History of P.A.W.S.

The original conception of the adjustable weight suit idea occurred on the 10^th of October 1989.  The invention was created solely by Mark T. Raines.  The original suit was spandex and lead-based.  Throughout the design phase, the suit underwent the following adjustments: 1) The idea of using an adjustably weighted glove came a few months after the initial creation of the suit.  This idea was first witnessed by Justin Daniel, Kasja Guertin, and Patrick Thomas.  2) The spandex, which makes up the suit, was strengthened by pieces of nylon ribbon.  These "vertical stabilizers" aid in keeping the weights from slipping when making a centrifugal movement with any part of the body.  3) Size of the weights were to be created with the following specifications: 3/16 of an inch thick; two different sizes, one for the appendages and one for the chest/back.  This change was made in September of 1991 and was witnessed by Pop Thomas, Kasja Guertin, and Justin Daniel.  4) The weight packets were redesigned in February of 1993.  The design allows for the weight packet/bands to be adjustable, also.  Witnesses to this change were Paul Matta, Justin Daniel, and Vincent Ong.  5) It was noted that rehabilitation patients could benefit from small, adjustable small, well placed weights on any part of the body including the torso, head, knees, elbows, feet, etc.  The witnesses to this concept, which occurred on March 26, 1993, were Justin Daniel, Timothy O'Neill, and Vincent Ong.  6) It was decided to integrate vertical stabilizers within the glove.  This was conceived on the 15^th of June 1993 and was witnessed by Justin Daniel, Dale Ervin, and Dan Orleans.  The drawings of each of these improvements are contained in the third section of this document.

P.A.W.S. was first tested within the last week of March 1993.  This testing included an individual wearing the suit while playing basketball, walking, and swimming.  Stretch resisters were in place during the experiments, making a major difference in the performance of the suit.  The suit was tested further by putting weights on only half of the suit, thereby providing excellent resistance to a singular appendage.  It was found that in all the activities the suit stayed tight, did not slide, and was comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time.  Another test came about three weeks later when the shorts were used for volleyball practice.  The suit did not slide or shift, nor did it put any overbearing stress on the legs.  Towards the end of practice, a noticeable difference in fatigue was noticed in the weighted leg.

Brief Usage Description

P.A.W.S. is the ultimate in personally adjustable workout systems.  It consists of a two-piece garment with upper and lower body pieces, weighted vest, and glove.  The system is designed to give an added resistance to any body movement.  This makes normal motion and therapeutic or sport-related exercise, more efficient.  Through its efficiency, P.A.W.S. increases the speed of a workout, works specific muscles, and allows users to work muscles through their full and normal range of motion.  P.A.W.S. is useful in resistance training; the building, strengthening, and toning of muscles; the strengthening of cardiovascular endurance; and the burning of fat.  The addition of thin weights into pockets on the suit allows this resistance to occur.  These weights are placed within individual pockets in the weight packets, which are then slipped into the pockets of the garment itself.  Once the packets are in the pockets, the packets are secured.  At any time, weights can be added, removed, or redistributed to different areas of the body.

Problems P.A.W.S. Solves

Occupational and Muscular Rehabilitation Therapists, athletes (including sports medicine trainers), and weight loss specialists have all marveled at the problems P.A.W.S. solves in their specific fields. 

P.A.W.S. helps therapists isolate and add increased or decreased resistance to any part of the body.  Due to the weights contouring the body, the center of gravity of the user would not be unbalanced.  The contouring will also allow the proprioceptive awareness of the user to develop naturally – rather than unnaturally as it does when using free weights.  The variable placement and variable weight of the suit allow for increased monitoring during the exercise and a stricter control of strength and endurance therapy.  A psychological benefit for a user is that they are able to see their strength progress through the addition of extra weights.  This proves especially beneficial for outpatients who cannot meet on a daily basis to get professional therapy.  These statements are confirmed in a letter from Marjean Rubin, a Physical Therapist in Midland, Texas. 

Athletes and sports medicine doctors also need the suit during the practice of their individual sports.  P.A.W.S. allows for freedom of motion without an imbalance on the athlete's center of gravity.  The adjustability of P.A.W.S. allows the athlete to isolate the placement of weights for particular muscles they need to strengthen.  These concepts for P.A.W.S. are confirmed in a letter from Al Oerter, four time Olympic Gold Medallist in Discus. 

