What a camera can see in a squat clean
A squat clean pulls the bar from the floor and receives it in a full front squat. The heaviest-weighted criterion is the knee angle at the bottom of the catch, taken from the frame where the knee is most bent rather than from an average across the rep. Elbow height in that same frame is scored separately, because a bar caught deep with low elbows is a rep that is about to be lost. Both need a side or oblique view. The identity gate requires the arms to be straight at set-up: elbows already racked means the bar never left the floor.
How ScoreRep scores a squat clean
The rubric declares 5 scored criteria. The strongest single camera angle is the left side view. From that angle 80 of the 90 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catch depth | 30 | knee angle at the bottom of the rep | 95° or less |
| Front rack elbows | 15 | elbow angle at the catch or bottom position | 95° or less |
| Hip extension | 25 | largest hip angle in the rep | 172° or more |
| Pull speed | 10 | time taken by the lifting phase | 0.8s or less |
| Left-to-right symmetry | 10 | 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.
- Catch depth — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Front rack elbows — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Hip extension — needs a left side, right side, left oblique and right oblique view.
- Left-to-right symmetry — needs a front and back view.
Does this squat clean rep count?
ScoreRep answers that in two separate steps. First, the clip has to read as a squat clean 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 2 of the squat clean rubric, the same file the scoring engine runs.
- Compare the squat clean 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 | 0.1 or more | range of motion too small for a squat clean |
| Smallest knee angle in the rep | 110° or less | the bar is not received in a full squat, which reads as a power clean rather than a squat clean |
| Whether the hands finish above the shoulders | no | the movement finishes overhead, which reads as a clean and jerk rather than a squat clean |
| Elbow angle in the finish position | 100° or less | there is no front rack position at the finish, so this does not read as a clean |
| Elbow angle in the starting position | 130° or more | the elbows are in the front rack at set-up, but the bar should start on the floor with the arms straight |
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.
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
Catch depth and front rack scores usually move in opposite directions as load increases — the athlete gets under the bar faster but with worse elbow position. Reading them as a pair tells you whether the missed reps at the top of a session were a leg problem or a rack problem. The pull-speed criterion is deliberately worth few points; it is context for the other two rather than a target in itself.
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.