US20080256675A1

US20080256675A1 - Swimsuit having compression panels

Info

Publication number: US20080256675A1
Application number: US11/787,735
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph Di Lorenzo
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-04-17
Filing date: 2007-04-17
Publication date: 2008-10-23

Abstract

A swimsuit is provided having a hip and thigh portion and a unitarily formed chest portion. Various compression panels may be attached to an inside surface of the hip and thigh portion as well as the chest portion for reducing muscle vibration of the chest muscle, thigh muscle and gluteal muscles.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The present invention is related to a swimsuit having compression panels positioned over various muscle groups of a swimmer to reduce muscle vibrations of specific muscle group.
Technical wear for competitive swimmers attempt to reduce, minimize or eliminate various impediments that cause a competitive swimmer to lose a race. For example, hydrodynamic drag is a major factor in the speed of competitive swimmer. As such, technical swimwear does exist which attempt to reduce the hydrodynamic drag on a swimmer such that the swimmer is able to increase/her speed without any additional expenditure of energy or strength. For example, technical swimwear may incorporate material which does not absorb water or is designed to provide less hydrodynamic drag.
Technical wear additionally attempts to conserve the swimmer's energy such that the conserved energy may be directed to propelling the swimmer through the water. For example, it has been found that as the swimmer swims through the water, his/her muscles vibrate causing a loss of energy which could have been used to propel the swimmer through the water. As such, it would be desirable to prevent and/or minimize muscle vibration.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The swimsuit of the present invention specifically addresses the needs discussed above, discussed below and those that are known in the art.
The swimsuit may comprise a hip and thigh portion and a chest portion. The hip and thigh portion may be fabricated to have left and right thigh compression panels attached to an inside surface of the hip and thigh portion which compress thigh muscles and reduce thigh muscle vibrations of the swimmer. Additionally, the hip and thigh portion may also have buttock compression panels attached to the inside surface of the hip and thigh portion to reduce gluteal muscle vibration while the swimmer is swimming.
The chest portion may be fabricated from a unitary material with the hip and thigh portion. Additionally, the chest portion may have first and second chest compression panels attached to an inside surface of the chest portion diagonally with respect to each other in a criss-cross configuration. The chest compression panels reduce muscle vibrations of the chest while the swimmer is swimming.
The compression panels discussed herein may have a elongate configuration, linear or curved configuration. The compression panels may also be fabricated from an elastic material having a spring constant greater than the material from which the hip and thigh portion and the chest portion is fabricated. The elasticity of the compression panel is also sufficient strong so as to compress the muscle to reduce or minimize muscle vibration.
The compression panels may preferably be attached to an inside surface of the hip and thigh portion and/or chest portion. However, it is also contemplated that the compression panels be attached to an outside surface of the hip and thigh portion and/or chest portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a right front perspective view of a swimsuit having compression panels for reducing muscle vibrations;

