Two Overlaid Videos: Your Squat vs the Model

Using an app that overlays two videos with transparency or plays them in sync, students compare their dowel squat with a model filmed from the same angle. They spot specific differences, apply a correction and film again to check the change.

How to play

1. Film a correct dowel squat model side-on, with the tablet at hip height, from a spot on the floor marked with a cone (4 min).
2. Groups of three: each student does five squats with the dowel across the shoulders while another films from the same mark (6 min).
3. Overlay your video on the model at 50 percent opacity and point out two differences: trunk lean, knee path, depth or heels lifting (6 min).
4. Practice the fix with a specific cue, like sitting back to touch a bench or keeping the dowel against your back, and film again (6 min).
5. Compare before and after and write down your personal technique cue (3 min).

Rules

• Use only the dowel, with no added weight.
• The filmer stays out of the performer's movement space.
• If a student prefers, film from the neck down.
• Delete the videos at the end of class.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: compares a seated overhead press with the dowel.
• Knee injury: does a partial squat down to a high box.
• Autism or attention difficulties: looks for one difference and one correction only.

Learning goals

• Analyze your own technique against a visual model.
• Apply specific corrections to a basic strength pattern.
• Treat safe technique as the foundation of injury prevention.

Equipment for a class of 25

• tablets or phones: 9
• dowels: 28
• cones: 9

Teacher tip

Filming every clip from the same mark and height is what makes the overlay useful. Many free editing apps let you stack layers with transparency.

More main activities for High School