Total body exercise methods and apparatus

An exercise apparatus comprising:

• a frame having a longitudinal dimension;
• a left footpad for supporting a user's left foot, the apparatus including a left sensor that generates a force indicating signal indicative of a force applied to the left footpad in a horizontal direction by the user's left foot;
• a right footpad for supporting a user's right foot, the apparatus including a right sensor that generates a force indicating signal indicative of a force applied to the right footpad in a horizontal direction by the user's right foot;
• a mechanism that couples the footpads to the frame and guides the footpads to move each in a closed path having at least first and second mutually perpendicular dimensions in response to forces applied to the footpads by the user's feet, wherein said first dimension is parallel to said horizontal direction, the second dimension is perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension of the frame, and the mechanism resists movement in said horizontal direction in response to an electrical control signal supplied as input to the mechanism;
• and
• a control system that receives the force indicating signal and generates the control signal such that the mechanism resists movement depending on the force indicated by the force indicating signal.