I have been sedentary for quite a while. My goal is to tone up and strength train. what I wanted to know is whether I can begin that right away or do I need to do cardio for a couple of weeks to ease my way into the more rigorous weight training, or can I start with weight resistance right away even though I have been sedentary for a while? I am 38.

thanks.

You can absolutely start weight training right now. In fact, you should, but don't go too heavy or do too much. You do need to start with a "conditioning" phase before you work up to significant strength training or muscle building. If you start with maybe 2 or 3 days a week of full body circuits (working every muscle group each session) in addition to whatever cardio you prefer. For each exercise, aim for a weight that you can do 12-15 reps per set and aim for 3 sets per exercise. After 4-6 weeks, you can increase the weight if you want depending on your progress and your ultimate goal.

Thanks for your quick reply. By conditioning you mean start slow? Would it be good to do 5-10 minutes of cardio before the weights so I am warmed up, and do regular cardio on the days I don't use weights?

thanks!

Yeah, conditioning is the "slow start". Your muscles, tendons, bones and joints are not used to being put to serious use yet, so easing into the program helps prevent injury and/or burnout. So starting off fairly easy lays the foundation to work up to more intense workouts.
That sounds like a good plan. Reassess where you're at in 4-6 weeks and you can kind of change things up accordingly then. Good luck!

You really need to be careful with weights. I gave myself a nasty form of chronic pain because I did stupid stuff with weights. I'm 6 foot, 60 kilos and I was lifting doing bicep curls with 10kg weights, 20 reps with each arm for about 4-5 months. The result was not good. LOL.