You Don’t Need to Squat, Bench, or Deadlift to Build Muscle

No specific exercises are mandatory for gaining muscle and strength.

All exercises have pros and cons, indications and contraindications, so if you can’t or don’t want to do one, there’s always another that’ll do the trick.

For example, the barbell deadlift is a first-rate exercise for training just about everything on the backside of your body, but if you can’t or don’t want to do it for whatever reason, you can do a deadlift variation like the trap-bar deadlift or Romanian deadlift or other exercises that train the same major muscle groups like the hamstring curl, hip thrust, Bulgarian split squat, hyperextension, and dumbbell row.

The same applies to the barbell back squat and bench press.

Cracking exercises . . . if you can do them properly without pain or other problems.

If you can’t, however, many others will more than suffice, including the barbell or dumbbell front squat, safety bar squat, goblet squat, leg press, dumbbell lunge, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell floor press, machine press, pec deck, dip, and feet-elevated push-up.

And for some, these exercises simply aren’t all that effective for training the target muscles. For example, people with very long legs often struggle to grow their gams with squats alone. Likewise, people with long arms often struggle to grow their pecs with the bench press. Their biomechanics just make these exercises suboptimal for training the muscles involved.

If the barbell bench press bothers your shoulders, elbows, or wrists, try a neutral-grip dumbbell press, machine chest press, cable press, or push-up. Or, train your chest, shoulders, and triceps with isolation exercises like the cable fly, pec deck, skullcrusher, triceps extension, and cable lateral raise.
If the overhead press bothers your shoulders or lower back, try a landmine press, incline dumbbell press, seated machine press, or one-arm cable press. Or, train your shoulders and triceps with isolation exercises like the cable or dumbbell overhead triceps extension, EZ-bar upright row, or dumbbell lateral raise.
If pull-ups or chin-ups bother your shoulders or elbows, try neutral-grip pull-ups, assisted pull-ups, neutral-grip lat pulldowns, V-grip lat pulldowns, lat pulldown machines, or one-arm cable pulldowns.
If squats bother your lower-back or knees, try leg press, belt squats, pendulum squats, or hack squats. Or, train your lower body with isolation exercise like leg extensions, hamstring curls, hip thrusts, and calf raises.
If barbell rows bother your lower back, try chest-supported dumbbell rows, T-bar rows, seal rows, seated cable rows, one-arm dumbbell rows, or machine rows.
If dips bother your shoulders or sternum, try close-grip push-ups, dumbbell presses, machine presses, cable pressdowns, or overhead cable extensions, depending on whether you mainly want to train your chest or triceps.
If straight-bar curls bother your wrists or elbows, try EZ-bar curls, alternating dumbbell curls, hammer curls, machine curls, or one-arm cable curls.
If forward lunges or Bulgarian split squats bother your knees or hips, try reverse lunges, step-ups, supported split squats, or single-leg presses.

Here’s my point:

Just because you can’t or don’t do some of the most productive exercises for gaining muscle and strength, that doesn’t mean you can’t get muscular and strong faster than many people think is possible.