Can't feel it in hams or glutes with Deadlifts...

Whenever I do any type of deadlift, I find it very hard to really feel it in my hams and glutes... I barely feel it there and my lower back always ends smoked.
It´s really annoying, I have problems feeling it in my hams and glutes even with romanian deads or sumo..
Any tips or suggestions of what I could do to fix this problem??

Lighter weights, better form, more reps.
Find a program that has some reps to it.
Or just even make up your own. Try 5x5 with 55% then add 5% each week for a month......Just a total guess on the percents but it should feel light enough to re-enforce your form.
Watch a newbie grab the bar for a bench. What will help them the most? To just go heavy all the time? No way they need to know how to contract there muscles.....and blah blah blah...

It's all about the pump!

I'll guess your hamstrings are weak, so they aren't doing much work. Your lower back is sore because it's over compensating for them. You need to do movements that isolate your hamstrings more.

a video of your form would help..

i've had the same problem for YEARS...

finally learned to deadlift properly and now all I feel it is in my ass and no where else.

Originally Posted by thewicked

a video of your form would help..

i've had the same problem for YEARS...

finally learned to deadlift properly and now all I feel it is in my ass and no where else.

My ass is huge, deadlift squats, everything seams to hit it hard.

I'd be willing to bet your butt comes up right before you pull

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

I'd be willing to bet your butt comes up right before you pull

What do you mean?

Originally Posted by imc_1121

What do you mean?

I really don't know how else to phrase it, haha

You're about to pull, and you've got your butt down nice and low, and right before you pull, or at the very beginning of the pull, your butt goes from nice and low to up in the air, and your lower back is left doing all the work - not the hams and glutes.

If you get your butt low then snap your glutes at the top you'll be incorporating much more hams, hips, and glutes.

This is mostly a weakness in those areas. Concentrate on keeping your butt down when you start to pull, and then snapping your glutes forward at the top. Video can help you out a lot in this case.

You may be weaker with this form in the beginning, but once you strengthen the muscles of the hams and glutes and get them used to the movement, your pull will shoot off. You've got much more meat there to use than in the lower back.

This is a super common problem, so don't feel bad.

If you got video, it'd be a lot easier to diagnose. This is just my best guess, I could be totally wrong. Not sure what else it would be though.

If you want to "feel it" in your hams and glutes, do some pull thru's. Personally, the day after I deadlift I feel it from my neck to my feet. Id follow Mark and Lones suggestions of getting in more reps for added stimulation and blood flow, as well as look at your technique. Make a video.

personally all i feel pulls in is my mid to upper back...

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

I'd be willing to bet your butt comes up right before you pull

This.

I think lones advice is spot on.

If you could post a video of your form there are a lot of knowledgeable dudes on the site who could take care of your problem a lot easier. If you cant get a vid watch vids. Go on youtube and search westside or elitefts and look for deadlift vids. Notice how before the pull their backs are straight and hips are low. When you pull stay in that position and dont shoot your hips up right before the bar leaves the ground.

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

I really don't know how else to phrase it, haha

You're about to pull, and you've got your butt down nice and low, and right before you pull, or at the very beginning of the pull, your butt goes from nice and low to up in the air, and your lower back is left doing all the work - not the hams and glutes.

If you get your butt low then snap your glutes at the top you'll be incorporating much more hams, hips, and glutes.

This is mostly a weakness in those areas. Concentrate on keeping your butt down when you start to pull, and then snapping your glutes forward at the top. Video can help you out a lot in this case.

You may be weaker with this form in the beginning, but once you strengthen the muscles of the hams and glutes and get them used to the movement, your pull will shoot off. You've got much more meat there to use than in the lower back.

This is a super common problem, so don't feel bad.

If you got video, it'd be a lot easier to diagnose. This is just my best guess, I could be totally wrong. Not sure what else it would be though.

So how should I do the initial pull while keeping my butt low?
I'm gonna try doing this today.. If I still don't feel it on glutes/hams I'll post video.

Originally Posted by imc_1121

So how should I do the initial pull while keeping my butt low?
I'm gonna try doing this today.. If I still don't feel it on glutes/hams I'll post video.

Think about pulling back, and keeping your body back instead of pulling up

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

Think about pulling back, and keeping your body back instead of pulling up

Should I also lower my hips more? I read that the lower the hips, the less lower back recruitment, is this true?

It could be you are locking you legs out too soon and putting all the load on your back at lockout. Take some vids and see what your doing. post them here as well so we can see whats going on.

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

Think about pulling back, and keeping your body back instead of pulling up

After 3 sessions of practice I'm starting to get the hang of the correct technique, well at least that's what I think, because last time I did deadlifts I felt it for the first time on my hams, glutes(specially here), quads a little bit and even in my abs (wtf?).
I think I've got the pulling part down.
Now I was wondering is the descent phase important? Is there anything I should remember to do? (like the keeping the butt down part from the ascent).
I saw some videos where the descent is done like a romanian or SLDL and when it gets past knees they like squat it down. Is this what I should be doing?

Originally Posted by imc_1121

After 3 sessions of practice I'm starting to get the hang of the correct technique, well at least that's what I think, because last time I did deadlifts I felt it for the first time on my hams, glutes(specially here), quads a little bit and even in my abs (wtf?).
I think I've got the pulling part down.
Now I was wondering is the descent phase important? Is there anything I should remember to do? (like the keeping the butt down part from the ascent).
I saw some videos where the descent is done like a romanian or SLDL and when it gets past knees they like squat it down. Is this what I should be doing?

Dude, take video. You have Scott Yard, who pulls 750 raw, willing to look at your technique.

Get video

Originally Posted by lonesXedge

Dude, take video. You have Scott Yard, who pulls 750 raw, willing to look at your technique.

Get video

Sorry for uploading the videos late. I had to borrow a camera.

First video: Done with warmup weight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42GiHl7jxPY

Second video: My last set. Here's where my form suffered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKFzY6uB7iA

stick your butt out and arch your back.

Also, try some mental imaging. Think of your legs/ Glutes doing the work. Visualize THEM doing the work. Not the lower back. Focus grasshopper. Focus.

Oh ya, keep the butt down. hahaha

it looks like ur whole body moves at once. the first thing is throw the head. then throw the hips. sit back as far as you can. build a homemade rev hyper to. i worked on my deadlift a whole year with those things and it went up a hundred pounds. good luck

Arch your back more, and push your hips through. Your form isn't really that bad for just starting out. You don't need to set it down so carefully. Pull it back, and then just control the drop.

PS - Why are you trying to "feel it"? Are you trying to be a bodybuilder or a powerlifter?

From a powerlifting perspective, if you don't feel it in whatever muscles, then one of two things are happening: either you are weak in other areas and those areas are feeling the work, or you are not engaging muscles correctly. It is alot harder to engage muscles when they aren't large yet.

Bodybuilding will be my goal, but I posted on the powerlifting board because I know people here know more about form regarding a lift like the deadlift.

Originally Posted by imc_1121

Bodybuilding will be my goal, but I posted on the powerlifting board because I know people here know more about form regarding a lift like the deadlift.

just remember form trumps weight. Hell you can find old videos of jay cutler when he was 17-18 and doing BB shows and he talks about how he never benched more than 225 but his form was "real strict" as he put it. Of course that had to be close 20 years ago. When he looked normal.