Patent ID: 7341542

Claim:
An exercise apparatus for use by a user performing a striding exercise with the user moving the user's feet with striding steps, comprising: a right foot engagement member having a first end portion and a second end portion arranged to support the right foot of the user thereon during the striding exercise with the user moving the user's right foot with striding steps; a left foot engagement member having a first end portion and a second end portion arranged to support the left foot of the user thereon during the striding exercise with the user moving the user's left foot with striding steps; right and left lifting-lowering members supporting and reciprocally lifting and lowering the first end portion of the right and left foot engagement members, respectively, with an upward-downward reciprocating motion in response to the user moving the user's feet with striding steps during the striding exercise, the first end portions of the right and left foot engagement members being decoupled from the respective ones of the right and left lifting-lowering members to allow movement thereof in forward and rearward directions relative to the right and left lifting-lowering members in response to the user moving the user's feet with striding steps during the striding exercise and thereby permit the first end portions of the right and left foot engagement members to move with a user variable length of forward-rearward travel determined by the length of the striding steps used by the user during the striding exercise and variable in response to changes in the length of the striding steps used by the user during the striding exercise; and a second end portion support arranged to support the second end portions of the right and left foot engagement members, and to guide the second end portions of the right and left foot engagement members to follow a forward-rearward reciprocating motion with a user variable length of forward-rearward travel determined by the length of the striding steps used by the user during the striding exercise and variable in response to changes in the length of the striding steps used by the user during the striding exercise.