How to film your lifts for a form check

A form check is only as good as the video. If the camera can't see your hips, your knees and the bar, nobody can judge depth or bar path, whether that's you, your coach or an app. These are the camera positions that work for each lift.

For every lift

• Keep the phone still. Use a tripod, or prop it against a plate or a bag. A handheld video moves with the person holding it, and so does the bar path.
• Put it at about hip height. Looking down from a bench or up from the floor makes depth hard to judge.
• Step back until your whole body and both plates are in the frame, with some room above the bar at lockout.
• Light from the front or the side. A bright window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
• Solid colours help. Clothes that stand out from the background make your joints easier to follow.
• Trim the clip to your set before you upload it. A shorter clip uploads faster.

Squat

Film from the side or at about 45 degrees, at hip height, a few steps back.

• Side-on shows depth most clearly: the crease of your hip against the top of your knee.
• At 45 degrees you still see depth, and you can also see whether your knees track over your feet.
• From the front you can see your hips and knees shift side to side, but depth is hard to judge.
• Don't film from behind or from a bench above you.

Depth from a video is a training check. On meet day, the judges decide.

Bench press

Film from the side of the bench, with the phone level with it.

• From the side you can see the whole bar path, from the unrack to your chest and back up to lockout.
• From the head end of the bench, behind you, the bar moves toward the camera and the rack hides the plates. Nobody can see the bar path from there.
• From your feet, your body hides the bar at the bottom of each rep.

Deadlift

Film from the side or at about 45 degrees, at hip height.

• Keep both plates in the frame from the floor to lockout. A plate cut off at the edge of the frame hides where the bar is.
• From the side you can see the bar path, your hips and shoulders at the start, and your lockout.
• From behind, your body hides the bar and your hips.

In a busy gym

Racks, spotters and other lifters can block the view. Pick a spot where nobody will walk between you and the phone, and keep the plates visible. If part of a rep is still hidden, Power Precision tells you which checks it couldn't make instead of guessing.