Even so, these machines can still make you feel intimidated, if only because there are so many of them to choose from. Fortunately, there are a few simple "tricks" that once you learn, you'll wonder why you didn't start using machines sooner.
The following tips will make your weightlifting machine workout, comfortable & easy.
Weightlifting Machine Tips
1) The Best Machines Match Your Goals
One of the first questions a new machine user asks is: "Which machines should I use?". It depends upon your goals.
The truth is, because you are new to weightlifting, you will get fast results no matter which machines you choose. Doing the workouts will burn more calories, so you will reduce bodyfat - as long as you don't increase the amount of food you eat.
Since you want to keep your body appearance "in balance", you should be using machines for each major muscle group in your entire body. This means you need to choose a full body workout for women at the gym. However, you can still "specialize" in the body areas that are most important to you.
For most women, a primary goal is "toning". And when they say "toning", they mean legs (including the butt), arms and abs. So you should concentrate on leg, arm and ab machines - while still doing a bit of exercise for the other major muscle groups (chest, back, shoulders, etc).
Since most weightlifting workout routines found online or in magazines are targeted towards men, it can be very difficult to find a routine that works well for a woman's body. It is especially difficult to find an upper body workout for women with weights, that emphasizes female appearance goals. Here's an example of a workout program that is made specifically to make a woman look great!
2) Form is more important than Progress
When most people start weightlifting, their top priority is to impress others (especially the boys) and impress themselves, with how much weight they can lift. Wrong.
It's not how much you lift; it's whether you're lifting it correctly. And "correctly" means, using the right exercise Form.
This is where using machines really helps. Most machines constrain the path you must take with your exercise motion, in a way that ensures you will not make the most common mistakes. However, if you really try, you can still do an exercise incorrectly, even though the machine is "trying its best" to keep your form correct.
So how do you learn the proper form on every machine? The hard way is to:
-Go online and watch a video of a personal trainer (or other expert) using that particular machine
-The first time you use a new machine, ask a personal trainer in your gym to help you determine the right settings for that particular machine (for instance, the seat setting)
-Do the exercise slowly and under control, so you can concentrate on keeping the form correct (instead of just "cheating" the weight - swinging it around fast, to overcome the weight's resistance)
The easy way, of course, is to follow a workout plan that includes very detailed exercise instructions.
Weightlifting Workout Tips
3) Rest is more important than Progress
Believe it or not, the most common reason for weightlifting workouts to fail to get you results - is overtraining. In fact, it's rare for someone to undertrain, especially newbies who are full of encouragement and motivation.
And the best way to overcome overtraining, is to get enough rest. But there are several types of "rest" here.
Firstly, you need to rest for enough minutes between sets, to be in the right condition to perform the next set. And this rest time varies, depending upon the type of workout you're doing.
For "toning" workouts, you are usually doing lots of reps and lots of sets - with little rest in-between. So in this case, getting enough rest may simply mean taking "water breaks" that are long enough to catch your breath and keep you hydrated.
Secondly, there's the rest you take between exercises. For "toning" workouts, you usually move quickly from machine to machine, because you want to keep your metabolism raised to burn as many calories as possible. So again, short rests, that are enough to catch your breath and stay hydrated.
Thirdly, there's the rest you take between workouts. This really depends upon your age. For the youngest, 48 hours is the rule. That is, your body needs a full day off to recover, before attempting to do that machine again. (However, note that it is possible to workout every day, as long as you alternate which areas of the body are being worked on.)
As you get older, your body needs more time to recover from an exhausting weightlifting workout. If you find that you are "burning out" despite taking a single day off between workouts, you should increase to 2 days off between workouts. And if you are a "senior", you should consider taking as much as 3 days off.
If you are doing the right workout for your goals, even doing only 2 workouts per week will be enough to see results. Which brings us to...
4) Use the Correct Specs
What is the right workout, for your goals? Again, for most women - who are primarily interested in weight loss and "toning" - the right type of workout is a "toning" workout (often called an "endurance" or "definition" workout, by the boys). So you need to find specifically, a workout schedule for women to lose weight and tone.
Toning workouts use high reps, many sets, and therefore light weights. The cardio version usually doesn't use any weights at all - instead, you use "body weight" as your only resistance. Machines are much better in this respect, in that they let you use less weight than your body. This allows you to start at lower weight for more difficult lifts, so you can successfully get stronger and more toned. Whereas starting with full body weight, will burn you out and simply convince you to stop - and fail.
