This is the only piece of advice you need to know: Go to Barnes & Noble, and pick up a copy of "Body-for-life" by Bill Phillips. This is BY FAR the best place for a beginner to begin. He'll explain EVERYTHING you need to know, in a simple straight-forward manner. I can't emphasize enough how good this book is. Good luck!

Reps is the number of movements you do in one set. and you usually pause or rest between sets.

Each machine has pros and cons, it is good to switch around once in a while to give yourself change. Sometimes people with knee problems do not like to use a treadmill so they use a bike or elliptical instead. Treadmill, bike, step machine will give you more leg endurance while a row machine gives more upper body endurance, but you are still essentially doing cardio (making your heart work). You can get a heart rate monitor to make sure you are working hard enough, but not too hard, and essentially do anything without having to rely on a machine (like run on a track)

going with a personal trainer like wasimm said is a good idea. They can sit down with you and show you how to do what you need to do and when to do it depending on your goals. It is important you do things with correct form also to avoid injury.

This page has some tips on finding/selecting a PT: stumptuous.com

Also, getting a workout partner, especially once that has some experience is good because you will be more motivated, and you can do a lot more when you have someone to spot you and vice versa.

You really need to get a PT to show you all the machines and proper techniques of using them and help you work out your diet plan. theres no point bashing months of training and then realising youve been doing it all wrong.

Mention your goal, your current diet, and get a good Personal Trainer to make you a training & diet plan.

thanks...i know tell me about it.....i see so many larger people in the gym trying to slim downa nd then theres me.....anyway i started the gym to get more fit rather then put on weight....then i learnt that u can actually put on wight via muscle......also what do u mean by reps...is that a set of weights???

kusoom that link was good....now i have to amend my diet too......

wasimm - which machines are best for cardio...evryone uses these terms but i need an explanation for these.....

also a basic question....when i use the gym should i start with weights?? or should i run first ??? which machnes should i concentrate on most????
i thought i did good on weds....did loads of weights but next day i didnt ache.......so how do i know im dong enough?????/this is confusing......

well thats interesting: a female trying to gain weight....I dont think you should do free wieghts....i have seen women with sexy bodies concentrate on big muscles of their body using mainly machines. Back is one, the whole of legs is another. I dont know much about pain the next day because that happens when an individual has started working out recently, what i do think that you should do is do a hard workput with weights so that you are grunting. When you've achieved what you wanted then you could just do a lot of reps to maintain what you have. But then again there are a lot of other questions of diet (which i cant answer), what are your goals: in essence how much you weigh now and where you wanna be three months from now......

This website has helped me: stumptuous.com

Yes, it is hard to get muscle. You would have to lift heavy and for over a long duration.

its ok, you wont pack on too much muscle, its not as easy to gain muscle as u think.

to build lean mass your diet must be good; else you will have to do a bit of cardio aswell. infact cardio is good anyway, to keep ur stamina in place. so do it once a week.

the way people get over soreness and still manage to go to the gym, is by training different muscle groups every other day. for example, if u train shoulders, traps, triceps on monday, and if you still have pain on wednesday, you can still do back/bi. because its a different muscle group and it doesnt affect the sore ones.

if u ache the day after or 2 days later, it means u did good. if you ache for longer, it means either ur not getting enough protein, or u overtrained.

and the leg curl, do it as slowly as u can.