Squats make your thighs bigger—especially the front and inner muscles—while hip thrusts don’t really change your thigh size, making squats better if you want to build overall leg muscle.

Scientific Claim

Back squat training leads to significantly greater hypertrophy in the quadriceps and adductor muscles compared to hip thrust training in untrained young adults, with mean increases of 3.6 ± 1.5 cm² and 2.5 ± 0.7 cm² respectively, while hip thrust training produces minimal thigh muscle growth.

Original Statement

“Thigh mCSA changes were greater in SQ for the quadriceps [3.6 ± 1.5 cm²] and adductors [2.5 ± 0.7 cm²]. ... Hamstrings mCSA demonstrated little to no growth with small differences between groups.”

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

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

definitive

Can make definitive causal claims

Assessment Explanation

The RCT design with objective MRI outcomes and statistically significant effect sizes supports definitive causal language. The claim accurately reflects the data without overgeneralization.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2023 Jul 5

The study found that squats made the front and inner thigh muscles grow more than hip thrusts, which matches exactly what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

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

Squats build your thigh muscles (quads and inner thighs) more than hip thrusts do, because squats involve more knee and hip movement that engages those muscles more.

96%

Doing hip thrusts or squats for 9 weeks with the same total work builds your butt muscles just as much, even though hip thrusts feel like they work your butt harder during the exercise.

81%

Squats make the lower part of the outer thigh muscle grow more than leg extensions do, probably because squats involve more hip and knee movement together.

81%

If you want to get stronger at squats, you need to squat; if you want to get stronger at hip thrusts, you need to do hip thrusts. Training one doesn’t make you much stronger at the other.

80%

If you want to get stronger at squats, you need to squat; if you want to get stronger at hip thrusts, you need to do hip thrusts—training makes you better at the exact movement you practice.

79%