What Is The Difference Between A Home Gym & A Weight Lifting Set?

Although a commercial gym offers an array of equipment to work out with, having equipment at home can be more time-efficient and more convenient, since you don't have to drive anywhere to get in your workout. When designing your home gym, you have many options. For strength training, you can go with either a home gym system or a weight lifting set.

Home Gym

A home gym, or multi-gym, is a group of exercise stations that all utilize the same resistance mechanism. Most home gyms have a weight stack. Cable pulleys attach to the weight stack and to different exercise stations. Other home gyms are based on rod resistance. The bending of the rods as you pull or push the cables creates resistance. A home gym may have just one central seat or bench or it may have three or four positioned around the resistance mechanism. The most basic home gyms have a leg developer, press arms, high pulley and low pulley.

Weight Lifting Set

A weight lifting set is made up of free weights. The set may contain dumbbells, a barbell, collars, weight plates, a bench and a rack. You can purchase free weights in a set or purchase each piece separately. Weight sets are available in standard or Olympic versions. Olympic bars have 2-inch sleeves that require you use Olympic plates with 2-inch holes. These weights are more durable and heavier, but are more expensive. Standard sets use 1-inch bars that hold standard weight plates with 1-inch center holes.

Benefits

The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, notes that a home gym is safer for beginners since the weight can't fall on you. Home gyms also usually come with an exercise chart or DVD to help you get started and perform the exercises correctly.
Free weights offer more exercise options. You are completely free in your range of motion, unlike on a home gym.

Drawbacks

A home gym typically takes up more space than a weight lifting set. ACE recommends you have between 50 and 200 square feet of open floor space for a home gym, compared to 20 to 50 square feet for free weights. You have to assemble a home gym, which can be a complex process with all the cables.
Free weights require you to decide what pieces you want now and what ones you can live without. With the huge selection of dumbbells, racks, plates, benches, racks, power racks, Smith machines and bars, the process of putting together a free weight gym can seem overwhelming.