Glad to see you're not too proud to take some constructive criticism, nice one mate!
The thing with the deadlift is, to do it properly and involve as much major musculature as possible, you have to do with to involve as much legs, hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back, lats as possible. This means more weight, which means more strength.
You're limiting yourself but not involving the quads nearly at all, without talking about the rest.
What you have to do is, when you get down to deadlift, imagine the lift starts as a squat, try and squat the weight up from the floor, when it moves about an inch, i.e it STARTS moving, start to pull it back and bring your hips forward and continue to drive your legs into the ground.
You might not even be able to do 120kg like this, which is a blow to your ego I know, but it will be worth it.
If you have trouble getting the deadlift starting from the floor, like me, then deficit deadlift is a good max effort exercise. Box squats with your legs in the same position as which you start your deadlift. If you find that locking the weight out, work on rack pulls or tie your bar up with bands, makes the lockout harder and therefore stronger.
Some people are stronger from the starting position, others are stronger at mid-to-lockout position, like me. My upper back strength and my lockout strength in my quads is very good, but my starting-from-dead strength still leaves something be desired.
Persevere with learning this proper deadlift form and your numbers will go through the roof.
Last thing - if you try and imagine pulling the bar upwards in a straight line you will fail. You must imagine pulling the bar backwards, it must run up your shins, knees, thighs. If you try and pull it straight up, you will still try and do it like you used to, i.e all back. I used to do this - you have to imagine it going backwards. It makes the hip movement more important, they don't just get into place, you drive forward with the hips. If you imagine pulling it up in a straight line, you will subconsciously let it all hang on your lower back since it won't be in line with your body's mechanics. Imagine this - you have something heavy to pick up. Wouldn't you find it easier if this thing was as close to you as possible, even between your legs, rather than a few steps away? Don't you get better leverage in the first case?
The lower your start your hips, the more quad based it becomes. The high, the more glutes/hamstrings/lower back.
The thing with the deadlift is, to do it properly and involve as much major musculature as possible, you have to do with to involve as much legs, hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back, lats as possible. This means more weight, which means more strength.
You're limiting yourself but not involving the quads nearly at all, without talking about the rest.
What you have to do is, when you get down to deadlift, imagine the lift starts as a squat, try and squat the weight up from the floor, when it moves about an inch, i.e it STARTS moving, start to pull it back and bring your hips forward and continue to drive your legs into the ground.
You might not even be able to do 120kg like this, which is a blow to your ego I know, but it will be worth it.
If you have trouble getting the deadlift starting from the floor, like me, then deficit deadlift is a good max effort exercise. Box squats with your legs in the same position as which you start your deadlift. If you find that locking the weight out, work on rack pulls or tie your bar up with bands, makes the lockout harder and therefore stronger.
Some people are stronger from the starting position, others are stronger at mid-to-lockout position, like me. My upper back strength and my lockout strength in my quads is very good, but my starting-from-dead strength still leaves something be desired.
Persevere with learning this proper deadlift form and your numbers will go through the roof.
Last thing - if you try and imagine pulling the bar upwards in a straight line you will fail. You must imagine pulling the bar backwards, it must run up your shins, knees, thighs. If you try and pull it straight up, you will still try and do it like you used to, i.e all back. I used to do this - you have to imagine it going backwards. It makes the hip movement more important, they don't just get into place, you drive forward with the hips. If you imagine pulling it up in a straight line, you will subconsciously let it all hang on your lower back since it won't be in line with your body's mechanics. Imagine this - you have something heavy to pick up. Wouldn't you find it easier if this thing was as close to you as possible, even between your legs, rather than a few steps away? Don't you get better leverage in the first case?
The lower your start your hips, the more quad based it becomes. The high, the more glutes/hamstrings/lower back.
