[valec]

These are nowhere near a replacement for weights or machines. I notice you didn't even mention doing pull-ups, the only body-weight exercise with enough resistance for you to actually build muscle from.

Can you point me to a bodyweight exercise that can sub in for 450lb deadlifts for sets of 6? How about for 250lbs bench for sets of 6? While you can build good general health and endurance i n 2 square meters in "the park," you by nature of the exercises are putting a (very) low ceiling on potential muscle mass, which is very important not just for looks but also for general metabolic health (muscles act as a glucose sink, blunting the effects of blood-sugar spikes) as well as preventing frailty/immobility in old age.

[ryanmartinson]

Doing bodyweight exercise instead of bench or machines for chest is pretty doable due to the huge number of push up variations. One Arm Push Ups and Planche Push Ups can create strength in even the best athletes with enough reps.

Heavy deadlifts are much harder to replace with bodyweight exercises. Squats can be subbed out for pistol squats but I haven't found a great way to load hip hinge pattern.

I'm curious if anyone here knows of a bodyweight exercise that is a good replacement for heavy deadlift.

[HaZeust]

The best BWF replacement for heavy deadlift that I have found is 1L Romanian Deadlifts[0][1], and that's still a bit of a stretch (no pun intended).

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKjrvJi-Iw

1:https://barbend.com/single-leg-romanian-deadlift/

[criddell]

450 lb deadlifts and 250 lb bench press seems like a lot though. Surely general metabolic health and long health span doesn’t require that kind of weight, does it? I’m thinking with a lot of weight on the bar, there’s probably some point where the chance of injury outweighs the potential long term benefits.

[valec]

It's decent but nothing crazy. I think most men could achieve it within 4-6 years. Generally, you can build muscle until age 40 without TRT at which point sarcopenia sets in and you lose on average 10% of muscle mass per decade. Thus it's better to have a reserve. When you look at causes of death for old people, there is case after case of falling -> broken hip -> catch something and die in the hospital. Having a good base of muscle makes this significantly less likely.

WRT to injuries: in terms of physical activity, lifting has some of the lowest injury rates, leaps and bounds lower than something like basketball or sprinting. While they are possible, joints adapt to loads over time and having a strong back + spine makes it a lot less likely to pull something in daily life. With intelligent load management (sleeping + eating well, not putting in more volume than you can recover from, listening to your body) injuries are extremely infrequent and generally minor---I have not had a serious injury in the 5 or so years I have been lifting.

I think lifting is too-often overlooked in health discussions, and, given how important avoiding metabolic conditions and immobility is for general health and happiness, I would argue it's just as important as cardio as a physical activity.

[Detrytus]

Well, it certainly depends on a person. If someone is a big guy he might need that much weight to even break a sweat, exercising with 120 lbs bar would do nothing for them.