The present invention provides a weighted exercise
FIELD OF THE INVENTION garment which is relatively simple in design, attractive
The present invention relates to an improved 5 in appearance and highly versatile. According to one
weighted exercise garment, and more particularly to an asPec< of the ,nvent,on' tl"s Za\ment ls a Slove havlnS at
exercise glove having an interchangeable weight load least °"e P°cket made of an elastic material positioned
system whereby the wearer can readily add or remove over the back of th,e TMearer s hancL This elastic pocket
=; ut tu • „~a :.. ^ A can stretch to snugly hold one or more objects, such as
weights from the glove in order to increase or decrease in ... , , . , J . .
.,,.,.,.<-,..,„ like-shaped weights. The wearer can thus increase the
the total weight of the glove. '. . , b. .... . ...
total weight by inserting an additional weight into the
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION pocket, or decrease the total weight by removing a
T , . . . , ,. , , . weight from the pocket. The elastic pocket stretches in
In general, exercise garments including gloves, boots ,. . , , , .
,, .x . .. , .... . . ,, ... ,, a direction transverse to the lengthwise direction of the
and belts incorporating built-in weights are well known. 15 , , it . , ., „ . , . .
„ , „ , . ^ , golve to thereby hold from one up to a predetermined
Examples of such prior art exercise garments are de- , , \ xl_ . r . , ^ „, .
•u J • i To n . Xt -i -icn cm * t 1 i • number, such as two or three, of the weights. The elas
scnbed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,759,510 to Jackson, Jr., is- t. • , ' • ,, ,
Jo . 10 1 T-inmn * ^ *• • Jo . tlc pocket holds the weight or weights snugly, lrrespec
sued Sept. 18, 1973; 1,729,209 to Curtice, issued Sept. . ru . £ . .~ f '. , ,
mm J-> oii <. «, n • j*, „ 1ni\ tive of how many weights are inside the elastic pocket,
24, 1929; and 2,241,833 to Waller, issued May 13, 1941. . ., ./ • . • ,
'. , , . , .. . j- Tto T>i Xt ->n up to the predetermined maximum number.
Weighted exercise gloves are disclosed m U.S. Pat. Nos. 20 A t »•
noTM on. T- j L • . 1 inn „„ „,„ According to another aspect of the invention, the
3,838,853 to Fredenhagen, issued Oct. 1, 1974; 4,034,979 . - , , v , , . ',
',,' . j T , . \.cs. v, J- ■ garment includes a unique closure mechanism. The
to Wester, issued July 12, 1977, 4,330,120 to Netti, is- , .. ■ . f . ^, .. . , , „
j x, 10 moi j.-nmi, ou t • A elastic pocket of this embodiment has a closure flap
sued May 18, 1982; and 4,247,097 to Schwartz, issued whjch hag ... Qn bQth Qf ^ ^
a";,' .' . „ , 9^ fastener element on the underside of the closure flap
These prior art exercise gloves are generally large, coo ates with a fastener base element affixed to the
clumsy and do not provide a convenient means for bod Qf the em tQ c)ose {he e,astjc ke{ A
increasing and decreasing the weight of the glove. The ... a{ Qne of itg ends tQ ^ garment body_ ...
use of particulate weight material, or bags thereof, is ,ateral]y from the nt body This has a fas.
highly disadvantageous. In addition, the gloves taught 3Q t£ner ... sgcured tQ Qne of hs sjdes To releasab]y
by the prior art do not provide a convenient interchan- secure the garmem Qn the ... body> the wgarer
gable weight load system in which the weights are folds ovgr thg strap SQ tha{ k overligs both thg c]osurg
snugly received in a pocket regardless of the number of flap and a portion of thg basg gIgment not covgrgd by
weights the wearer chooses to load into the pocket. thg dosure flap The fastgngr glgmgnt Qn thg strap
Several of the foregoing patents disclose exercise 35 thereby gngaggs both the fastener xhis reinforces the
garments having pockets which can be closed by means c]osure of thg pockets and als0 sgcures the gaTment on
of releasable contact fasteners. Such releasable contact tbe wearer
fasteners comprise a pair of elements which can be
secured together merely by bringing the respective BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
elements into mutual contact. Once secured in this man- 40 A preferred exemplary embodiment of the present
ner, the elements generally strongly resist being pulled invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction
apart by forces acting in or near the plane of contact with tne appended drawing, wherein like numerals
between the elements, but resist forces acting perpen- denote like elements and:
dicular to this plane of contact to a much lesser extent. Fig. 1 is a plan view of a weighted exercise glove
Thus, a user or wearer releases the releasable contact 45 accordjng t0 the present invention;
fastener merely by pulling the elements apart in the FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a weight used in the
appropriate direction. Typically, one of the elements is exercise glove disclosed in FIG. 1;
secured to the body of the garment, i.e. comprises a base FIG. 3 is a plan view of the weight shown in FIG. 2;
element, so that the user releases the fastener by pulling FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the glove shown
the other element away from the base element. A popu- 50 in FIG. 1, with the pocket closure flap and closure strap
lar type of releasable contact fastener utilizes a hook in released positions;
tape (a strip of fabric bearing a multiplicity of small FIG. 5 is a sectional view along the line 5—5 in FIG.
hooks or barbs) cooperating with a loop tape (a strip of l;
fabric bearing a pile of fine strands) such that, upon 5J FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of a rear portion of the contact, the hook tape barbs releasably catch in the loop glove shown in FIG. 1, with the closure flap and clotape pile. Such fasteners are commercially available, sure strap secured to the glove body; e.g. under the trademark Velcro. Another type of re- FIG. 7 is a partial end view of elastic pockets accordleasable contact fastener comprises a pair of elements ing to the invention each containing one weight therein; wherein at least one of the elements has a layer of adhe- 60 FIG. 8 is the same view as shown in FIG. 7, showing, sive thereon which releasably binds the elements to- however, an alternative configuration wherein each gether. pocket holds two weights; and
The use of hook tape/loop tape fasteners in connec- FIG. 9 is a plan view of a vented portion of the glove
tion with gloves is known. However, the prior art em- according to the invention, including pockets as shown ploys separate fastening mechanisms for the purposes 65 in FIG. 7, with an outer elastic piece of material re
of, for example, fastening pocket flaps and fastening the moved to show the insides of the pockets,
glove to the wearer's hand, thereby increasing the cost FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an exercise garment
of the glove. according to a further embodiment of the invention.
