the applied forces may be used among other things to 1 simulate the compressive farce of gravity in a static position 2 provide resistance to movement during exercise and 3 provide a constant load during exercise to simulate the effect of gravity the reader will note that the joints of the inventive exoskeleton are not aligned with the user 39 s corresponding joints in some rare instances there may in fact be alignment u2014 depending on the user 39 s anatomy u2014 but joint alignment is not necessary or even desirable for the proper use of the inventive exoskeleton in fig1 for example the exoskeleton 39 s knee joint 18 is not aligned at all with the user 39 s knee joint the exoskeleton may be worn while performing a wide variety of movements fig2 shows a front view of a user wearing the exoskeleton while performing a u201c squat u201d exercise the reader will again note that the joints of the exoskeleton are generally not aligned with the user 39 s joints from this vantage point additional features of the harness may be seen chest strap 40 is provided to pull the two shoulder straps 36 inward across the chest waist strap 38 links the two sides of cradle 34 together those skilled in the art will know that many different types of torso harnesses are known the version shown should properly be viewed as one example among many possibilities it is preferable to provide snap fitting attachments between the harness components it is also preferable to provide easy length adjustment features on the straps many components may be selected to provide.