Squat: how Upfit checks your form

The squat is a bodyweight move. Upfit counts each squat from your front camera and speaks a short cue when a rep falls short.

How do I do a squat?

Stand with your feet a little wider than your shoulders. Sit your hips back and bend your knees until your thighs are about parallel to the floor. Then press back up to standing. Move at a steady pace. If a squat feels uncomfortable, make it smaller or skip it.

How do I set up my phone for squats?

Squats are tracked facing the camera. Stand the phone upright on the floor and step back until it sees you from head to feet. About two to three metres (six to ten feet) works well. Your feet and your hips both need to stay in view, because Upfit reads the gap between your feet and between your hips and knees.

What does Upfit check on a squat?

Upfit checks three things, in this order:

• Stance. It measures how far apart your feet are compared with your shoulder width, once, at the moment you start to go down. Narrower than your shoulders counts as too narrow. Far wider than your shoulders counts as too wide.
• Depth. It compares how high your hips are above your knees. If your hips do not get down to about knee level, the rep is shallow.
• Tempo. The time from starting down to standing again. A rep that is very quick or very slow still counts, but it can earn a pace cue.

Stance is checked before depth, so the coach asks you to fix your feet first. If you stand still for a few seconds after a rep, you can also get a nudge to keep moving.

When does a squat rep count?

A rep counts when you go down, pass the stance check and the depth check, and come back up to standing. The coach then says the number out loud. A narrow, wide or shallow squat is not counted.

What does the coach say?

These are real lines from the app's voice set:

• "Sit deeper into the squat — get those thighs to parallel!"
• "Step the feet a little wider — just outside your shoulders."
• "Tighten that squat stance up — you're spread too wide."
• "Slow the squat down — control that descent."

Watch: how Upfit checks a squat

A 100-second walkthrough of the set-up, the depth, stance and tempo checks, and what stays on your phone.

What can't Upfit check on a squat?

The squat detector does not look at your knees, your back, your heels or how far your chest leans forward. It will not tell you if your knees cave in or your back rounds. It only sees the camera view, so a squat can pass the depth check and still have problems it cannot see.

Where can I read more?

• What Upfit can't check, including how the form score works
• How Upfit works
• All exercise pages

Upfit is an iPhone app, out now on the App Store. It is a fitness app, not medical advice. Stop if you feel pain or dizziness.