The barbell squat, barbell deadlift, and barbell bench press are great exercises because they efficiently train several muscles at once, are easy to overload with weight, and are convenient (most people have access to a barbell and some weights). However, they are by no means necessary to see results with the program. As effective as these exercises are, if you do them repetitively for several years, it can be hard on the joints. Some people also have body structures that don’t fit well for barbell movements. You only “need” to do these exercises if you are planning to compete in powerlifting.
However, we do recommend that if you choose not to do these movements, you do some variation of them. This is why we’ve created exercise alternatives for each of these main movements.
You can visit this page to understand how to utilize the exercise alternatives for each of the movements in your workout.
So, in the event that you don’t have specific strength goals with these movements and they just don’t “feel” too great for you (both in terms of your joints and the mind-muscle connection with your muscles), then feel free to swap them for something else. All the alternatives we provided will be just as effective for growth.