The Study
Back squat and deadlift fatiguing protocols elicit distinct countermovement jump profiles: phase-specific predictors and soreness responses
This study is like a fair race between two types of workouts — squats and deadlifts — to see how they make you jump differently afterward. Because people were randomly assigned to each group, we can say one workout probably caused the changes we saw in jumping. But we can't say for sure it's the only reason, because no one was blind to who did what.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
After doing lots of squats or deadlifts, your legs feel tired, but in different ways: squats make you weak right away, while deadlifts make your legs slow to react later.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 569 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — athletes need to know squats hit power fast, deadlifts hit quick reactions later, so recovery plans should be different for each.
- 2Squats dropped jump height by 15–20% right after; deadlifts didn’t drop jump height much at first but made braking speed and reactive strength 13% slower 24 hours later.
- 3Both caused similar muscle soreness (around 4 out of 10).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
British Medical Bulletin
Year
2026
Authors
Marco Gervasi, Eugenio Formiglio, Johnny Padulo, Giacomo Belmonte, Antonino Patti, Eneko Fernández-Peña
Related Content
Claims (5)
After exercise, deadlifts lead to greater and longer-lasting decreases in the ability to generate force quickly and respond to rapid movements compared to back squats in trained individuals, 24 hours after the workout.
In resistance-trained adults after intense weight training, specific measurements of how force is controlled during the downward phase of a jump detect incomplete muscle recovery sooner than simply measuring how high the person jumps.
After performing high-volume back squats, athletes experience immediate and widespread reductions in force, movement range, and total work output. After deadlifts, athletes experience more focused and longer-lasting reductions in explosive force and reactive strength. These differences suggest that recovery strategies should be tailored to the specific exercise performed.
After one session of high-volume back squats at 70% of maximum strength, resistance-trained adults experience a 15-20% greater drop in jump height immediately afterward than after deadlifts, indicating more acute fatigue in the quadriceps muscles.
In trained individuals, heavy squats and deadlifts cause the same level of muscle soreness 24 hours after exercise, even though they stress the muscles differently. This means how sore you feel does not accurately show how much your muscles were impaired.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.