I'm 17 years old about 6 foot and I weigh about 195 pounds, I'm not sure what my body fat percent is but I'd guess about 14%. I play hockey and have played it for years now so my lower body is in pretty good shape.

I joined the gym about 6 months ago and have been going pretty consistantly every other day. However, now I want to get serious with my workout and unfortunately I have a lot of questions about things I've heard from different people.

My current workout at the gym includes curling, leg press, bench, leg curls, military press, crunches, pulldowns, and then 15 minutes on a recumbent bike at the highest level. I usually do them in this order too. For all of these workouts I use machines, not free weights.

So first off, I've heard many people say not to even bother with machines, and to only use free weights because "machines suck" Opinions?

Second, another big question is what is the difference between doing less reps with more weight and vice versa? Currently I do 3 sets on each machine at a certain weight, then I do a fourth set with an increased amount of weight. (My friend told me to add on the extra weight for the last rep, so I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing)

I also notice that different people lift differently. Personally I've always been taught that when you lift you should do each machine as much as you can and slowly, because it works your muscles best, but I always see people doing reps extremely fast.

Sorry for the long read and all the questions, but I really want to get serious with this stuff. (I've even been improving my diet a lot) Thank you for your time, your help is greatly appriciated.

Can anybody even answer some of my questions?

I would change the order to use larger muscles (chest, back) first. When you work these muscles you also work your triceps and biceps. Since you are doing biceps before lat pulldowns, your biceps are tired when you get to the pulldowns, therefore they will give in before your back has had a chance to have an effective workout.

The typical argument against machines is that they move in a fixed plane of motion, you need to balance free weights, therefore a lot of other muscles are used besides the main one you are trying to hit. If you have access to both, I would alternate between them every 4-6 weeks. Please note, if you don't have a spotter and decide to bench with free weights, try to do it with dumbbells, this way you don't run the risk of being trapped under a barbell if you can't lift the weight.

More weight with less reps should give you more muscle mass. Less weight with more repetitions will give you more muscle endurance. Typically it is recommended to do the most weight you can lift for 6 repetitions if you are going for mass, and the most you can lift for 8-12 repetitions if you are going for muscle endurance.

A lot of people say that less weight with more repetitions is done for muscle definition. This is not true. Muscle definition is obtained by lowering body fat (cardio and a low calorie diet). Luckily most people in these forums are aware of this fact.

I'm not sure if the extra weight is beneficial on the last set. Personally, my muscles are usually very tired after the last set, therefore I wouldn't be able to lift much more weight than in the previous sets for more than a couple of reps.

I've read that you should lift in a slow, controlled movement. Explosive movements can cause injury.


Hope that helps,
Eraser

Thank you for your help with my questions. Now I guess I'm gonna have to start up on those free weights. Thanks again.