What a camera can see in a push-up
The rubric scores the smallest elbow angle at the bottom, the largest at the top, and the largest torso deviation as a body-line criterion — the measurement that catches hips sagging or piking. Only side and oblique views are accepted for scoring, because a body line simply cannot be assessed from the front. The identity gate rejects clips with too much vertical hip travel, which is what separates a push-up from the push-up phase of a burpee.
How ScoreRep scores a push-up
The rubric declares 4 scored criteria. The strongest single camera angle is the left side view. Every criterion below is available from that angle.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full range of motion | 35 | smallest elbow angle in the rep | 65° or less |
| Full extension | 25 | largest elbow angle in the rep | 165° or more |
| Flat body line | 25 | largest torso lean away from vertical | 15° or less |
| Control | 15 | ratio of lowering time to lifting time | 0.8 or more |
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.
- Flat body line — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
Does this push-up rep count?
ScoreRep answers that in two separate steps. First, the clip has to read as a push-up 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 push-up rubric, the same file the scoring engine runs.
- Compare the push-up 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest elbow angle in the rep | 100° or less | the elbows do not close far enough for a complete push-up |
| Vertical travel of the hips across the rep | 0.05 or less | the hips travel too far, which reads as a burpee rather than a push-up |
| Whether the hands finish above the shoulders | no | the rep finishes overhead, so it is not a push-up |
| Largest hip angle in the rep | 155° or more | the body is not held in a plank, so this does not read as a push-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 55% of the frames.
- The camera angle has to be one of: left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique.
- 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.
Reading the result
Body line is the criterion that degrades first and the one athletes notice last. In a set of twenty, the elbows keep closing while the hips start to lead, and only the body-line score records it. If that score falls before the range score does, the useful intervention is to stop the set rather than to shorten the reps, because the reps have not shortened yet.
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.