How to film pull-ups and shoulder drills for the camera counter

Where to put the phone and what has to stay in the picture, so the counter can read the set. Send it to whoever is holding — or propping — the phone.

How filming a set works

Choose a drill from the drill library, and read how to do it.
Record the set with your phone's own camera app, framed as below.
Open the clip on the practice page. The pose model runs in your browser.
Look at what it counted. If the count is wrong or the clip was unreadable, film again or type the set in.
Only then save the set, with the worst pain during it — that is what the pain rule reads.

Doing this for the first time? Try your first set takes you through it one step at a time.

It is free and needs no account. The video stays on your device: what is kept is the position of twelve joints in each frame, with no face. Reading this page asks for no camera and downloads no pose model.

Filming a drill well does not make it the right drill for you. This page is about what the camera can read, not about whether an exercise suits your shoulder, and a readable clip is not an assessment of your form. The drills are part ofShoulder: kipping works, strict pull-ups do not — read who it is and is not for. If a clinician has already given you a plan, follow theirs.

Warning signs: see a clinician first

Do not start, or stop, if any of these apply to you:

The pain started with a fall, a dislocation, or a sudden pop or tear, and you cannot lift the arm since.
Numbness, tingling or pins and needles running down the arm or into the hand.
Weakness that is getting worse, or the arm suddenly much weaker than the other.
Pain that wakes you at night and does not ease when you change position.
Swelling, redness, heat or a fever with the pain.
Pain in the chest, jaw or left arm with breathlessness or sweating — call emergency services.
A visible lump, change in shape, or the shoulder looking different from the other.

These are general reasons to have a shoulder examined. They are not a complete list.

The three framings

There is no single right angle. Each drill's own setup sentence, under its picture, is the instruction; the picture shows what that means. What matters for every one: the phone propped still, the light in front of you, and every joint the counter reads inside the frame for the whole set.

Hangs and scapular pulls: whole body and bar, from the front

The phone faces you as you hang, far enough back that the bar and your feet are both in the picture.

Seen from above, the phone stands two to three metres in front of the bar, facing the person. Seen by the phone, a person hangs from the bar with straight arms. A green frame contains the bar, both wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and feet. A smaller red frame, as if the phone were too close, cuts off the bar, the hands and the hips.

Phone: Propped still on the floor or a shelf, two to three metres in front of the bar.
Keep in frame: wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles; and the bar, the box, for a lowering from the top.

Crops that lose the count

The bar or the hands cut off at the top of the picture, so the camera cannot tell whether you are hanging.
The hips cut off at the bottom, so it cannot measure the body rising.
Standing so close that the elbows leave the picture when the arms bend.

Drills filmed this way

Relaxed hang: Phone on the floor or a shelf two to three metres in front of the bar, the whole of you in frame, bar included.
How to do it · Film a set
Active hang: From the front, two to three metres away, whole body and bar in frame. Start with a second of relaxed hang so the camera can see the difference.
How to do it · Film a set
Scapular pull-up: From the front, two to three metres away, whole body and bar in frame, at about chest height.
How to do it · Film a set
Top hold: From the front, two to three metres away, whole body and bar in frame.
How to do it · Film a set
Lowering from the top: From the front, two to three metres away, whole body and bar in frame, including the box.
How to do it · Film a set
Band-assisted pull-up: From the front or a little to the side, two to three metres away, whole body and bar in frame.
How to do it · Film a set

Pull-ups: whole body and bar, from the side

The phone sees you side-on, so a hip swing or a knee drive shows as movement across the picture.

Seen from above, the phone stands two to three metres away in line with the bar, so it sees the person side-on. Seen by the phone, a person hangs side-on with straight arms, the bar end on above the hands. A green frame contains the bar, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and feet. An arrow across the hips marks where a swing shows. A red frame that stops at the hips cuts off the legs, so a knee drive is lost.

Phone: Propped still two to three metres to the side of the bar, with nothing between it and you.
Keep in frame: wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles; and the bar.

