When doing a hip thrust with a barbell instead of a squat, the butt and back of the thighs light up more on muscle sensors during the same level of effort.

When comparing hip thrusts and squats at the same effort level, the front thigh muscle (quadriceps) works just as hard in both exercises.

When trained women lift heavy weights, thrusting the hips up with a barbell turns on the butt and hamstring muscles way more than doing a squat, but the front thigh muscle works about the same in both exercises.

When women who lift weights do squats with a really heavy weight (close to their max), their leg and butt muscles have to work a lot harder than when they use lighter weights.

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.

For women who lift weights regularly, squatting with 80% or 90% of your max weight activates your muscles about the same — going heavier doesn’t seem to turn on more muscle once you hit that range.