Back or Front Squat? Makes No Difference to Your Legs!

[Blondie_Bombshell]

In gyms you often hear that the front-squat is lighter on your lower back and isolates the quads, or that one way of doing squats is better than the other for the gluteus or the hamstrings. Until now, however, studies have been inconclusive. Before burying another piece of bro-science for good, the researchers decided to examine the differences between the two exercises one last time.

The researchers got 9 men and 6 women, all of whom had been doing weight training for at least one year, to perform the regular squat once and the front-squat once. Electrodes were attached to the subjects’ muscles so the researchers could measure how hard the muscles were working. They found no difference between the back and the front-squat.

The researchers also used cameras to record the amount of pressure caused in the joints by the exercises. The results showed that the front-squat caused 18 percent less pressure on the knee joint than the back-squat did.

So for athletes with knee-joint problems the front-squat is better than the back-squat. The same goes for athletes who have reduced flexibility in their shoulder joint and find it difficult to hold the bar while doing regular squats. But if you don’t have these problems there’s no reason to pick one variant over the other. The effect is the same.

FiTnEsSpArAdIsEwOrLd​

 

[TonySuicideKing]

quite interesting.

 

[Blondie_Bombshell]

I thought so too =)

 

[Mr P]

good Info BB,

 

[ezred]

i'd love to read the actual study on that because another study i read this year that was pretty comprehensive did show some differences in which muscles were worked harder.

foot placement will play into as well, and body type because weight balancing mechanics will change, and where your feet end up in relationship to the bar, according to the latest study i'd read, will affect how much stress is put on which part of the quads and how much glute/ham involvement you'll have.

interesting though, gonna try to look into that, can you give us your source?

 

[bigboy86]

i think front squats gives you more of that sweep ans seperation in the quad ,but personally i like the old fashion squat

 

[CenturionHRT]

Interesting BB... I usually just stick with back squats. Maybe I'll switch it up every once in awhile.