How to Film Yourself Exercising at Home

I spent my first week of rehab filming exercises on my phone and getting unusable footage. Wrong angle, couldn't see whether my knee was tracking properly, phone fell over mid-set. Twice. It took me a while to figure out a setup that actually worked, and it was simpler than I expected.

Why bother filming at all

You can't feel what your body looks like from the outside. I was convinced my squat was deep enough until I saw a video and realized I was barely hitting parallel. Mirrors help, but they force you to turn your head, which changes your posture. Video is honest in a way mirrors aren't.

If you're working with a physio, they need to see how you move. If you're training alone, video is the next best thing to having someone watch you.

Pick the right angle

Side view covers most exercises. Squats, lunges, deadlifts, anything where depth or back angle matters. Film from directly to the side, not slightly in front or behind. Even a small offset hides important details.

Front or back view is better when you're checking symmetry. Does one hip drop during single-leg work? Does your shoulder hike on overhead press? You can't see that from the side.

A 45-degree angle is a decent compromise if you can only film from one position, but it's not ideal for anything specific. Ask your PT which angle they want if you're sending clips for review.

Where to put your phone

Match the phone height to the joint you're training. For squats, that's roughly hip height. For overhead work, shoulder height or slightly above. Filming from too high makes squats look deeper than they are. Filming from the floor makes everything look weird.

Get a cheap phone tripod. Seriously, they're $15 and they solve 90% of the frustration. I leaned my phone against a water bottle for two weeks before I gave in and bought one. The water bottle fell over constantly. The tripod hasn't.

Lighting matters more than you think

Face the window. That's the whole trick. If you exercise with the window behind you, the camera sees a silhouette. Natural light from the front gives you a clear image without any extra setup. Overhead room lights are fine as a backup. Avoid half-and-half situations where one side of your body is in shadow.

The problem with recording blind

Here's the thing nobody tells you about filming yourself: you can't see the screen while you exercise. You hit record, walk into frame, do the movement, walk back, and check. Half the time, the angle was wrong, or you were out of frame, or the phone moved. So you re-record. For every exercise.

I got tired of this loop and built Live Video Feedback to fix it. Your phone becomes a wireless camera, and you watch yourself live on your laptop while you exercise. You can see your form as you move, adjust in real time, and know the clip is good before you stop recording. No more walking back and forth to check.

A few things that helped me

Record 2-3 reps per exercise, not the full set. Your PT doesn't need to watch 15 reps of the same thing. Start recording before you get into position, because it's easier to trim the beginning than to re-record because you missed the first rep. Wear fitted clothes so your joint positions are actually visible. And keep the phone stable. Shaky footage is useless for form checks.

After you're done recording

Every clip will have dead time at the start and end where you're walking to and from the camera. Trim that out before sending. Your physio will appreciate getting 10 clean clips instead of 10 clips with 15 seconds of ceiling footage at the beginning of each one. I wrote a separate guide on sending exercise videos to your PT if you want the full workflow.