Just because one exercise makes your muscles 'fire' more during the first workout doesn’t mean it’ll make them grow more over time—muscle activation during a single set doesn’t tell you what will work best for building muscle.

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2023 Jul 5

Even though one exercise made the glutes fire more during the first workout, that didn’t mean those glutes grew more over time — both exercises led to similar muscle growth, so early muscle activity doesn’t tell you who’ll grow bigger.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Hip thrust and back squat training elicit similar gluteus muscle hypertrophy and transfer similarly to the deadlift

Score: 53

DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.21.545949

Similar Assertions

How much your butt muscles 'fire up' during your first hip thrust or squat doesn’t tell you how much they’ll grow over time — the feeling during the workout isn’t a reliable guide to results.

90%

Doing hip thrusts or squats for nine weeks, with the same total amount of work, makes your butt muscles grow just as much—so neither exercise is clearly better for building glutes if you're new to lifting.

70%