lift the lifting bar and the weights carried thereby to provide exercise for the user, said control system comprising: a body carrying a plurality of pins vertically fixed with respect to the body, said body being fixedly alignable with respect to the top of the weight stack so that the pins carried by the body are aligned with corresponding openings in the weights; means for selectively driving each pin from a retracted position in which the pin is not inserted in its corresponding weight opening to an extended position in which the pin is inserted in the corresponding opening; and means for providing a signal representative of momentary muscular failure of the user and for controlling the pin driving means in response to the momentary muscular failure signal to retract the pin supporting the stack of weights being lifted and insert a second pin in the opening in its weight to automatically decrease the weight being lifted, said providing and controlling means being further responsive to a second, later signal representative of momentary muscular failure of the user to retract said second pin and insert a third pin in the opening in its weight to automatically decrease the weight being lifted a second time.

Claim 17

A method of operating a weight training exercise machine having a plurality of machine selectable weights to be repetitively lifted during an exercise by a user, comprising the steps of: (1) electronically measuring at least one time associated with a repetition of the exercise by the user, said time being a function of the muscular state of the user at that point during the exercise; (2) automatically and without human intervention changing the weight being lifted upon the electronically measured time falling outside a predetermined range so as to maximize the muscular effort exerted by the user; and (3) repeating steps (1) and (2) for each repetition of the exercise until the occurrence of a predetermined condition signalling the end of the exercise.

Claim 18

A method of operating a weight training exercise machine having a plurality of machine selectable weights to be repetitively lifted during an exercise by a user, comprising the steps of: (1) electronically measuring at least one time associated with a repetition of the exercise by the user, said time being a function of the muscular state of the user at that point during the exercise; (2) automatically and without human intervention changing the weight being lifted upon the electronically measured time falling outside a predetermined range so as to maximize the muscular effort exerted by the user; and (3) repeating steps (1) and (2) for each repetition of the exercise until the occurrence of a predetermined condition signalling the end of the exercise.