- Aug 14, 2018
- 635
- 346
- 63
If your goal is growing glutes, the honest research answer is that both the hip thrust and the squat build them — and the best direct comparison we have found the two produced very similar glute growth over a training block, which surprised a lot of people on both sides of the argument.
The debate started with muscle-activation studies. EMG work by Bret Contreras and colleagues in the mid-2010s showed the barbell hip thrust produced higher peak gluteus maximus activation than the back squat, and that finding launched a thousand arguments. But activation in a single session is not the same as growth over months — a point researchers made repeatedly — so the hypertrophy trials matter more. The most useful one is a 2023 study by Plotkin and colleagues, which had trained lifters perform either hip thrusts or squats for several weeks with matched effort and measured muscle size directly. Glute growth was essentially the same in both groups. The squat group gained a bit more quad and adductor size, which is exactly what anatomy would predict.
The biomechanics explain why both work. The squat loads the glutes hardest in the deep, stretched position at the bottom, and stretched-position loading has turned out to be a potent growth stimulus across several muscles. The hip thrust loads the glutes hardest at full hip extension, in the shortened position, and lets most people use heavy loads without the lower back or balance becoming the limiting factor. Different stress profiles, similar glute outcomes — and a reasonable case for using both rather than picking a team.
Practical takeaways the studies support: if squats alone leave your glutes lagging while your quads take over, adding hip thrusts is a legitimate, evidence-backed fix rather than a social-media fad. If you squat deep with good form and your glutes grow fine, you are not missing a magic exercise. Effort matters more than the pick: in the trials, sets were taken close to failure, and that variable swamps the difference between two good movements. Ladies especially get sold the idea that one "correct" glute exercise exists — the research says the glute responds to hard, progressive training at more than one angle, same as every other muscle.
So: squat for the full package, thrust for targeted glute volume, and judge either by whether the target muscle is actually progressing over months.
A programming detail the comparison makes clearer: because the hip thrust's hardest point is the lockout, it pairs naturally with the squat's hardest point at the bottom — which is one reason combined programs tend to outperform dogma in practice. It's also worth noting the hip thrust is unusually friendly to home and commercial gyms alike: easy to set up, easy to load progressively, and joint-friendly for people whose knees or backs ration their squatting. Research can't pick your program for you, but it has removed the excuse to argue about this one on principle.
What's your experience — did adding hip thrusts change your glute development, or did squats always cover it? And if you coach or train with women who swear by one or the other, what have you seen?
The debate started with muscle-activation studies. EMG work by Bret Contreras and colleagues in the mid-2010s showed the barbell hip thrust produced higher peak gluteus maximus activation than the back squat, and that finding launched a thousand arguments. But activation in a single session is not the same as growth over months — a point researchers made repeatedly — so the hypertrophy trials matter more. The most useful one is a 2023 study by Plotkin and colleagues, which had trained lifters perform either hip thrusts or squats for several weeks with matched effort and measured muscle size directly. Glute growth was essentially the same in both groups. The squat group gained a bit more quad and adductor size, which is exactly what anatomy would predict.
The biomechanics explain why both work. The squat loads the glutes hardest in the deep, stretched position at the bottom, and stretched-position loading has turned out to be a potent growth stimulus across several muscles. The hip thrust loads the glutes hardest at full hip extension, in the shortened position, and lets most people use heavy loads without the lower back or balance becoming the limiting factor. Different stress profiles, similar glute outcomes — and a reasonable case for using both rather than picking a team.
Practical takeaways the studies support: if squats alone leave your glutes lagging while your quads take over, adding hip thrusts is a legitimate, evidence-backed fix rather than a social-media fad. If you squat deep with good form and your glutes grow fine, you are not missing a magic exercise. Effort matters more than the pick: in the trials, sets were taken close to failure, and that variable swamps the difference between two good movements. Ladies especially get sold the idea that one "correct" glute exercise exists — the research says the glute responds to hard, progressive training at more than one angle, same as every other muscle.
So: squat for the full package, thrust for targeted glute volume, and judge either by whether the target muscle is actually progressing over months.
A programming detail the comparison makes clearer: because the hip thrust's hardest point is the lockout, it pairs naturally with the squat's hardest point at the bottom — which is one reason combined programs tend to outperform dogma in practice. It's also worth noting the hip thrust is unusually friendly to home and commercial gyms alike: easy to set up, easy to load progressively, and joint-friendly for people whose knees or backs ration their squatting. Research can't pick your program for you, but it has removed the excuse to argue about this one on principle.
What's your experience — did adding hip thrusts change your glute development, or did squats always cover it? And if you coach or train with women who swear by one or the other, what have you seen?