I have another reason that is less orwellian. Weight machines can be used by someone with no training other than the pictures on the side. Squatting (of whateve

I have another reason that is less orwellian. Weight machines can be used by someone with no training other than the pictures on the side. Squatting (of whatever variety you prefer) requires coaching. If a new gym member (NGM) comes in and has an initial training session with a trainer, imagine two scenarios: 1. The trainer explains that NGM will have to see them for extensive training for the next 3 months to really get a handle on the 6 exercises (and to work out/work around the mobility or injury issues that can arise). 2. The trainer shows NGM a dozen machines, walks through how to use them, and gives them a handout with two "workouts" on them, and tells them to come back in a month for a re-evaluation. Which scenario is more likely to result in the NGM signing up for the gym, and continuing to see a trainer once a week to once a month? I'd argue that it's the latter, in most cases. People who even know what the normal weight training exercises are (except for bench press) are in the minority, and are unlikely to use a random gym trainer. If they do, they will come in laying out an agenda for training, and the trainer will probably adapt and train them as they wish to be trained (regardless of how skilled they are in basic barbell exercises). There are a number of terrible disincentives for the trainer-NGM relationship, and I suspect that this is just one of them. Shout out to /r/fitness and their faq. Kids today have no idea how hard it was to get good information when I was a kid.