This advice is as free for me to drop as it is for you to pick up or pass by: Whatever you choose, resist the urge to see how heavy you can go. (Even with multiple spotters present.) This is where the biggest injuries I've ever seen happened. (There's plenty of videos out there, feel free to be grossed out .) For instance, bench pressing the bar can crush your chest. (Again, even with spotters, if the weight is over their limits, they can't save you if the bar rolls past/breaks the thumbs.) Curling machine/bench, muscles can tear free from the bone. Deadlift, personally witnessed multiple lifters just plain drop the bar and pass out. (One earned a nickname and a scar over it happening twice.) Lifting bro, know your limits and be safe. The best advice I heard too late: You only get one body.