FIG. 2 is a right rear perspective view of the swimsuit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the swimsuit shown in FIG. 1 with a cut out showing buttock compression panels and portions of thigh compression panels;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the swimsuit shown in FIG. 1 without the cut out of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the swimsuit shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the swimsuit with a cut out showing thigh compression panels and chest compression panels.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1-6, a swimsuit 10 is provided for reducing muscle vibration of a swimmer to allow the swimmer's strength and energy to be focused on the race and not lost due to muscle vibration. In particular, the swimsuit may have various compression panels 28 a, b (see FIG. 6), 38 a, b (see FIG. 3), 42 a, b (see FIG. 6) attached to a hip and thigh portion 14 or a chest portion 40 at a chest area, thigh areas, and buttock area to reduce or minimize muscle vibrations of the chest, thigh and buttocks muscles. Additionally, the compression panels 28 a, b, 38 a, b, 42 a, b may be attached to the hip and thigh portion 14 and the chest portion 40 on an inside surface 30, 44 of such portions 14, 40 to minimize the hydrodynamic drag on the swimsuit 10.
The hip and thigh portion 14 and/or chest portion 40 may be fabricated from various materials. By way of example and not limitation, the hip and thigh portion 14 and/or chest portion 40 may be fabricated from a stretchable material, an elastic material, fabric, cotton, nylon, spandex, and/or blends thereof. Additionally, the compression panels 28 a, b, 38 a, b, 42 a, b may be fabricated from various materials. By way of example and not limitation, the compression panels 28 a, b, 38 a, b, 42 a, b may be fabricated from a stretchable material, an elastic material, fabric, cotton, nylon, spandex, and/or blends thereof. Also, the compression panels 28 a, b, 38 a, b, 42 a, b may be fabricated from a material which is less easily stretchable compared to the material from which the hip and thigh portion 14 and/or chest portion 40 is fabricated.
Referring now to FIG. 1, the hip and thigh portion 14 may have left and right tubular members 24 a, b which fit around the left and right thighs of the swimmer. Additionally, the hip and thigh portion 14 may also have an upper tubular member 26 sized to fit around the hips of the swimmer. The left and right tubular members 24 a, b are attached to a lower end of the upper tubular member 26 such that the tubular members 24 a, b and 26 may be worn by the swimmers in a similar manner compared to a pair of shorts. The left and right tubular members 24 a, b may be sized to fit snuggly about the thighs of the swimmer as well as the upper tubular member 26 may be sized to fit snuggly around the hips of the swimmer.
Preferably, the hip and thigh portion 14 may be fabricated from an elastic material and sized such that the high and thigh portion 14 slightly expands when worn by the swimmer such that the hip and thigh portion 14 may conform to the curves of the swimmer's body.
Left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b may be attached to an inside surface 30 of the hip and thigh portion 14, as shown in FIG. 6. By way of example and not limitation, the left thigh compression panel 28 a may extend from an upper left lateral hip area 32 a (see FIGS. 1, 5 and 6) , across a left thigh area 34 a (see FIGS. 1, 5 and 6), to a lower left medial thigh area 36 a (see FIGS. 5 and 6). Similarly, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a right thigh compression panel 28 b may be attached to an inside surface 30 (see FIG. 6) of the hip and thigh portion 14 which extends from an upper right lateral hip area 32 b, across a right thigh area 34 b, to a lower right medial thigh area 36 b. The left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b may be positioned over and compress any one or combination of the following thigh muscles, including but not limited to, a rectus femoris muscle, vastus intermedius muscle, vastus lateralis muscle, and vastus medialis muscle. Since the left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b are positioned over one or more of these muscles when the swimsuit 10 is worn by the swimmer, the muscle(s) over which the left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b are positioned are compressed to reduce vibration of such muscle(s) while the swimmer is swimming. Hence, the swimmer loses less energy and strength during competition. Such conserved energy and strength may be directed and focused to propelling the swimmer forward to win the race.
The left compression panel 28 a may be stitched to the inside surface 30 (see FIG. 6) of the hip and thigh portion 14. In particular, left compression panel 28 a may be defined by the bottom end 27 a (see FIGS. 1, 5 and 6), stitch lines 29 a, b (see FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6), and stitch line 29 c (see FIGS. 1 and 3). As can be seen from FIG. 6, the left compression panel 28 a may comprise two smaller panels 31 a, b. In this regard, it is contemplated that one or more of the compression panels 28 a, b, 38 a, b and 42 a, b may comprise one or more panels for providing better compression to the muscle group at issue and/or to provide a better conforming fit. The right compression panel 28 b may have the same structure as the left compression panel 28 a.
The bottom ends 27 a, b may have an elastic band attached thereto. The elastic bands may pull the left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b down such that the left and right thigh compression panels 28 a, b may apply compressive forces on one or more of the thigh muscles.
