Bench? Squat? Deadlift? Are they absolutely necessary to reach advanced levels of strength and development or overrated?
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Bench? Squat? Deadlift? Are they absolutely necessary to reach advanced levels of strength and development or overrated?
Absolutely necessary? No. It's just going to be a more difficult road to building a strong body without them.
I’ve mostly ditched the dead lift. Hitting deads and squats are starting to take too much out of me and recovering sucks. So I focus on squats now.
In general though you don’t need them. If all you have is a barbell and power rack they are essential, but in a gym there’s other options. It also depends on you. For chest development, I respond to bench press while someone else may need more isolation work.