Front Squats vs. Barbell Hip Thrusters

June 25th, 2016 by

A few months ago, I posted a recap on a study that compared full squats and hip thrusters. The results of that study showed that hip thrusters activated the upper and lower glutes to a greater extent then full squats. That being said, the same authors have just recently released a new study, which compared fronts squats and hip thrusters, which you may find interesting. See below for more info:

In this 6-week study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers had 25 adolescent males with weight-training experience perform two different lower body workouts. One group performed four sets of barbell hip thrusters twice a week in a periodized fashion (i.e. as they progressed throughout the study, the number of reps went down but the load went up). While the other performed four sets of front squats and also followed the same periodized protocol. In addition, subjects also trained their upper body and core.

Before and after the study, the researchers tested the subjects 10m and 20m sprint times, horizontal jump distance, vertical jump height, and both 3 RM front squat and 3 RM barbell hip thruster strength. What they found was that the group who performed barbell hip thrusters had greater decreases in both 10m and 20m sprint times than the group who performed front squats. They also had greater strength increases in barbell hip thruster. On the other hand, the group who had performed front squats had a greater increase in vertical jump height and greater strength increases in front squats. However, they did not see much of a difference between horizontal jump distance between groups.

So do this mean one exercise is better than the other? Hardly. If anything, this study suggests that these exercises can be complementary for athletic improvement and should both be utilized, at some point, in one’s training program.

 

For more info:
Contreras, B. et al. (2016) Effects of a six week hip thrust versus front squat resistance training program on performance inadolescent males: A randomized-controlled trial. J Strength Cond Res. May 28. [Epub ahead of print]