To Squat or to Deadlift?

That is the question.

Apr 24, 2025

Hey team,

So a short while ago, I had a poll up on my Instagram Story (@jonovautin_aep), asking the Exercise Physiologists and Strength & Conditioning coaches that follow me the following:

“If a client of yours only had 5-10 minutes available in the day to get a single lift in, which exercise would you pick, a Back Squat or Deadlift.”

The results surprised me.

My belief was that the deadlift would be the go-to option:

Can progress load (weight lifted) more quickly
Utilises a large amount of lower limb and back muscles
Strength benefits to other parts of the body (namely grip strength)

And I thought most other EP’s and S&C coaches would think similarly.

But, the actual poll results were evenly split

Their reasoning for choosing back squats over deadlifts caused me to go and do some further reading, which we shall discuss below.

Squats Do More.

What I mean here is that squats (back squats particularly) seem to transfer into athletic capacities and daily life better than deadlifts do.

And this was a pretty common answer from everyone in the back squat camp.

The research on the benefits of back squats for athletic qualities seems to back this up as well. With many research articles looking at the use of back squats to improve sprint performance, jump height, muscle mass, and agility, all reaching similar conclusions:

Back Squats build performance.

Similarly, the benefits of back squats for the general population are mainly its uses in improving muscle mass/preventing sarcopaenia, and improving lower limb strength. Which we know are massive drivers for maintaining independence and a high quality of life into our twilight years.

Deadlifts Don’t?

Despite 50% of the votes favouring deadlifts, no one actually backed up their claim as to why, which was a shame.

During my research into the benefits of deadlifts for developing athletic capacities and daily life, one thing was clear.

There isn’t a heap of research on them.

Or at least, not that much research exploring the benefits of deadlifts for improving athletic capacities.

Some research found that they were comparable to front squats when looking at improving jump height in collegiate basketball players. But that was about the only article I could find that didn’t compare them to a jump variation. (Specificity wins here, if you jump frequently, you get good at jumping and will be better at jumping than the dude that just deadlifts).

A few articles spoke about hypertrophy of the hip and thigh muscles as a sporting and general benefit for deadlifts. But there didn’t seem to be any evidence behind this claim in the articles, nor could I find any research on it.

The effects of deadlifts on low back pain are well researched, with many researchers beginning to use them as a way to improve people’s pain. (very new age thinking, I like it).

But there isn’t a heap relating to how deadlifts can help with tasks of daily living. Apart from suggesting that deadlifts are good based on first principles, i.e. we pick stuff up off the ground a lot, so we may as well train that movement.

So, What Does This All Mean?

Well, it seems that my original belief that deadlifts should be the go to exercise for people with limited time was unfounded.

Given what I have been told anecdotally and what the research has presented, it would seem that back squats are the better option.

Although, it would be interesting to see more studies done on deadlifts to see if there can be a greater transfer into sporting capacities and daily living.