Individuals interested in weight loss are encouraged by experts to exercise in conjunction with developing proper eating habits.  By donning P.A.W.S. during normal daily activities, the user is able to exercise without the rigors of formal fitness training.  Basically, the user will wear the suit to add variable weight resistance to parts of the body, thereby burning calories and aerobically exerting the body in everyday activities.  Both of these increase muscle mass and blood flow, raise metabolism, and tone muscle, especially when the suit is worn all day.  Any weight loss therapist can confirm these statements.

How P.A.W.S. Solves Traditional Exercise-Related Problems

P.A.W.S. is designed to solve a variety of problems.  These problems are most prominent in the exercise, rehabilitation, and weight loss fields.  The purpose of P.A.W.S. is to exercise an individual area of the body separately or in unison through the placement of weight packet(s) upon any desired anatomical location. With P.A.W.S., the user will be able to place a weight in any area of the body in order to work that part of the body more thoroughly. When placing these weights in strategic places throughout the suit, the users experience efficient and vigorous workouts for the specific part of the body.

In the fitness field, athletes and coaches have always searched for more intense and quicker means of toning, building, or amassing muscle, and increasing cardiovascular endurance.  Different methods have been introduced and evolved since the first athletes were around.  In the current field of sports there are many methods of getting a good workout; each individual sport has its own method and pieces of equipment to aid in the effectiveness of the workout.  P.A.W.S. can be used in conjunction with any and all sports and sports exercise equipment/methods, both as an exercise aid for people on the go and weekend warriors or for serious athletes who need to strengthen or tone their body in order to improve performance.  People who exercise regularly often complain about not having enough time to exercise and that the exercise they get may not be enough or is too harsh on their body - a result of cyclical exercise. P.A.W.S. allows the user to get a more complete workout with the spare time they set aside buy adding a little or a lot of resistance to the activity they wish to do.  The weekend warriors who often find their workouts to be variable can use the suit to regulate their workout throughout the week.  By wearing the suit to work or after work, these people will be able to keep their fitness levels regulated, so they will be fit for anything physical that comes their way.  Keeping these warriors toned also helps to remove the chance of injury due to over-stressing muscles when they do find the time to workout.  Professional athletes also need the suit in order to intensify and focus workouts more than they previously could.  These athletes also often need to strengthen certain areas of their bodies for peak performance. P.A.W.S. allows the user to isolate certain muscles during an activity and resist them to a greater degree, thereby giving the athlete a more intense workout for that muscle or group of muscles, as well as aid their cardiovascular endurance.

The rehabilitation industry also needs the benefits of the P.A.W.S. system.  The ability to isolate individual muscles to aid in their recovery has always been essential to rehabilitation. P.A.W.S. is able to do this while keeping the original center of gravity, and the proprioceptiveness of the user fully familiar.  Therapists can use P.A.W.S. to increase strength, even when the patient is at home, through therapeutic exercises.  Adding weights in specific increments, and therefore adding resistance, to the body during normal daily activities can also strengthen the patient by carefully and slowly rebuilding the muscle.  Patients also need to see how well they are performing and their improvement over time.  P.A.W.S. allows the patient to see their success when they are able to lift a certain amount of weights or when they add more weight. 

Those wishing to lose weight have always sought methods to lose weight, especially without having to do anything difficult.  There have been fad diets galore to make people thin in no time flat, but these diets often fail because there is no exercise involved.  Clinical studies have shown that fat lost from dieting alone is often regained because the internal biology of the person has not changed.  In order to lose fat and keep that fat from returning, the person must increase their metabolism, cardiovascular strength, and muscle-to-fat ratio.  Until now, these last three things meant one dreadful thing – exercise.  When you are already overweight, this seems much more difficult than say, a starvation diet.  But with P.A.W.S., the user needs only to put on the suit, slip in some weights, and carry on their normal daily routine.  The resistance training they get throughout the day occurs slowly enough so that it does not tire them out in a short period of time.  The suit therein gives them a simple and efficient means of toning muscles, strengthening cardiovascular endurance, and burning fat.  This 'lazy exercise,' in conjunction with a well-balanced diet, is exactly what the doctor ordered. 

