"a bench, a power cage,...and everything else"
Misc.Fitness.Weights (mfw)
equipment in the home and gym

• Racks and cages

  Far more versatile than a bench with uprights is a power rack or cage; used with an ordinary bench, it can do the job of giving you something to pick the weight off of and put it back onto as well as a "bench press" bench with uprights, but is more versatile, offering the same advantages for the performance of squats, shrugs, and other exercises performed with a heavy weight. In addition to hooks or bars for holding the weight, there is usually at least one set of crossbars that go from back to front which can be placed below the lifter to catch the weight safely if the lifter is unable to raise it back to the beginning position.

  There are numerous manufacturers of racks, some better than others. These include (yes, I'll add more and throw in some websites as I scarf up more comments from the group...):

  BodySolid

  "This is a wonderful piece of equipment. I highly recomend it and have had mine for over two years." -- Ed Sturm

  
  

• Benches

• Weights

  The three most common types of weight plates are Olympic, "standard," and "crap."
  • Olympic (2" holes)
    Olympic plates have 2" holes--actually 2-1/8" typically, to give them room to slip onto a 2" diameter bar. There's some variation in size of the holes in the plates and in the diameter of the bar, depending on whether the manufacturer is thinking in ISO/standard units (2" diameter bar) or metric (5cm, a little smaller).
    Some manufacturers just have sloppy tolerances, especially in plate weight, but also in design. There's at least one manufacturer in China that makes weight plates with a smoothly polished inner rim sloped at about 60 degrees. This is designed so that if you pick it up without paying careful attention, you'll probably drop it and have everybody else in the gym look at you like you're an idiot.
    This is generally a bad sign, by the way.
    A lot of Olympic plates say "standard" on them. Ignore this, it's only the hole size that matters.
  • "Standard" (1" holes)
  • Crap (plastic-covered cement)

• Bars

  • 
    Olympic straight bar
    • deadlift bar
    • squat bar
  • "Gaspari" bar
  • EZ-curl
  • tricep bar
    
    
  • Cambered bar
  • Trap bar
• Collars
  • 
    Spin-lock
  • Spring
  • Quick-release
  • Bolt-type

• Dumbbells

• Accessories

  • Belts
  • Dip Belts
  • Wraps
  • Gloves
  • Chalk

• Simple leverage machines

• Cable machines

• Cam machines