Hi Scott, hope you are having a great day. 

So I have this question surrounding deadlifts. I'll explain my situation, I am currently lifting around 155-175 Kg every week, but noticed that when I deadlift my back was rounding even before the movement started, and no matter how many adjustments I made to my form, it kept happening. Until I talked to a PT at the gym that told me that the plates were smaller in diameter, so he suggested that I lower my hip basically lower than knee height. Which was very uncomfortable.

Then like a month ago, I had the idea to put pads on each end of the bar, so the bar is a little bit higher, then I checked my form and my back was straight, and could comfortably lift the bar, with my hip around parallel with my knee height. I'll add that the speed of which the bar came off the ground was the same. It just helped with my back being straight.

So my question is, should I just keep doing it with the pads? Or is it somewhat cheating? If so what could I do to improve my form? 

@Jtv08 Hey Jose! My day has been good thanks, hope you had a great weekend!

What kind of plates does your gym have / what kind of plates are you using? If you're using 20kg plates then that should be an ideal height. So if you aren't already, try to use some 20kg plates!

I would also maybe try doing some deficit deadlifts for a block or two of training, because that wil help you work on sitting lower into your deadlift. If you have a video of your form with and without the pads, that would be helpful as well!