What a camera can see in a romanian deadlift
A Romanian deadlift is a hip hinge with the knees held softly bent throughout, lowering the bar under control rather than lifting it off the floor. From the side, the camera can measure the smallest hip angle reached — how deep the hinge went — and the knee angle across the rep, which is the pair the rubric leans on. The identity gate rejects clips where the knees bend as far as they would in a conventional deadlift, because at that point the movement is a deadlift and belongs under the deadlift rubric.
How ScoreRep scores a romanian deadlift
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hip hinge | 30 | smallest hip angle in the rep | 60° or less |
| Back position | 25 | largest torso lean away from vertical | 60° or less |
| Softly bent knees | 20 | smallest knee angle in the rep | 140° to 175° |
| Eccentric control | 15 | ratio of lowering time to lifting time | 1.2 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.
- Hip hinge — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Back position — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Softly bent knees — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
Does this romanian deadlift rep count?
ScoreRep answers that in two separate steps. First, the clip has to read as a romanian deadlift 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 romanian deadlift rubric, the same file the scoring engine runs.
- Compare the romanian deadlift 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 | 0.05 or more | the hip hinge is not deep enough |
| Whether the hands finish above the shoulders | no | the movement finishes overhead, so it is not a Romanian deadlift |
| Smallest knee angle in the rep | 110° or more | the knees bend as they would in a conventional deadlift, which reads as a deadlift rather than a Romanian deadlift |
| Largest hip angle in the rep | 150° or more | the hips never reach full extension |
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 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.
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
The RDL is the one movement here where a slower lowering phase scores better than a fast one: full marks require the descent to take longer than the lift. If the control score is low while the hinge score is high, the athlete is reaching depth by dropping into it, which is worth correcting before load goes up. A trunk that finishes closer to horizontal than the top band allows is normal in this lift and is scored accordingly — the rubric uses a far more permissive lean threshold here than it does in a squat.
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.