Well I just had my first lesson yesterday. All that was required for us to have is handwraps and a mouthpiece. It was like 7 bucks or so. I tell you what, I am out of shape.. I am about 5"11 and 1/2 and 203 lbs or so. The workout kicked my butt, in a good way. I had trouble keeping up but its ok, the guys that train in there don't have a big head and they really went out of their way during pad work to help me get my technique better and just go at my pace.
I apologized for slowing down my partners workout but he insisted over and over to go at my pace and not worry about keeping up, and that everyone starts somewhere. Hopefully the guys you train with are good guys.