Trouble identifying the acetabulum approximation in video and real time

[AndrewLewis]

I'm having a difficult time consistently identifying the hip crease to indicate depth.
I've gone back through the last 10 pages of technique videos to check squat form checks, and that hasn't helped a great deal.

What do you specifically look for when looking for the hip crease? Different clothes and colors have made it challenging. To me, it looks like 1/3 of the way into the butt opposite from where the thigh meets the torso.
Thanks for your time.

[Nick Delgadillo]

The hip crease serves as the proxy for the acetabulum. Literally, you're just looking for the crease of the hip as the lifter squats down. This gets tough with overweight lifters who have giant thighs and butts, but it generally works well all the time. You're right that certain clothes can make it tougher, but there are other indicators of proper depth that can give you a better overall picture - like the knee angle, for instance.

Maybe I'm not understanding your question, though. See the pictures below. These are all to depth.

Screen Shot 2019-11-23 at 9.11.27 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2019-11-23 at 9.11.45 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2019-11-23 at 9.12.14 PM.jpgScreen Shot 2019-11-23 at 9.13.14 PM.jpg

[AndrewLewis]

The pictures help. Can you explain how you would use knee angle to indicate proper depth? The knee angle is going to vary as a function of segment length.

Maybe this will help. Can you take a look at the attached pictures and see if I'm close on the markers and depth judgement?
Thanks again for the help.

Depth check1.jpgDepth check2.jpgDepth check3.jpgDepth check4.jpgDepth check5.jpg

[Nick D'Agostino]

Another way to look at depth is to visualize the femur beneath the person's clothing. If the femur is pointing up, they are high. If the femur is parallel to the floor, they are high. If the femur is pointing slightly down, they nailed depth. This technique stops you from trying to quickly look at two spots in real-time and will help you take in more information from the squat quicker. Also, this way of looking at it bypasses most clothing considerations. If it is borderline, you need to pay more attention to the markers, but this visualization takes care of most situations.

[Nick Delgadillo]

The pictures help. Can you explain how you would use knee angle to indicate proper depth? The knee angle is going to vary as a function of segment length.

Maybe this will help. Can you take a look at the attached pictures and see if I'm close on the markers and depth judgement?
Thanks again for the help.

Depth check1.jpgDepth check2.jpgDepth check3.jpgDepth check4.jpgDepth check5.jpg

Pictures 3 and MAYBE 4 are the only ones to depth which I think is in agreement with what you're seeing. I drew in a red arrow where I'm looking at the hip crease in the picture below. If that spot drops below the top of the knee, depth is good. Where you're looking for the acetabulum is going to be harder to see and you're going to have to look for that to go an inch or a little more below parallel. So using the crease of the hip that you can see can be more useful since it USUALLY only has to break the horizontal plane created by the top of the knee.

I completely agree with Other Nick D's advice, by the way, and I really think that's how we look at depth really. I'm not typically staring at anyone's hip crease unless I'm judging a meet.

Screen Shot 2019-11-26 at 9.00.13 PM.jpg

[AndrewLewis]

That helps a lot. Thanks for checking the pictures and I'll give Other Nick D's method a try and see if that gets me more consistent results.

Thank you both for the help.