Examples

ATHLETIC BENEFIT: If an athlete wished to work out a part of the body in a shorter amount of time or wanted to have a more fulfilling workout on a certain part of the body; this suit is for them. By adding weight wherever the user wants, a better and more balanced exercise session will occur.  If a racquetball player wished to increase the strength of his serving arm, he would wear the weighted glove and\or weight packets on his serving arm.  The weight could be adjusted at the location of use to ensure that no undue strain will be put on the arm, while still giving the athlete an added resistance.  The athlete would then train or practice racquetball normally and reap the benefits of a robust hand, arm, shoulder, chest, and neck workout. This same workout could be used if the athlete wished to tone or add mass to the forearm muscles in such sports as tennis and bowling. For a basketball or volleyball player who wishes to increase their vertical leap, they may want to add weight on the legs, shoulders, chest, and back.  Adding even a little weight will cause the workout will be more intense and add inches to their vertical. A track runner may want to place weights in the same places to increase speed and\or endurance. If a swimmer wished to strengthen their backstroke, adding weights on the chest and back (for added inertia) plus weights just above the wrists would increase the total mass to pull through the water, plus add resistance to each arm stroke. Beginning swimmers would also benefit from the suit by adding weight to the legs in order to strengthen kicks. Aerobic athletes would also receive a tremendous benefit by being able to add weight upon strategic places all over their body. During an average workout, the person would use the weights to more fully tone muscle groups that were not getting an equal benefit from the exercise. The other obvious benefit for athletes (especially those involved in aerobic activity) would be the added workout to the most important muscle of all – the heart.  The cardiovascular benefits from using PAW.S. are enormous.

PHYSICAL THERAPY BENEFITS: For patients who have been injured in such a way that muscular therapy is needed for recovery, P.A.W.S. is perfect. The suit could be used to exercise injured muscles while in the hospital as part of a daily regimented program by adding the prescribed amount of weight to the specific muscle or group of muscles in need of strengthening. When hospital care is over, which is often too soon, the patient will still be able to use the suit in the manner prescribed, plus begin to exercise the muscles that were not injured but have not been exercised and toned along with the injured area. Another great benefit of the suit is that as it is used during normal daily routines, the muscles will be exerted in the usual manner for the patient, but with a somewhat greater resistance. Therefore the patient can exercise the injury without constantly having to go somewhere to receive therapy.  Instead, they will be able to use P.A.W.S. to do exercises at certain prescribed times.  The patient will not have to constantly think about when the next convenient time to exercise is, but instead follow a smart daily regimen of normal activities in order to continue strengthening, toning, and conditioning the injury back to its original vigor.

WEIGHT LOSS BENEFITS: PAW.S also produces great results for overweight users. Those wishing to lose weight could put the suit on, insert the desired number of weight packets, and go about their usual, daily activities or exercise. Just wearing added weight would burn excess calories through any amount of movement such as walking to the bathroom or even the non-movement of sitting still (if the chest shoulder, and back weights were in place). Even greater benefits would be reaped if those wishing to lose weight exercised in any manner with the suit on and weights in place. Even walking an extra mile in this suit – when it is weighted down with only a few pounds – would burn enough of those excess calories to make a difference.

DESIGN of P.A.W.S.

The three main design factors I had in mind when creating P.A.W.S. were considered in order to keep the user comfortable and safe and to keep the suit simple and discreet. First, the weight packets and individual weights should be thin enough to wear under normal clothing without any abnormal bulging. The bulging will be lessened farther as a result of the tightness of the spandex.  Secondly the suit should be tight enough and designed in accord with the amount of vertical and horizontal stress that would occur during its use. This means that all weights will be seemingly adhered to the body during any exercise. Lastly, the suit should have the ability to insert or remove all or a fraction of the total weights according to the activity being performed. I believe that the suit that is seen here adheres to these rules and gives the suit its unequalled and unique method of solving problems for many different exercising situations.

P.A.W.S. is a garment made of a stretchable material, such as lycra spandex, which fits snugly to the body and is breathable. The nature of the garment is for resistance training, rehabilitation, and fat burning and is also exceedingly versatile in its physical functions. It can be constructed as a long sleeve top, a pant bottom, a vest, shorts, and T-shirt. The suit may even be disassociated at the knee or elbow joints in order to turn a long sleeve into a short sleeve shirt/vest or a full-length pant into shorts.

The P.A.W.S. garment has the ability to integrate pockets anywhere on the suit. Each stretchable spandex pocket sewn onto the body of the suit can accept a number of weight packets, which may or may not contain weights.  Each individual packet can hold a single weight of a certain length and width and a thickness of about 3/16"– ¼".  Versatility is further extended by allowing all single packets to be attached or detached to any number of other packets, including base packets which hold more weights and have only two sets of fasteners, thereby making them into a longer or shorter bands, able to circumscribe any part of the body, from the wrist, to the thigh, even the abdomen

P.A.W.S. keeps these weights from sliding along the length and width of the body during movement by use of vertical and horizontal stabilizers. These stabilizers do not allow the weights to bobble or shift during rigorous exercise or normal usage. These resistors are further augmented by the ability of the spandex to hold the packets in close proximity to the body.  By doing this, the weight is stabilized in the specific area in which the user places it.  The weight, due to the heat emanated by the body, becomes more malleable, thereby enabling bending in any direction. By having the weights thin and held snugly against the user's body, the user's proprioception is not affected as it is with other devices like wrist/ankle weights, therefore the suit can be loaded with 1/4 lb. or 100 lb., and anywhere in between.

