My deadlift form is probably really bad. I would be able to tell if I had any idea what I was doing.
Main problem is that I cannot tell if I am engaging my hamstrings and glutes properly or at all. I do feel a little bit of exertion in my thighs so that is a res flag.
There are a million videos about this on YouTube but it creates a choice paralysis situation for me. Plus the “trainers” at my gym are unqualified and terrible. They have given me advice like “the barbell should touch the nipples during bench press” and “the eyes should be looking down during deadlift”.
Find someone who knows what they’re doing at the gym (look at their deadlift) and ask if they can give you some tips. I think most people would love to. I have to say the trainers’ advice seems sound though, what’s your impression of it?
The trainers advice:
barbell touching the nips feels too far up. Causes strain on the shoulder joints. I like them touching just below the nips.
I have just never seen anyone looking down while deadlifting. Everyone looks straight ahead. I have come across many videos on it like tutorials and competitive but they just never look down.
Yeah just below is generally better, for beginners it’s good advice because they tend to get the bar moving everywhere otherwise. I also get the shoulder strain sometimes and I need to get my shoulders locked a certain way to avoid it. I think it’s having the join pinched too high up that causes it or something like that, when I lock them in place I try to also bring them down the length of the bench, like get them relaxed and then lock the shoulderplates.
It depends what they mean with “looking down” but your head should follow along with the progression of the movement.
The spine extends into the cervicals and they shouldn’t have to do any work when the lumbar is already extending effort during the deadlift. So it looks something like this:
If that’s what you mean by looking straight ahead.