I've been going to the gym biweekly now for a couple of months, mostly for fun and to chat and sport with friends. I want to get a bit more serious so I asked someone to help me bench press. I think I'm gonna look into this book, it seems like a simple enough schedule.

Small excerpt from the book:

The reason that isolated body part training on machines doesn’t work is the same reason that barbells work so well, better than any other tools we can use to gain strength. The human body functions as a complete system –it works that way, and it likes to be trained that way. It doesn’t like to be separated into its constituent components and then have those components exercised separately, since the strength obtained from training will not be utilized in this way. The general pattern of strength acquisition must be the same as that in which the strength will be used.

combined with this:

Most gym owners, for example, want you to walk in the door on Jan. 2 and think, Hey, this looks easy. I can do this. So they buy stationary cardio and strength machines that anybody can use without hurting themselves

Well shit, I know what I won't be doing anymore. Had a hunch that weights were better for me, but those machines are just so easy (even though I'm often too tall for them).