Officizer
When I was working in an office environment, like many others, I had a room full of exercise equipment at home, which I bought and used for a while. Then one day, sitting at my desk at work, I realized that now was when I was ready for some exercise. I wondered, why can’t I exercise while I do my work? So I came up with a chair-based exerciser product that straps onto any swivel chair. An adjustable, stretchable band is attached to the center chair post, and at the other end is a bar that resembles a footrest with wheels at either end. You put your feet on it and push, which makes it a combination of a leg press and a leg extension. I designed it to be force balanced so I could push on it without swiveling, which allowed me to read or type at my computer and still be working out. Since it is designed specifically for use in an office environment the Officizer represents a new category of fitness equipment that allows you to be pumping away underneath your desk without anybody knowing what you’re doing! The two patents that cover the technology (US 5,690,594; 6,117,050; and foreign patents) include using the computer you are working on at your desk to monitor your exercise progress. A special mouse design monitors your pulse rate via your fingertip, and a small software program is designed to pop up on the screen every so often to let you know your pulse rate and to spur you on toward meeting pre-established goals. Eventually, I hope to get around to either mass-producing the device or licensing others to do so.