You shouldn’t be feeling your back much. Your back muscles, together with your core, should act as stabilisers to keep your back in a neutral position. A deadlift is not an exercise for your back muscles.
Your torso should “stand upright” by pivoting about your hip joint (there is a bony protrusion below your hip bone / pelvis, that’s the hip joint. You move from there to do a hip hinge, and also to stand up.)
If you’re feeling your back muscles working, chances are, you’re standing up by pivoting about your lumbar spine instead. That’s where your back extensors got to do the work of the glutes to help you stand up, and that’s alot of work for them.
Your glutes and quads are the main driver for deadlift. But deadlift should have more glute involvement as it is a hip hinge movement, rather than a knee extension movement like squats. You should try filming down how you deadlift and maybe share here for us to help you take a look.
Some tips that worked for me (I used to extend from my lumbar spine, and always feel them overworking compared to my glutes):
- I try to go into more anterior pelvic tilt as I’m preparing to lift off. This will eccentrically load my glutes
- Pushing through my mid foot to heels area
- Thinking of standing tall and towards the ceiling (no leaning back, which will then make you go into lumbar extension)
Edit: For people who thinks deadlift works the back primarily, please do yourself a favour; stop doing it. If you’re in the fitness industry, please relearn your biomechanics and stop telling people things you learn in the gym. Any debates, please comment below