In addition to or in the alternative, referring now to FIG. 3, left and right buttock compression panels 38 a, b may be attached to an inside surface 30 of the hip and thigh portion 14. The left compression panel 38 a may be defined by stitch lines 39 a, b, c, d. Also, the right compression panel 38 b may be defined by stitch lines 39 a, e, f, g. The left and right buttock compression panels 38 b may be positioned over and compress gluteal muscles of the swimmer when the swimsuit 10 is worn by the swimmer. The left and right buttock compression panels 38 a, b press against the gluteal muscles so as to reduce vibration of the gluteal muscles while the swimmer is swimming. Such reduction of muscle vibration reduces energy loss due to gluteal muscle vibration such that the swimmer has more energy and strength to direct to winning the race. More particularly, the left and right buttock compression panels 38 a, b may be positioned over a portion of at least one or more of a gluteus minimus muscle, gluteus maximus muscle and a gluteus medius muscle. Also, the left buttock compression panel 38 a may extend from an upper left buttock area 41 a to a lower medial buttock area 43 a of the left buttock. The right button compression panel 38 b may extend from an upper right buttock area 41 b to a lower medial buttock area 43 b of the right buttock.
The left thigh compression panel 28 a may be joined to the left buttock compression panel 38 a in that they both share a common stitch line 29 c and 39 b (see FIG. 3). Similarly, the right thigh compression panel 28 b may be joined to the right buttock compression panel 38 b in that they both share a common stitch line 39 e (see FIG. 3).
Referring to FIG. 6, the swimsuit 10 may also comprise a chest portion 40. The chest portion 40 fits around the chest of the swimmer 12. Preferably, the chest portion 40 may be fabricated from an elastic material and sized such that the chest portion 40 slightly expands when worn by the swimmer such that the chest portion 40 may conform to the curves of the swimmer's body. It is contemplated that the chest portion 40 may be independent from the hip and thigh portion 14 or fabricated as a unitary piece with the hip and thigh portion 14.
The chest portion 40 may have first and second chest compression panels 42 a, b attached to an inside surface 44 of the chest portion 40. The first chest compression panel 42 a may extend from an upper left area 48 a (e.g., adjacent left shoulder) of the chest to a lower right area 50 b (e.g., lower right ribs) of the chest when the chest portion 40 of the swimsuit 10 is worn by the swimmer. The second chest compression panel 42 b may extend from an upper right area 48 b (e.g., adjacent right shoulder) of the chest to a lower left area 50 a (e.g., lower left ribs) of the chest of the swimmer when the chest portion 40 of the swimsuit 10 is worn by the swimmer. The first and second compression panels 42 a, b may extend diagonally across the swimmer's chest in a criss-cross configuration, as shown in FIG. 6. The first chest compression panel 42 a may be positioned over and compress a portion of at least one or more of a left major pectoral muscle and a left minor pectoral muscle. Similarly, the second chest compression panel 42 b may be positioned over and compress a portion of at least one or more of a right major pectoral muscle and a right minor pectoral muscle.
The first chest compression panel 42 a may be sewn/stitched to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion 40 as shown by stitch lines 45 a, b, c, d. The second compression panel 42 b may also be stitched to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion as shown by stitch lines 45 e, f, g, h. When the second compression panel 42 b is attached to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion 40, stitch lines 45 f and 45 h also stitch the first compression panel 42 a to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion 40. Conversely, it is contemplated that the second compression panel 42 b be attached to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion first before the first compression panel 42 a is attached to the inside surface 44 of the chest portion 40. Also, stitch lines 45 b, d attaches the second compression panel 42 b to the inside surface.
The chest portion 40 may have a tubular configuration so as to fit snugly around the chest of the swimmer. Moreover, the chest portion 40 may have left and right apertures 46 a, b (see FIGS. 1 and 2) through which the swimmer may insert his/her left and right arms. The left and right arm apertures 46 a, b may be sized to fit snuggly about the shoulder of the swimmer. In particular, the left and right peripheries 47 a, b of the left and right arm apertures 46 a, b may fit snuggly about the under armpit of the swimmer and extend over the shoulders of the swimmer. Additionally, the peripheries 47 a, b of the left and right arm apertures 46 a, b may have an elastic band to resist pulling from the first and second chest compression panels 42 a, b. In this manner, elastic bands attached to the peripheries 47 a, b pull the first and second chest panels 42 a, b such that the first and second compression panels 42 a, b are able to compress the chest muscles of the swimmer to reduce muscle vibration. The first and second chest compression panels 42 a, b are not shown as being attached to the peripheries 47 a, b of the arm apertures 46 a, b. However, it is contemplated that the first and second chest compression panels may be extended so as to be attached to the peripheries 47 a, b of the arm apertures 46 a, b.
The compression panels discussed herein may have an elongate configuration. These compression panels may also have a constant width, narrowing width, or widening width. It is also contemplated that the configuration of the compression panels may have a linear or curved configuration.
In an aspect of the swimsuit 10, the same may have a zipper 52 (see FIG. 2) extending from an upper head periphery 54 of the chest portion 40 to a lower back portion 56. The swimmer may wear the swimsuit 10 by unzipping the zipper 52. The swimmer may then place his/her left and right legs into left and right tubular members 24 a, b. The left and right arms of the swimmer may then be inserted into left and right arm apertures 46 a, b. Thereafter, the zipper 52 may be zipped up.
In an aspect of the swimsuit 10, the chest portion and the hip and thigh portion may be fabricated from multiple panels to provide a better conforming fit.
The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.

