18 and brand new to fitness. HALP!

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Lace Up

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Okay, so I've recently gotten a gym membership.
I really need to know what to do, now. I've been trying to research good diet programs as well. Completely cut fast food and soda out of my diet about six months ago. My goal is to lean out a bit and tone out. My issue is I'm completely lost I'm pretty much on my own and I don't really have anyone around me that knows a whole lot about fitness. I find myself going to the gym and kind of just aimlessly wandering around from machine to machine.
Just a little bit of background: I'm 6'3" 230lbs. ****ty body fat% I had a serious knee injury a while back, so I've got to take it easy on my knees. I've been basically focusing on cardio, which for me, is mostly swimming.
Anyone that can help out It'd be greatly appreciated. I'm not in any rush, going to take is slow and do everything right. The last thing i need is another injury to put me out of work. One friend of mine is a nutritional science major so he's going to try and help me out with diet but as far as the gym etc. I'm completely lost.
thanks for your time.
 
OK first thing to say, try any of what I say, and if you really hate it after a few weeks come back tell us why and we can advise possible alternatives. I have said a number of times here that a sure way to quit is do things you don't enjoy.
All of this will be difficult at first even if the body isn't working hard your mind wil while you get technique right, every one of us here will have got most of it wrong many times before getting it close to right so don't stress if perfection isn't instant.
You are smarter than many because you aren't in a rush, and for your age that shows immense maturity. Keep that fact in mind when things don't appear wonderful in short term. First part will be getting used to being active and how to do the training, then the results will come.

Mixed training is a good place to start if you are wanting a bit of health related fitness, some toning and conditioning and as is likely aren't totally sure which direction you really want to go in.

Weight training is good for toning and if the reps are high and rests are very short the intensity will be at a level that is can promote fat burning while still gradually increasing strength. There is a begginers session here http://training.fitness.com/weight-...inefficient-split-maybe-read-first-34522.html which is great as a starting point. If there is equipment missing or your unsure on anything check the link to see details of how to do the activity or come back to us for alternatives. The author of that is a younger, slightly saner, maybe better looking version of me, weight training wise anyway.

Cardio work. There are very few people die of bicep attack so looking after them is not as important as taking care of the heart and lungs. Get on a machine that is comfortable with a music player, games console etc. and wile away some time on low intensity, high duration activity. This is to get you used to the machines and movements you are not to be tied to this type of training forever, unless you enjoy it.

Make sure you stretch after every workout, without exception, failure to do so increases aches and increases liklihood of injury, so take the time to do it.

Allow for recovery. Going to the gym every day shows admirable commitment and total lack of understanding on how the body works. If you don't let the body recover it will not improve aas fast because it will be too busy fire-fighting.
A good balance as a start up is
day 1 weights with warm up cool down and stretch
day 2 cardio machine with entertainment and stretch
day 3 rest
day 4 weights with warm up cool down and stretch
day 5 cardio machine with entertainment and stretch
and have a couple of days off

Intensity needs to be easy at the start for 2 reasons. First you are new and need to start steady in order not to damage yourself too much, exercise is by definition damage to an acceptable level but not too much. Second you are likely to do a lot of things wrong, and it is better to make mistakes at low intensity to avoid injury then increase as you improve technique.
 
Thank you tons for all of your input, much appreciated. As far as cardio having to do with entertainment what do you mean exactly? Because like previously stated most of my cardio consists of countless hours of swimming laps. That's something I actually enjoy thoroughly having swam my entire life. As far as that five day thing, I wouldn't really be able to do that five days consecutively because of my work schedule. Working two jobs at the moment, I work from 10AM - 4PM and then 5PM - usually around 4AM delivering pizzas. That's Fri. Sat. Sun. the rest of the week I'm free. What do you suggest I do about that?
 
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