An abdominal exercise bar accessory having a rigid bar that is placed against a user's chest and cradled within his underarm region, with two alternating upward and downward extending handles attached to the bar opposite the user so that the user's arms partially overlap while gripping the handles. A rigid side extension extends upward from the bar and is attached to an overhead resistance station, such as a cable-and-pulley weight system. The bar is preferably concave, but may be straight, and preferably includes cushioned pads. A method of use in which the user rotates and moves the bar downward from an upright sitting position towards the user's thighs, causing it to travel in a non-circular, non-uniform pathway that matches that of the user's natural body movements, then returns to an upright sitting position.