I haven't touched a smith machine in almost 3 years. Total crap IMO and it doesn't have anything to do with ego for me.
Machines (all of them) have set the fitness industry back. People like machines because they are easy. They think they are specialized, safe and user-friendly. But, no matter how well it is designed, a machine can’t duplicate human movement.
Free weight and body weight exercises promote neuromuscular development since you have to balance the weight and keep it steady in a free range of motion.
Free weight exercises are FAR more functional! Lying on your back to perform a leg press does nothing in terms of carry-over into daily life, work, sports etc. Trust me, I know since I spent years doing the leg press as my bread and butter exercise for quads. I built some great LOOKING quads, but the leg press wasn’t making me better at sports, improving overall strength/power, explosiveness, agility and core strength. The abs and obliques, as well as the deeper muscles that get worked hard from a free bar squat were weak.
On a machine, you are conforming to the movement of the machine, not vice versa. Free weights allow for the subtle (but necessary) changes in joint positioning. That is why machines can actually INCREASE the risk of injury. By continually moving a weight in a fixed motion, you can potentially risk overloading joints. Yes, this can also happen with free weights but a machine is worse.
Gym owners need machines to fill up their big box gyms. I don't know how many square feet my gym is, but I know I don't use anything often... except the barbells, dumbbells, power cage, pull-up bars and dip station.
Some guys on here value form over function... and that is cool. I just don’t see the point in having deltoids like watermelons if you can’t put 300 lbs. over your head. Form is nice but function is what matters to me. I’m sure any military personnel, fire fighters, swat guys, football players, olympic athletes etc. would agree with me.
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