Crops that lose the count

The feet or knees cut off, so a knee drive cannot be seen.
The bar and the hands cut off at the top of the picture, so the top of each pull is lost.
A doorway or a person between the phone and you for part of the set.

Drills filmed this way

Strict pull-up: Side-on shows a swing best: phone two to three metres to the side, whole body and bar in frame.
How to do it · Film a set

Band pull-aparts and wall slides: from the hips up

The phone sees the upper body only, from the hips to above the hands at their highest.

Seen from above, the phone stands about two metres in front of the person. Seen by the phone, a person from the hips up holds a band with the arms straight out to the sides at shoulder height. A green frame contains both hands, elbows, shoulders and hips. A smaller red frame, as if the phone were too close, cuts off the hands, the elbows and the hips.

Phone: Propped still about two metres away: facing you for a band pull-apart, to the side for a wall slide.
Keep in frame: wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips; and the band, or the wall.

Crops that lose the count

The hands leave the picture at the top of a wall slide or the ends of a pull-apart.
The hips cut off: the camera scales every distance by the length of the torso, so it needs them.
Standing side-on for a pull-apart, so one arm hides the other.

Drills filmed this way

Band pull-apart: Facing the phone, two metres away, from the hips up in frame.
How to do it · Film a set
Wall slide: Side-on works best for a wall: phone two metres to the side, whole upper body in frame. Film each side if one arm is the problem.
How to do it · Film a set
Band external rotation — counted by hand: Facing the phone, two metres away, from the hips up in frame, so the forearm can be seen turning out from the body. The camera cannot count this one: you type the count in, and the movement it saw is kept as proof.
How to do it · Film a set

On the floor: filmed as proof, counted by hand

Drills done lying down or on hands and knees. On the floor two to three metres to the side, the whole of you in frame. A pose model reads a body lying down less well, so the replay may be rough whatever the framing. The camera counts none of these, so there is no picture: film them to keep the movement as proof, and type in the count.

Prone Y raise — counted by hand: Phone on the floor two to three metres to the side, the whole of you in frame. A pose model reads a body lying down less well, so the replay may be rough.
How to do it · Film a set
Scapular push-up — counted by hand: Side-on: phone two metres to the side at about hip height, the whole of you in frame from hands to feet.
How to do it · Film a set

When a clip does not read

A joint leaves the picture: Step back or move the phone back until the frame in the picture above fits with room to spare: hands at their highest, feet at their lowest. A frame where the joints cannot be seen is skipped, and too many skipped frames make the whole clip unreadable.
Poor light: Light from in front of you, not behind: a bright window behind you turns you into a silhouette the pose model reads badly. Dark clothes against a dark wall do the same.
The phone moves: Prop it on the floor, a shelf or against a bag rather than holding it. A training partner holding it still is the next best thing; following you with the phone is not.
“Not enough of you could be seen”: That is an unreadable clip, not a count of zero. Nothing is counted from it and it cannot be saved as a filmed set. Film it again with the fixes above, or type in what you did. A clip counting zero reps means the joints were seen clearly and the movement did not reach what the counter looks for.
The pose model takes a while to load: The first time, the practice page downloads the pose model, about 5 MB; after that it is kept by the browser. A slow phone reads a clip more slowly than it plays, and a very long clip is read only up to a limit the page tells you about — so start recording just before the set.
The live camera will not start: The browser may not have permission, or another app has the camera. You do not need the live camera: record the set with your phone's camera app and use Open a recorded clip on the practice page. It is read the same way, often at more frames a second.
You would rather not film at all: Use Type it in instead on the practice page. A typed-in set counts on your progress page; only a filmed one can pass a phase test. To see the counter at work first,watch it read three sample sets.

What the joints cannot show

The camera sees twelve joints as points in a flat picture. It can tell straight arms from bent, hands above shoulders, the body rising with straight arms, how high each arm is raised, and a hip swing. It cannot see a shoulder blade, a muscle switching on, the upper arm rotating about its own length, or how anything feels — so it says nothing about pain, and nothing about whether a drill is right for you. That is why band external rotation, prone y raise, scapular push-upare counted by hand. More on how it works.