Maybe if one is doing the sports of powerlifting or weightlifting either as a hobby or competitively. In almost every other scenario where the purpose of exercising/resistance training is to improve muscle strength, size, metabolic health, soft tissue strength, and bone density, then doing leg extensions, leg presses, and hamstring curls using machines that optimize for and align with the muscle’s strength curve among other things are better exercise selections if for nothing else because they don’t require learning a skill (squatting with a barbell) and they have a much lower risk profile. Can’t make gains if you’re banged up every other month. And for the chads with perfect form that “never” get hurt, there is still no health benefit from being skilled in squatting vs not.

The believe that compound lifts or “functional movements” are somehow superior than what would be considered old school bodybuilding exercises is based on folklore and superstition, specially when the user is not training for a sport that uses those movements.

It is shocking how few trainers and big names in the fitness industry actually think from first principles when it comes to exercises recommendations.

I mean, football players still do power cleans and snatches to allegedly develop “explosiveness”. Jay Vincent and Doug Brignole have long form content covering what I pointed out if you are interested.

I blame fiat for the state of the fitness industry.