Product: Toy: Pogo Stick
Semi-recumbent Pogo Stick   (+4)  [vote for, against]
Sit back and bounce

Imagine a low seat with sloping back and foot rests sticking out the front. It has a pogo foot on the bottom (directly under the pilot’s center of mass) and handles on either side.

This style of pogo stick is more comfortable than the tradition stand-up variety, especial for long-distance touring.

Excellent for exercising the muscles of the lower abdominal and pelvic regions.
-- AO, Mar 20 2003

(?) Hoppity Hop http://www.yesterda...ows/toys/ty1133.php
[phoenix, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

(??) Muscular development http://members.aol.com/PaulEC2/acro6.jpg
Yogi shows off resulting musculature. [AO, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

A normal pogo stick relies upon the user to provide power by raising and lowering his center of mass relative to his feet. This is much more readily accomplished than raising and lowering one's center of mass relative to ones seat.
-- supercat, Mar 20 2003


Croissant for the mental image it conjures, but I can't quite see how one would do the actual pogoing without the jumping action.

Never mind - I've just succesfully bounced around on my springy chair using only the energy of my buttocks (and not in a farting way, either) - your contraption will work a treat. Good work, our kid.
-- friendlyfire, Mar 20 2003


[friendly] I have also successfully performed that experiment. It is amazing how much power can be extracted. I remember using this method to get closer to the dinner table back when my legs were too short to reach the floor.
-- AO, Mar 20 2003


Well, a small nuclear-powered actuator in the workings of the chair would easily get your average fatass couch potatoe off the ground a couple inches...then he/she would only have to lean a little fat in the direction they wish to go.

Oh yeah, don't forget the gyros to keep the flubber from throwing everything off balance!
-- DrOuD, Mar 20 2003


So it's a Hippity-Hop, then?
-- phoenix, Mar 20 2003


[phoenix] In the seated bouncing aspect it is similar to a Hippity-hop, but there are a few important differences:

The Hippity-hopper holds on in front, a configuration known as above-seat-steering (ASS for short), whereas the handles of the semi-recumbent pogo are located to sides of and slightly below the seat.

The semi-recumbent pogist reclines in a seat equipped with a sloping back (about 45 degrees) and foot rests, as opposed to the seating arrangement of the Hippity-hop, which requires one to sit upright.

The Hippity-hop employs the bouncy-ball bouncing mechanism, distinctly different from the springed-stick mechanism of the semi-recumbent pogo stick.
-- AO, Mar 20 2003


Hippity-Hop?

Hippo-Hopper
-- DrOuD, Mar 20 2003


You know how those Yogis fly? I seem to recall seeing a video of a whole room full of acolyte Yogis doing this. Well, they thought they were flying. But as far as I could see, they were just bouncing up and down cross-legged by the timed contractions of muscular buttocks. No doubt this buttock method could be applied to semi-recumbent Pogo sticks. +
-- pluterday, Mar 20 2003


[pluterday] Did you notice if the Yogis had very well developed butt musculature?
-- AO, Mar 21 2003


<groan> what about Boo-Boo?</groan>
-- yamahito, Mar 21 2003


smarter than your average bear's bum
-- po, Mar 21 2003


This is very very good.
-- bungston, Nov 07 2008



random, halfbakery