Hip hinge power straight from the cable stack.
Push your hips back, don't squat down. This is a hinge, not a knee bend.
Facing away from the stack with a rope between your legs, the cable pulls your hips backward, so your glutes and hamstrings have to hinge you down and then snap you back to standing against resistance that peaks exactly at lockout. That backward line of pull is what makes it special, it teaches the hip hinge with the load doing the coaching. It earns its place as both a hinge teacher for beginners and a spine-friendly glute builder for anyone racking up deadlift volume elsewhere.
The RDL loads heavier and builds more absolute strength, the pull through keeps load off your spine and hammers the glute squeeze at lockout. Use pull throughs to learn the hinge, add glute volume, or train around a tired lower back.
Your knees are bending to drop you down instead of your hips pushing back. Soften the knees once and freeze them there, then push your hips toward the stack until your hamstrings pull tight, that's the pattern.
Past a certain load the stack starts dragging you backward off your feet, that's just the geometry of the movement. Treat it as a moderate-weight, high-quality exercise and chase the squeeze, not the number.
