Squat. Deadlift. Bench. These movements are the standard by which we measure our worth in the gym. They’re the exercises you can use to gauge where you stand in the hierarchy of strength. Benching 225 is considered the bare minimum a man should be to hit to be worthy of respect. Can’t squat to depth bro? Do you even lift? Can you deadlift a Kia? Machines and dumbbells just don’t cut it when you wanna tell the boys about your lift last week. I now have female clients coming in with specific metrics they want to hit on the ‘Big 3’ because everyone knows those are the most impressive movements.

As someone who has powerlifted for almost 20 years, I’ve definitely been addicted to the pursuit of barbell excellence for a long time. But as I approach 40, the question of how necessary they are has loomed larger and larger. I’ve coached hundreds of people over the last 13 years and, even with exceptional coaching and spotting, it’s the barbell movements that carry the most significant risk. Bench press rips up the shoulders. Squats are brutally rough on the knees, hips and low back. Deadlifts might be the most notorious movement for those devastating low back pulls that put you out for weeks or even months.

So, the big question is, are these movements necessary to get a great physique? Should you do them at all?

Early on in my career in fitness, I would have absolutely said yes. All the greats built amazing bodies crushing the Big 3. Fitness culture has been built around these exercises being mandatory to get jacked. And the reality is, they work! Once mastered, you can absolutely see amazing results from getting stronger at these. All through my 20’s I built a fantastic body while putting up impressive numbers, being especially proud of benching 405 lbs at just 195 lbs of body weight.

I also picked up a torn left shoulder, 3 herniated discs and quadricep tendonopathy in both knees. I got all of these injuries while power lifting. These are injuries that will affect me for the rest of my life.

So this leads back to the question. Do you NEED to do these exercises as part of your training regimen to build the body you want?

The short answer is no. You could technically build a great physique using nothing but machines and cables. When it comes to hypertrophy (muscle growth), a squat does not build more muscle than a leg press or squat machine when completed with the same range of motion. A machine deadlift will grow your butt and hamstrings just like a barbell RDL. A chest press machine will light up the pecs, delts and triceps just like a bench press. Your body is not going to discriminate based on how you apply tension to the muscles.

Hypertrophy is largely dependent on proximity to failure. This just means that if you want to grow more muscle, you need to push your working sets as close to failure as you can to get a stimulus that triggers an adaptive response. This is actually where most people wind up falling short of getting the results they want from weight lifting. They sit in a weight range that they’re comfortable with which leads to the body not having a reason to grow muscle.

Now, this does not mean I don’t train these movements. At the end of the day, you need to train in a way that you enjoy. If the pursuit of barbell movements gets you motivated to get in the gym and train hard, light it up. When discussing program design with clients, I always use a combination of their goals, what they enjoy and their injury history to inform which path we take for progression. I’ve had clients rip 500 lb deadlifts and experience a raw, unfiltered joy that a machine could never replicate. Some people's bodies can take a lot more abuse than others as well. I’ve seen people lift huge numbers with what I would consider lackluster form and never get hurt. I’ve personally done reps with perfect form and wound up with pretty serious injuries. You have to know your limits and accept them.

The ultimate goal is to stay fit, strong and healthy long term. And you should build your training protocols with longevity in mind. But when making those decisions, just know that there are very few exercises that are mandatory. One instructor I had when taking a biomechanics course stated it perfectly. Barbells are the spork of exercise. They can do any exercise fine but they do no exercises perfectly. If you want precision over blunt force, machines, cables and dumbbells are going to be better options for building muscle while reducing risk. If your body hurts or aches using barbells, use good judgment to shift to things that will keep you training and out of the doctor’s office.