I would say squats are necessary by virtue of that they are far more effective than any other exercise for that muscle group.
I love deads but I doubt their importance for bodybuilders who want to "look strong".
Many people lift them wrong (including myself for a very very long time) and destroy their lower backs (possibly irrevocably) making them a focal point of utter dread at the weekly experience of once again, experiencing lower back pain from doing them. My form is corrected, but the destruction remains - it is never easy for me to deadlift.
Worse still, my personal experience is that if I do powerlifting type rep ranges - I do not get sore hamstrings at all, but with a nuked lower back, if I do higher rep ranges, my lower back/grip/form eventually can't handle it and it all goes to shit.
I still do them, naturally - because I'm not one of the many people here who want to "look strong" - but I can understand why some wouldn't want to do them - they are difficult and a real test of manliness.
No excuses on squats, though. I can leg press more than my training partner who can squat probably a good 25% more than me - guess who has the larger legs?
Good post, I guess it all depends what you want to achieve in the gym, I think that strength and size are two different things myself, I'm sure we've all seen people in the gym who have a very impressive physique but struggle with 225 on the bench press, I know I have, usually this is the same person who will frown when you are deadlifting and say to his friend that "it's a useless exercise" while he stares at himself in the mirror, wears knee wraps and wraps a towel around a bar when squatting 250, on the flip side I've seen guys walk in and squat over 400lbs and they look like they never touched a weight in there life so I would say that strength and size don't always go hand in hand.
I like deadlifting because it makes me feel good, thats why I do it, same goes for squat and bench, I like setting a goal and trying to reach it, whether it's building up to a 300lbs squat or a 225 bench press.
Also, I believe there is a better camaraderie within the powerlifting/strongman community, bodybuilders can be a bit narcissistic, gym rats anyway (not all, some are really cool and I respect their discipline for dieting) the only pro bodybuilder I met was Tommi Thorvildsen in Harolds Gym in Oslo in 2006 and he was a real gent, very nice guy.
Here is a pic of me pulling 530 @ 175BW, I started deadlifting 10 years ago, I think my first pull was 135 @ 145BW
I have never had a single back issue from deadlifting except the occasional tightness, only time I get pain in when I stop deadlifting and my spinal erectors get a bit soft.
Regards.