Claims

1. A swimsuit for reducing muscle vibration of a swimmer, the swimsuit comprising:

a hip and thigh portion; and

left and right thigh compression panels fabricated from a material which is less easily stretchable compared to the material of the hip and thigh portion, the left and right thigh compression panels attached to the hip and thigh portion from upper lateral hip areas, across the thigh areas, to lower medial thigh areas;

wherein the left and right thigh compression panels pushes against quadracep muscles of the swimmer when the hip and thigh portion is worn by the swimmer for reducing muscle vibration while the swimmer is swimming.

2. The swimsuit of claim 1 wherein the left and right thigh compression panels are elongate strips.

3. The swimsuit of claim 2 wherein each of the left and right thigh compression panels have a narrowing configuration.

4. The swimsuit of claim 2 wherein each of the left and right thigh compression panels have a constant width.

5. The swimsuit of claim 1 wherein the left and right thigh compression panels are positioned over and compress the rectus femoris.

6. The swimsuit of claim 1 wherein the left and right thigh compression panels are positioned over and compress at least one of the rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus lateralis, and vastus medialis.

7. The swimsuit of claim 1 further comprising left and right buttock compression panels positioned over and compress gluteal muscles.

8. The swimsuit of claim 7 wherein the left and right buttock compression panels are positioned over and compress the gluteus maximus muscle.

9. The swimsuit of claim 7 wherein the left and right buttock compression panels are positioned over and compress at least one of a gluteus minimus, a gluteus maximus and a gluteus medius.

10. The swimsuit of claim 7 wherein the left and right buttock compression panels and the left and right thigh compression panels are attached to an inside surface of the hip and thigh portion.

11. A swimsuit for reducing muscle vibration of a swimmer, the swimsuit comprising:

a hip and thigh portion; and

left and right buttock compression panels fabricated from a material which is less easily stretchable compared to the material of the hip and thigh portion, the left and right buttock compression panels attached to the hip and thigh portion from upper lateral buttock areas to lower medial buttock areas;

wherein the left and right buttock compression panels pushes against gluteal muscles of the swimmer when the hip and thigh portion is worn by the swimmer for reducing muscle vibration while the swimmer is swimming.

12. A swim suit for reducing muscle vibration of a swimmer, the swimsuit comprising:

a chest portion; and

first and second chest compression panels extending diagonally across the swimmer's chest in a criss-cross configuration;

wherein the first and second chest compression panels pushes against pectoral muscles of the swimmer when the chest portion is worn by the swimmer for reducing muscle vibration while the swimmer is swimming.

13. The swimsuit of claim 12 wherein the first and second compression panels are positioned over and compress pectoralis major muscles.

14. The swimsuit of claim 12 wherein the first and second compression panels are positioned over and compress at least one of a major pectoral muscle and a minor pectoral muscle.

15. The swimsuit of claim 12 wherein the first and second compression panels are elongate strips.

16. The swimsuit of claim 15 wherein the elongate strips have a narrowing configuration.

17. The swimsuit of claim 15 wherein the elongate strips each have a constant width.

18. The swimsuit of claim 12 wherein the first and second chest compression panels are attached to an inside surface of the chest portion.