Hey all, I just joined a really nice gym, they have more equipment than I know what to do with so I'm kind of at a loss for where to start. They do offer personal trainers, but at $45 a session it's a bit out of my league.

For my weight training routine I normally do set of 12/10/8 on curls, butterfly's, press, and triceps (not sure what the exercise is called for this one), ab machine , and a machine that works the inner thighs, but these are all done on pulley machines. My questions are:

1) How many times per week should I be doing these exercises?
2) What amout of sets/reps should I be doing
3) Should I stick to the machines, or move to free weights?
4) What should I do for my back? i've been neglecting it and i'm not sure where to start.

For my cardio workout i've been working my way up. I started off jogging/walking one mile, jogging every other lap. I'm up to two miles now, jogging two and walking one for the first mile, and jogging every other lap for the second mile, I do go all out on and sprint it out on my last jogging lap. My questions for this are :

1) Should I focus on getting more distance, or jogging/running more at my current distance?
2) Should I be working my legs with weights in addition to running? If do what exercises should I be doing?

My overall goal is to lose another 57lbs and get a nice tone to my body.

remember what i tell you:

1) diet is the biggest factor and will determine whether you pass or fail. you must eat healthy. you must eat a deficit to lose weight. drink lots of water.

2) you should weight train properly to prevent the loss of muscle while you loose fat. train you whole body with this sample full body workout

workout A
squat variation
horizontal push variation(bench)
horizontal pull variation(bent over rows)
any upper body isolation movement(optional)
rotator cuff work(cuban press)

workout B
deadlift variation
vertical push(military press/dips)
vertical pull(chinups/pullups)
lower body iso(optional)
rotator cuff work

never do the same workout twice in a row; you must alternate them. you must train on non consecutive days, 3 days a week.

-keep the volume of the work you do relatively low. you do not want to rip your muscles to such an extent that your caloric deficit will not be able to repair.

3) be posative and enjoy fitness! and with that posative attitude, read around this website(read the stickies) and learn yourself(lol) about the more in depth parts of diet and exercise. i have hardly scratched the surface in this post.