Cross-country ski exercise device

Claim 1

An exercise device including: (a) a base frame having front and rear ends and at least three spaced, parallel elongated rails extending longitudinally between said ends; (b) a pair of footplates, each movably mounted on a certain pair of the rails for reciprocating movement along said rail pairs; (c) belt means extending along the rails and connected to each of the footplates for moving the footplates in unison in opposite directions along the rails; (d) means for providing resistance to the movement of the belt means and footplates; (e) a pair of levers pivotally mounted on the base frame adjacent the front end thereof, each of the levers having an extended end extending toward each other generally along the front end of said base frame; (f) a pair of plate members each mounted on and extending generally across the front end of the base frame, said extended ends of the levers extending generally between the plate members and between a plurality of friction pads positioned between the extended ends of the levers and said plate members, said extended ends of the levers being clampingly engaged between the plate members and said friction pads for providing frictional resistance to the pivotal movement of said levers; and (g) a central adjustment bolt and a pair of outer adjustment bolts, said bolts being selectively tightened for clamping the plate members and said friction pads against the extended ends of the levers to provide the frictional resistance to the pivotal movement of said levers, said central bolt equally adjusting the gross resistance to the pivotal movement of the levers, and said outer bolts each independently adjusting the resistance to the movement of a respective one of the levers.