DEEP DIVE DATACan you matchthe Dlamini squat?
Most people think they squat deeper than they actually do.
This tool compares your movement against one of South Africa's most famous squats, using nothing more than your phone. Prop it up for a side-view photo, or use the live camera — the analysis runs right there in your browser.
✓ Completely private · ✓ Takes less than 30 seconds · ✓ One photo, one score.
🔒 Your camera feed and photos never leave your phone.
How the score is calculated
No mystery formula. Three goals, each given a percentage of importance, added up to a score out of 100.
How low you get at the bottom. Reaching level gets full marks — depth is what most people struggle with.
Comparing left and right knees. A big gap means one side is doing all the heavy lifting.
Forward lean. Comfortable tilt is fine; bowing too far strains the lower back.
Score = (Depth × 0.5) + (Balance × 0.3) + (Lean × 0.2). Grades: A (85+), B (70+), C (55+), D below. The reference model scores a perfect 100.
Check your squat
Use your live camera or upload a photo taken at your lowest point, side-on, whole body in frame.
Your comparison
Test your squat on the previous card to see your scorecard break down here.
Your comparison unlocks as soon as your squat is checked.
Meet the ideal squat geometry
A snapshot at the absolute bottom of the movement. The tool maps the body's position and calculates the angles — the numbers confirm what you can see: an absolute textbook position.
How the knee bends through a full squat: standing, lowering, the bottom point (~50°), pushing back up. This tool looks closely at your lowest point.
Three hinges working together
Ankle, knee, and hip. Every squat relies on those three joints folding smoothly — how well they fold tells the whole story. It doesn't care how strong you are or how much you can lift, just where your body bends.
Knee bend
The lower you go, the sharper this angle gets.
Upper body lean
Leaning forward is normal, but too far strains your back.
Balance
Keeping weight central with heels flat on the ground.
Your phone camera can spot these angles instantly from a single photo. That's all there is to it.
Your phone can now track human movement
The exciting part here isn't the squat — it's your phone. A standard modern smartphone can now recognise body shapes and angles in under a second, entirely on its own, without sending data to a server.
Physical therapy assessments, school sports check-ups, injury recovery exercises — all built around one question: how is the body bending? The equipment used to be locked away in expensive sports labs. Now the device in your pocket gives a great estimate for free.
Your phone is a motion lab now
Is a phone photo accurate enough to replace a doctor's lab? Maybe not quite yet. But is it accurate enough for helpful, real-time feedback on your form? That's the exact idea this experiment tests — starting with one of the world's most famous squats.
The score is just three angles
Depth, balance, lean — weighted 50/30/20 and added up. No black box, no hidden model. Anyone can check the arithmetic on the back of a kombi ticket, and the reference squat gets a perfect 100 across all three because it's the textbook shape the tool is measuring against.
Camera angle changes everything
Because this is a single 2D photo, positioning matters — a straight side-on shot gives the most accurate rating, and a front-on photo makes the depth number approximate at best. Depth-to-height translations assume a standard leg length. This is fun movement feedback, not a replacement for professional medical or athletic coaching.
The lab is in your pocket
Squat, jump, sprint, lunge, push-up, balance, recovery tracking — the same three-hinge logic behind this tool extends to almost any human movement. The hard part was never the camera; it's what you choose to point it at.
Everything happens in your browser, on your device, and disappears the moment you close the tab.
Deep Dive Data builds tools like this independently — try one, then come back for the data journalism.