[Lisa~]

A bar is a bar. I'm all for getting my female clients into the squat rack, but one step at a time. Use whatever bar is available and of an appropriate weight. You asked what weight and that totally depends on you. There is no universal starting point. If you truly have no idea, then start bodyweight for a couple of reps. If that's obviously easy, then add a little preset bar, like 20 lbs. Do a couple of reps to see how that feels. Keep going up until you find a weight that's going to be challenging for the prescribed reps of your program. The Olympic bar is 45 lbs. Go to that bar as soon as you feel confident to do so. It's so much easier to get under the bar if you're in a rack. But don't use DBs when there's a body bar available and don't skip the squats because you don't want to go near the power rack. Get comfortable with the exercise and the gym. It'll all happen in time. I do agree that you'll be fine at the power rack and sometimes the guys who look the meanest are actually the nicest when they see you doing real exercises like squats and deads. They respect that. You'll get there when you're ready to get there.