What a camera can see in a front squat
A front squat is a squat with the bar carried on the shoulders in a front rack, so the torso has to stay far more upright than in a back squat or the bar rolls off. Filmed from the side or an oblique angle, the phone can resolve exactly that: the angle between the trunk and vertical, the knee angle at the lowest frame, and whether the elbows were high at the start. Filmed from the front, it cannot see torso lean at all, but it can compare the left and right knee angles, which is the only reliable way to spot one side giving way under load. The rubric reflects this split rather than pretending one angle does everything.
How ScoreRep scores a front squat
The rubric declares 4 scored criteria. The strongest single camera angle is the left side view. From that angle 70 of the 85 declared points are available; the rest need a different view and are removed from the total rather than scored as zero.
The score is the points earned divided by the points the recorded angle could support, so a clip filmed from a limited angle is never quietly marked down for what the camera could not see. At least 60% of the applicable weight has to be measured before a result is ranked at all.
| Criterion | Points | Measured from the athlete’s pose | Full marks when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | 25 | smallest knee angle in the rep | 95° or less |
| Upright torso | 25 | largest torso lean away from vertical | 20° or less |
| Lowering-to-lifting control | 20 | ratio of lowering time to lifting time | 1 or more |
| Left-to-right symmetry | 15 | largest left-to-right difference in knee angle | 5° or less |
Criteria that depend on the camera angle
These criteria are excluded, not estimated, when the recorded angle cannot support them. That is why the same set filmed twice from different positions can produce two valid scores out of two different totals.
- Depth — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Upright torso — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Left-to-right symmetry — needs a front and back view.
Does this front squat rep count?
ScoreRep answers that in two separate steps. First, the clip has to read as a front squat at all: every check in the table below has to pass, and a reading the camera could not take counts as a fail, never as a pass. A clip that fails is returned unranked with the reason attached, rather than scored low against the wrong rubric, and no template can override a failed check.
Second, the scoring criteria award points. Falling short of a full-marks threshold costs points, not the rep. Every number here is read from version 1 of the front squat rubric, the same file the scoring engine runs.
- Compare the front squat standard with the other 29 movements on the movement standards page.
- How the rep counter decides between a valid rep and a no-rep, station by station.
| Reading | Has to be | Otherwise rejected because |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical travel of the hips across the rep | 0.08 or more | no squat was detected |
| Whether the hip crease passes below the knee | yes | the hip crease never passes below the knee |
| Whether the hands finish above the shoulders | no | the movement finishes overhead, so it is not a front squat |
| Elbow angle in the starting position | 120° or less | the elbows are not in the front rack, which reads as a back squat or a snatch |
| Knee angle in the finish position | 150° or more | the knees are still bent at the finish, so the front squat is not stood up |
What the recording has to contain
Eligibility decides whether a result can enter a leaderboard. Failing it does not block the feedback — the clip is still scored and returned, but marked unranked with the reason attached, so a bad camera position never silently becomes a bad score.
- A pose has to be detected in at least 60% of the frames.
- The camera angle has to be one of: left side, right side, left oblique, right oblique, front and back.
- At least 1 complete repetition has to be detected.
What is deliberately not scored
Identity, repetition counting, eligibility and the score are derived only from the athlete’s pose. Measurements that come from tracking an external object — the path of a barbell, for example — are drawn on the review overlay but are deliberately outside the scoring contract, so they never affect the number.
For this movement that applies to Bar path. It is listed in the rubric so the exclusion is visible rather than silent, and it earns no points.
Reading the result
A front squat score that drops while depth stays the same is usually a rack problem, not a leg problem — the elbows fall, the chest follows, and the bar drifts forward. That shows up here as a falling torso score with an unchanged depth score, which is a more useful thing to know than a single number. Treat it as a prompt to check the rack and the front-rack mobility rather than to add accessory leg work.
A technique score is educational feedback about visible movement. It cannot tell you whether a load is safe for your joints, whether pain means something, or whether a programme suits you. Those judgements need a coach or clinician who knows your history.