Quote Originally Posted by CL View Post
Indeed. I'd like those who preach the superiority of free and body weights to show me an exercise that will work the calf muscles harder than a calf raise machine; or an exercise that works the quads harder than a leg extension machine. And so on......

Then there is the safety factor. Those who don't have the assistance of spotters never push themselves hard enough with free weights in some exercises. Look at the bench press. People stop far short of fatigue in that exercise because they don't want a big weight stuck on their chests. No such problem with a good quality bench press machine.
I don't think anybody would try to suggest that machines don't work the muscles. Of course they do, as you quite rightly say. However our bodies work in a chain of connecting muscles, joints, and other bits (as you can see I'm not being too scientific here!).

Using a leg extension will undoubtedly strengthen the quads, but if you only strengthen the primary muscles and nothing in between, this is not how the body works. Which is why, for example squats would be a better general excercise as it works the full leg to various extents, as well as the arse, and the core.

You may well lift more with a bench press machine, but doing a free weight bench press at potentially a lower weight will (in my opinion) be a better exercise for your body overall. I would suggest that doing the bench press with free weights has pinpointed somewhere in the chain where you are not strong enough to lift heavier, and you are just bypassing this by using a machine all the time.

I certainly use machines to target individual muscles occasionally, but your day-to-day set of exercises are probably best off being compound type movements with free weights where possible.