by TOM LIDDY, PILAR CONCI and JAMIE SCHRAM
In the age-old battle of human vs. machine, the "abductor" defeated its foe - a portly woman - at a Harlem gym yesterday.
A "very large lady" at the New York Sports Club was "sling-shot" off equipment known as the "abductor" - and had to be hauled from the gym in a rescue basket by firefighters, authorities said.
The accident was reported before noon at 345 W. 145th St., where a 38-year-old woman was using the machine, which firms muscles of the hips and inner thighs, witnesses said.
"She didn't close [the machine] properly," said one source who asked not to be identified.
"She was supposed to exit it from the side but tried to go over the leg bar . . and her loose pants got caught in the handle."
Gym members were aghast as they watched the accident unfold.
"If you are on a machine, it's you versus the machine," said another gym member who also asked not to be identified.
"She put too much weight on the machine. She was, like, sling-shot from it."
A FDNY spokesman said that because of the woman's large size, paramedics had to use a "Stokes basket" instead of a regular stretcher to lift the woman from the gym and into the ambulance.
She was then taken to New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. A spokeswoman at the hospital had no immediate information, including the woman's weight.
Separately, the Fire Department responded Sunday night to the Queens apartment of a 400-pound man who was knocked unconscious by smoke - and had to be hauled to safety with special cargo netting, authorities said.
The fire alarm was reported at 8:50 p.m. at 61-15 97th St., the source said.
When firefighters from Ladder Co. 136 opened the door of the first-floor apartment, a lieutenant and probationary officer found an unnamed 400-pound man unconscious, lying face down, in a hallway near the living room, the source said.
Rescuers had to use cargo netting to envelope the large patient and drag him to safety.
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