I am starting adding some strength training to my running programme and would like to start today. We have bought a very nice and very complete 'home gym' with three stations and lots of exercises, and it is now set up waiting for me...

I've done lots of research, read these forums, and have used these kind of machines at the gym, so I feel ready.

I just wanted to ask you very knowledgeable folk on here - where should I start? I know I want to start light (not a problem! ) but I am unsure how many repetitions and how many 'sets' to start with... any suggestions please?

I was thinking maybe three sets of six (or ten?) or each exercise? Does this sound sensible?

I'll wait for some response before happily throwing myself at the machine!

Thanks,
Heather

Your set/rep schemes are dependent on your goals.

In terms of what you want to do, how would you prioritize the following:

Increase strength
Increase muscle
Increase Muscular endurance
Decrease fat

Also, when you say "of each exercise" how many exercises are you referring to. Total volume is very important. If you are planning on doing 6 exercises, you should get a very different answer than if you are planning on doing 12 exercises.

Oh, wow - hadn't even thought of this... umm okay -
1. Increase strength
2. Decrease fat
3. increase muscular endurance
4. Increase muscle

I didn't really think of my strength training as 'decreasing fat' - how odd. I was leaving that to my cardio - lol!

Starting to feel a little bit lost

Heather

To increase strenghth, you want to keep your weight high and reps low. To decrease fat, you want to get as much overall work done in the allowed time, so you want to keep rest periods shorter.

I would go with what some call "supersets with full rest". As opposed to a superset that you go straight from one exercise to another, you will be resting between exercises as you would in doing a straight routine. However, by using the superset, instead of resting 1 minute before doing the next set of the same exercise, you are actually going to get a bit more than 2 minutes before doing another set of the same exercise. Use different movement patterns or muscle groups to allow for as much recovery fromt the first exercise.

For instance:

You might do 5 sets of 5 of chest press and leg press.

In a straight set, instead of doing a set of chest press, resting for a minute and doing another set of chest press, you will do a set of chest press, rest a minute, and do a set of leg press, rest a minute and then go back and do the second set of chest press. So you are getting 2 minutes (plus the time it takes for the set of leg presses) between sets of chest press. You chest, tris, and shoulders have rested this entire time and can give a good effort.

The reason I favor supersets with full rest in this scenario instead of regular supersets is the added rest will allow you to keep the weights higher and more consistent with your strength goal.

I am assuming right now, without further info that you will be doing 6 exercises in each of 3 total body workouts. If that is not the case, then the advice would change.

There should also be some documentation and an anatomy diagram in your paperwork for your weight machine. The documentation probably has a recommended workout or some suggestions on how to get started, since we can't really see your machine and know exactly which stations you have. The anatomy diagram should help you cross-reference exercises to work specific body parts, so that you can make sure you've got every muscle group covered with your workout.