The versatility of changing the amount of weights and placement on the body results in adaptability to any and all activities the user may wish to pursue.  If the user wishes to change the position or amount of weights in between different activities or even during a single activity, this is possible because of the fact that the weights are identical and interchangeable and may be easily adjusted to suit the user's needs during specific activities. The user may also appreciate the ability to use the suit when not participating in a sporting activity. She or he may wish to simply wear P.A.W.S. around during everyday activities in order to strengthen, tone, or build endurance by placing weight in the specific target area needing improvement.  If the user is injured, as may occur in any sport, the user can utilize the suit as part of rehabilitation therapy by placing weights in the area needing rehabilitation.  The same user can also burn extra calories by using the suit during normal, daily activities and in conjunction with a balanced diet.

The strengths of P.A.W.S. are easily identifiable.  Because of its versatility in training for any sporting activity, use in rehabilitation, helpfulness in burning calories, ability to add resistance during any movement, and ability to receive a variable amount of weights on any part of the body, P.A.W.S. is the only Personally Adjustable Weight Suit.

Production Considerations

Drawing on available know-how, the design features included in P.A.W.S. are readily producible within the limits of available technology. The materials necessary to produce P.A.W.S. not only exist, but are well established: textiles, nylon, zinc, plastic, neoprene, and rubber.   The design of P.A.W.S. is innovative and yet relatively simple.

One of the materials used in P.A.W.S., and part of its patented workings, is a textile called Coolmax.  This is a synthetic fiber made by Dupont that does not swell when wet. In fact it is woven into a yarn that has tiny channels that allow moisture vapors to permeate (disperse and move) through.  Also, Coolmax is also special in that it is a fabric that will not chafe.

Naturally, some further design work is necessary to determine the ideal size and shape of the product's components.  Some design work is also necessary in order to determine the best/least expensive method for the suit to be sewn/produced and still have the desired properties so the suit remains effective.  Still, P.A.W.S. has no unusual design features that would complicate the preparation of the product.

The production technology would vary little from that currently utilized in the production of similar products.   Materials, processes, and even construction would be similar, with adaptations made for the specific design of P.A.W.S.  There are some new materials on the market that may be incorporated, but once again, this should not add difficulty to the production of the product.  Once the design specifications and the material specifications are worked out, P.A.W.S. will be aided in its development by consulting with design specialists who may advise on the appearance and styling that would best appeal to potential consumers.  Variations on the basic P.A.W.S. model would vary in price depending on the cost of their components.

Overall, since P.A.W.S. is virtually ready for production, there should be little additional research or development required for the production phase.  Research and development will be limited to the zinc weights, rubber packets, and sizing, cutting, and sewing specifications.

COST AND PRICE ESTIMATES

Once an estimate of the cost of producing P.A.W.S. has been determined, consideration must be given to the type of markup structure most feasible for a particular item in determining its final retail price.   Pricing is a complicated process and must take into consideration the cost to manufacturers, to wholesalers or distributors and, finally, to the retailer.  There must be a margin of profit at the manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing levels over and above the costs incurred at each stage.

Before manufacturers determine their pricing, they must include the fixed costs associated with their industry and with the particular item to be manufactured.  These costs included the cost of equipment or retooling, materials, labor and overhead, as well as non-production costs such as shipping and handling, sales expense, and product liability insurance.

The 'best effort' cost and price estimates for P.A.W.S. has been developed by comparing it to other products that seem to be similar in composition and complexity.   This is only an estimate.  In estimating retail costs, markups are applied that are standard to the industry.

These estimates are:

PRODUCTION COST   $ 62.50

WHOLESALE COST    $125.00

 RETAIL PRICE    $250.00

SPIRIT GEAR is currently looking for someone to either purchase or lease the U.S. Patent that is held for P.A.W.S. technology.  If you are interested in P.A.W.S. and would like to learn more, please call us at 800.460.0629 or e-mail at raines@eden.com.