You may feel conflicted as a lifter between wanting to add as much muscle to your frame and weight onto the bar. These two elements are only correlated as a beginner when you are going from no stimulus to some. But when you reach a point progress stalls and you feel worn out by the same lifts over and over and want something new in your program, you may want to replace certain "necessary" lifts like the bench. If you're at a point where you're sure you don't want to chase the big three and instead want to focus on putting on size doing movements you like, it's okay to exchange the bench press for another similar lift. There Are No Necessary Exercises, Only Necessary Movement Patterns I believe there is a line where a good intention in movement turns to overreliance in specificity, which in turn becomes a dogmatism of exercise selection and hierarchy. This can mislead new lifters into overly minimalistic programs without leaving them room to discover what lifts
Pull-ups. We all wish we could do one right. You may feel stuck or not know where to start with learning pull-ups. If you don't have a lifting program yet, I recommend you make one or find one you like. Also, check out this excellent guide to pull-up progression. A pull-up uses muscles like the upper back, lats and biceps. It requires forearm and upper back strength. Therefore, the best exercises to increase pull ups are grip exercises like the dead hang or scapula pull, and lat strength exercises like lat pull-downs and snatch grip deadlift. Vertical Push Vs. Pulls A vertical push is a movement where you press a weight mostly in the vertical plane, whether it's away and down from you (dip), or above and away from you (handstand push up/overhead press). Vertical push movements recruit pushing muscles such as the chest, anterior deltoids, and triceps. Such movements factor in some kind of elbow extension. A vertical push opposes the vertical pull. A vertical pull is a pull in th