Thanks Mel-I read the VS thread and it was very interesting....I'm going to ask the trainer at my gym to show me some things to get started.
and Shananigans-I use Netflix, the movie rental thing, and I got a Pilates for beginners video in yesterday, and talk about a workout! My abs are cursing you

Glad you liked the pilates I've been going to a class at my Y for a couple months and still have to do modified versions of some of the exercises, it's serious stuff!

It’s great to hear that you’re going to give the free weights a try. After you get comfortable you will see there is no comparison and you will wonder why you bothered with those silly machines at all. OK, well not all of them are completely useless, I use the lat pull-down machine and the leg press once in a while, but the vast majority of my weight lifting is with free weights. My lower body doesn’t even need additional weights, non-weighted squats and lunges get my muscles screaming like no machine could.

I found that I liked free weights much more than the machines, and the only machines that I use regularly are for lat pulldowns, triceps press, and occasionally I'll do biceps curls with the cable machine - mostly if someone else has the weight I want and I don't feel like waiting. Oh and once in a great moon I try the assisted dip/pullup machine, but I feel unstable on it and recruit DH to spot me.

OK, as the resident "please move away from the machines" person here, I have to say there are a few machines that I love and don't really consider "machines". I think cables provide all sort of interesting ways to workout and I don't really consider them machines. I use the prone and standing ham curl machines, and I almost always use the "big" leg press. The big, sled type hack squat machine is another favorite. I also use the assisted pull-up machine for my third and fourth sets of pull-ups. Most women can't do ONE unassisted pull-up, so if you need to use the assist, go for it!

What I would stay away from is any machine which inhibits your range of motion or which "links" both sides of your body so that the stronger side can take over. Most shoulder press machines are a good example of that.

For those of you worried about osteoporosis, another reason to move to dumbbells or cables is that putting a vertical load on your spine and hips is partially how weightlifting helps strengthen bones. If you are seated doing bicep curls, you aren't getting the same benefit for your bones as if you did the same exercise standing.

Mel