Who cares if the amout of weight appears differnt? What different does it make? If you are supposed to do 8 reps for a set, then grab the weight that you can do 8 reps with… Muscle stimulation is muscle stimulation, dont be so concerned with numbers.
Also, home gyms kick ass. No line-ups, they are way more clean as you dont have to lay in someone else’s bacteria, no wasted time commuting back and forth. Free weights are the shit, not to put down machines, because some have benifits, but all in all I think anybody experienced will tell you that if they had to pick one type of equipement to use the rest of thier lives, they would surely choose a set of dumbbells.
I want my own home gym, damnit. I have a bar, a few weights and some ingenuity. I make due when I cannot go to the gym. Just keep working and the results will come. Once, I used 245 for little stunted reps when I was 16. I missed racking the bar and was crushed under it. Today, I just got 265 with full depth. In other words, you can do it if you want the results and work for them.
maybe if you stopped blaming outside factors and looked at what you yourself were failing at, you would make progress. it doesn’t matter where you lift, just lift
I am not sure why your home gym seemed like less weight than a real gym. Weight is weight. The most important thing about building a home gym is buying quality equipment. A 300 pound Olympic weight set and a Power Cage is a good start. Powerblock sells nice dumbells that do not take up a lot of space. I have a Bowflex, which is a decent piece of equipment, but not as good as free weights.
About a month ago I added 2 300 pound Olympic weight sets, a Power Cage, more plates for the dumbells I had, and a few other accessories. Using the free weights I have noticed I have already gained a little size, and my weights in the basic free weight lifts (Squat, Deadlifts, Bench, Dip, Pullups, Rows, etc.) are on the rise. There was a big difference between the weight on the Bowflex and free weights.
For instance, I was single leg pressing 410 on the Bowflex. I can currently squat 165 and deadlift 255. Those numbers are not great, but are significantly higher than just a month ago. We won’t even discuss my bench, which is pitiful. Just keep at it. Your strength and build will progress if you keep at it. It is a slow, but it will come.