What's best to do at the gym?

Most gyms have orientation sessions where they will show you how to use the equipment and they will generally set you up with a good first exercise program.

My last gym pushed new members to use hydraulic resistance machines on the aerobics floor and saved their weight room for serious or competitive athletes. Being a free weight guy from way back I felt a little offended by this but I gave the machines a chance and found them to be very effective.

As far as aerobic machines go, my favorite is the lever stepper. The stair mill and eliptiical machines are a lot more popular so there is never a wait for the lever steppers and I find the stepper gets my heart rate up quicker than any than the others. My favorite activity is cycling and the lever stepper feels like it works the muscles used for out of saddle climbing even better than the stationary bikes.

I find the most important thing for aerobic exercises is tunes. Bring your mp3 player and comfortable ear phones and rock out while you exercise. For strength training I usually leave the music off so I can concentrate on what I’m doing.

Since you’re talking about machines, I assume you’re goal is weight loss?

If so, then elliptical machines and stationary bikes are the best.

Start off with 2 sets of about 8-10 reps on each machine just to “test out the waters” because it is very easy to get injured whenever you first start putting that stress on your muscles and joints.

the hardest exercises would give you the best results would probably be the Deadlift, Benchpress and Squat. They all work multiple muscles but you have to be conditioned to put up massive weight.

Do not expect body builder status within days or weeks or even months. Those guys work out for YEARS and are on a strict diet.