Hi all. I'm brand new to the idea of weight training. My dad and his wife are both accomplished body builders (my dad's been lifting for 30 plus years), both in training right now for competition, and they have a really nice gym built into their house. I've been struggling with excersize for awhile now, relying mostly on diet. This weekend I went up to visit my dad, however, and asked him to give me a run down on his weight machines as to what workouts he thought I should be doing. While we were going through the sets I realized that I really enjoyed it, it was like my muscles waking up from a very, very long nap. I've got free access to the gym on my college campus and I realized, why shouldn't I learn to weight lift? So I asked my dad to make me out a plan to follow for workouts and such and he gave me the following:

Cardio every day, 30 minutes working up to an hour.
2-3 workouts a week, no two days in a row.
Workout:
Squats 2 sets x 10
Bench Press 2 sets x 10
Shoulder Press 2 x 6-8
Bent Rows 2 x 10-12
Pull-Downs 2 x 10-12
Bicep Curl 2 x 6-8
Tricep Press 2 x 6-8
Crunches 3 x 10
Reverse Crunches 3 x 10
Oblique Crunches 3 x 10

He says to work my way up from an empty bar (I'm just starting out) to adding more weight once I can do all the reps of each set. He says I ought to keep a food and workout journal, and taught me the basics of eating clean and carbs to protein ratios.
I guess my question is, are there any support groups here I could join to grow my knowledge? Does his plan look sound and effective? Any suggestions?
I'm just totally new to this and not quite sure of myself. I feel pleasantly sore today after a couple of light workouts and some cardio this weekend. I'm hoping I can meet some more experienced lifters or join up with others who are just starting out.

Welcome!!

I'd recommend looking at our stickies and reading through some of the links. They can help give you some good information.
The body building basics one is a good place to start:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28891

Also, regarding cardio, HIIT (High intensity interval training) is generally recommended around here Its quick and effective. I like the body for Life explanation on this page:
http://bodyforlife.com/exercise/cardiotraining.asp

I actually looked around and read both of those before I posted but thanks a lot. you're right, they were helpful. I read over a lot of the threads and most of the stickies and got a little intimidated and a little confused with all the technical explanations of the workouts and such, but they were inspiring, too. I'm really excited about learning to lift.

Oh if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!! Stumptuous is a good site to read, especially for beginners. Lots of good stuff there. Your workout plan looks good for a beginner but its an whole body workout, unless you split it up, which means you will want 2 rest days in between. Also, although squats are awesome, I'd want to see more leg exercises (lunges and/or deadlifts added).

Like Nelie already mentioned, he left out deadlifts! Those are my favorite. I sometimes it's also good to keep in mind that a bodybuilder will train different than say, someone who wants to get strong. Bodybuilders and Powerlifters do not train the same. Figure athletes and bodybuilders train similar but not entirely the same either. So depending on your goals, you may have different needs and desires.But no matter what you are doing..have fun.

On the subject of deadlifts--he said that once I got comfortable with this he would add deadlifts, but that he didn't want to overwhelm me with too much information too soon; while he has a full out home gym with weights and machines and all of that, and is practically a personal trainer, I live a couple of cities away, and am doing this mostly on my own during the week. I'll go visit him again this weekend, when he'll go over my plan and tweak it, and if I'm ready he'll add in the deadlifts and a couple of others.
As for my needs/desires, I don't necessarily want to compete or become a body builder, I'm just using weight lifting to get in shape and help burn off my fat. While I want to increase my strength, any increase would be beneficial coming from where I'm at now, and I'm not looking to really bulk up my muscles, just to have that nice tone once I melt the fat away.

The reason I mentioned deadlifts is because women often have weak hamstrings and weak hamstrings can cause imbalances which can cause injury. I'd recommend reading the New Rules of Lifting for Women.

I'm not doubting the advice you were given and its fine to follow someone's plan that they give you.