EQUIPMENT:  The basic Necessities

Frankly, I would recommend (If possible) that you go out and buy your own equipment.  You don't need much space for this, a small room about 10X10 feet would do fine.  I've actually seen a nice bench/power rack combo at Sam's Price Club for $200.  This included an Olympic barbell and weights!  By having your own weights at home, you decrease the chance of you blowing off a workout (it's tough to do when you walk by the workout room on your way to get another slice of pie), and you save on driving time to and from the gym.  Needless to say, you also don't have to wait for equipment to become available (usually it's  some guy  groaning and yelling on the bench, making sure to drop the weights he is using with as much clamor as possible to show everybody what a behemoth he is), and you can go at your own pace.

If you absolutely have no room for a gym at your home, a local gym is a good bet.  Just make sure that it is close to your home, that they don't have a juice bar (are you going there to socialize or workout?), that they aren't hawking all these weird concoctions, powders or pills, that you don't get suckered into paying for a membership months in advance, and that they actually have the kind of equipment that you need.  On that note..DO NOT hire a personal trainer unless they pass the criteria as set forth in Stuart McRobert's books!  I have actually seen trainer's who didn't know what they were  talking about (this includes exercise technique as well as basic physiology), and remember that their goal is to get you to the gym as much as possible (i.e. daily) for obvious financial reasons.

Essential Apparatus:

• A good sturdy bench:  Check these out for yourself before you buy one.  Lie down on it, is the back wide enough?  Are your feet flat on the floor with your thighs parallel?  Does it feel comfortable?  Does the bench wobble?  Make sure the uprights that hold the barbell are of Olympic width as well.
• An Olympic weight set:  This usually comes with 300lbs of weights and a seven foot bar.  Forget about those 110 lb. weight sets, they are going to be useless once you start doing some heavy weights (they just aren't that strong, and some will even bend).
• This is the most important piece:  A set of ankle weights, about 5 lbs. each, whose weight can be increased or decreased by 0.5 lbs. at a time.   You can also get specially created 0.25, 0.5 or even 1 lbs. weights for an Olympic bar at some places.  The reason that this particular piece of equipment is so vital to your success becomes evident later.
• A Training LOG BOOK:  (Yes, Stuart McRobert's company does sell this as well.)  The log book has to be used religiously.  I write down what sets I did, the exercise, even the mechanics of the exercise (i.e. what level does the bar start from, what hole numbers are the uprights at, how inclined was the bench, how far my grips were).  I then write down the warm-up set, the weight used, and then the actual sets themselves for each bodypart, and the number of reps I was able to get on each set.  Now here is the important thing;

I want you to also write down "How you felt" doing each set, and after.  Were you exhausted after completing the set?  Were the last two reps excruciating or a real struggle?  The last thing that I write down is my "expected weight to add", meaning, how much weight do I think I can add to the bar next week?  Sometimes it's as little as none, other times I go up 5 lbs., particularly for the large muscle groups, and when I am just starting to train.  (When first starting or after a layoff, it is okay to increase the weights by 5-10 lbs. as you get back into the groove, or are slowly easing into your past maximum weight).   Since you just finished the sets, it is a good time to determine what you "think" you can handle the following week(mainly because you will know whether you could have pushed for more easily or not).  Don't show up next week and say "I wish I could remember how I did last week, ah, what the hell, I'll slap on 5 lbs..no pain no gain they always say..ha ha ha.."   Yeah, and no BRAIN...

Some of you may be wondering, where's the lifting belt?   How about  lifting gloves?  How about those "COOL" (and I am really being sarcastic here) bodybuilding pants and muscle shirts?  Frankly, you just don't need them.  The lifting belt is way overused in my opinion at the gym.  Unless you are lifting very heavy weights, you don't need that extra-abdominal pressure for stability that the belt provides.  It sure as heck isn't going to prevent you from getting a back injury if you use sloppy technique (something which is all too common when you think that the belt is going to protect you).  In fact, I just checked at www.hardgainer.com where they are currently have a poll about whether the HardGainer public uses a lifting belt or not..the results?   75% say NO, 25% say YES.  Man I love those guys, they are really hardcore:-)  The gloves are similar, in that you tend not to build a strong grip if you use them.  So when first starting, I recommend not using these two "training aids".