Are back squats really better than front squats?
Take-aways
Back squats and front squats may lead to similar quadriceps hypertrophy.
You can use them interchangeably in a program, for most hypertrophy-focused intents and purposes.
The back squat may be better at increasing your leg press than the front squat.
The front squat has always been the black sheep of the squat variations. Anecdotally, most people simply don’t enjoy it as much as the back squat. It’s uncomfortable (or, as some people call it, an acquired taste) and can take longer to learn.
In the evidence-based fitness space, the back squat is also usually recommended above the front squat for muscle growth (1).
However… this may be misguided.
The rationale for prioritizing the back squat over the front squat is almost entirely mechanistic/biomechanical vs something that we could rely on studies for. Indeed, since we didn’t have studies measuring muscle growth from the back and front squat, all we could do was speculate.
This study by Enes and colleagues changes that (published only a week ago, what a scoop!).
Twenty-four recreationally trained females were assigned to either a front squat or back squat group. Both groups trained the squat twice a week for 12 weeks. They didn’t assess squat strength, but rather leg press 1-rep-max pre- and post-training.
Hypertrophy assessments included ultrasounds of muscle thickness at a proximal, middle and distal site of the vastus lateralis (one of four heads of the quadricep muscle).
Here’s what they found.
Improvements in leg press 1RM in the front squat (FS) and back squat (BS) groups.
Improvements in leg press 1RM strength were significantly greater in the back squat group than the front squat group.
Left-to-right: Proximal, Middle and Distal Region Hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy was very similar between the front and back squat groups at all three sites of the vastus lateralis.
Why?
Ultimately, the front and back squat are very similar movements. While there may be slight differences in kinematics (i.e. amount of hip and knee flexion, how upright you stay, external moment arms), the movements are more similar than they are dissimilar.
Additionally, I suspect we’re over-emphasising the role of the spinal extensor muscles/upper-back in the front squat. My hunch is that the back is very rarely a limiting factor in the front squat - rather, when someone rounds their back on the front squat, just like for a deadlift, it’s as a means to make the lift easier for the hip extensors.
