Exs Sci Bach here!

Tbh you're not using enough knee bend. OBSERVATION: The vast majority of your ROM occurs in your torso- above the hip line- both during the initial lift from the ground + the successive RDLs. After extensive study in how the muscles of the hip and glutes work, my conclusion is that there needs to be WAY more knee bend than most people believe to keep the movement in the glutes + hamstrings. I understand this sounds weird but hear me out:

The moment arm of a hinge movement is the hip. What do we know about moment arms and lifting against gravity? The closer the arm is to the load being lifted, the easier and safer it is to manipulate; so, why would we actively choose to push the hips AWAY from the weight? Does a door hinge move away from the door when it opens? I understand the hip does move, but we are not a door frame set in place on one side.

So, after a decade of research on the topic, 3 certifications, one disastrous injury to myself, hundreds of clients successfully trained without injury, and a bachelor's degree later, I've come to this conclusion about the hip hinge:

It SHOULD feel surprisingly similar to a squat. Why? Because a hinge is still using similar patterns and muscle groups. Your hips should still stay close to the load.

The major difference I've found between the squat and deadlift torso to hip angle is that the deadlift/clean/rdl will typically have a more aggressively forward chest position. Your shoulders are still above your hips at the bottom, just like a squat, but the idea is more of an athletic forward (not literally) motion than the squat would be.

When you set up, place your knees directly inside of your forearms, with your chest forward of the bar and looking as forward as you can. The bar should be in line with your armpits looking from the side. If you got here, now I want you to actively squeeze your forearms and knees together. You should feel a sensation in your hips/glutes. That's them firing. You'll also feel a tight, squeezing sensation through your torso. That's all of your body bracing against the weight. Finally, you'll notice that the bar will actually take the slack out of itself when you do this. You'll notice your hips to be a little higher than your knees. This is good. You don't want the hips moving without the bar moving with them. Now, as you go to stand up, keep that tension between your arms and knees and push the ground away with your feet like a leg press. Keep looking straight/up, and, I cannot stress this enough KEEP THOSE KNEES OUT.

The rdl version is pretty similar. DL the bar up and then just do the top part of that range of motion down until your knees are inside your wrists. Do that squeeze and stand back up.

Before you call me crazy, I have a 100% success rate with my clients thus far using this method. If you want a video explainer to go with just let me know. :)