fitness_video_format v1.0.0

name: "fitness_video_format" description: "Plan, film, and edit follow-along fitness videos: multi-angle shot plans, cue timing that lands before the move changes, rep and timer overlays placed in safe areas, and class pacing from warm-up to cool-down. Triggers on 'workout video', 'fitness video format', 'film a workout', 'exercise video production', 'rep overlay', 'class pacing', 'cueing a workout video'."

Fitness Video Format

Purpose

Make a workout video people can actually follow along with. The failure mode of fitness video is not bad cameras, it is bad structure: cues that land after the move changed, angles that hide the form the cue is describing, timers that exist only in the trainer's voice, and pacing that runs out of steam or never warms up. This skill walks an agent through planning the class, scripting cues, shooting angles that teach, and editing overlays that carry the timing so the viewer never has to guess what comes next.

Workflow

1. Define the workout and the viewer

Write down before anything else:

• Format and length: HIIT, strength circuit, mobility, yoga flow, dance cardio. Total runtime target.
• Viewer level: name the baseline you teach to (Level 2: not beginner, not advanced). Every move gets a regression and a progression shown on camera or named aloud.
• Equipment list: what the viewer needs, stated up front in the video and in the description.
• Music plan: tempo-matched or neutral bed. Voice stays on top of it, always intelligible.

2. Build the class plan and validate it

Draft the class as a JSON plan with named blocks (warmup, work, transition, cooldown), each carrying its duration, camera note, and cue list. Run bin/class_plan.py on it. It prints a timestamped run sheet and flags pacing problems: warm-up outside 7-15 minutes, cool-down outside 7-10 minutes, missing warm-up or cool-down, transitions over 2 minutes. Fix what it flags or consciously accept it.

Pacing reference points: a classic group fitness structure runs warm-up 7-15 min, main conditioning in blocks, cool-down and flexibility 7-10 min (EuropeActive/Human Kinetics, ACSM-aligned). A true Tabata block is 8 rounds of 20 seconds work / 10 seconds rest, 4 minutes total (Tabata et al., 1996); most popular "Tabata" classes are 20/10-timed HIIT at sub-maximal effort, and the video should not claim the original study's results for them. Pacing templates live in references/pacing-templates.md.

3. Script the cues

Cueing is what makes the video followable. Rules, drawn from ACE group fitness instruction standards:

• Cue early. Name each move 4-8 counts (or about 30 seconds on a long block) before it starts. A cue heard after the movement is imminent is a cue wasted.
• Cue to the solution. "Chest tall, knees track over toes" teaches. "Don't round your back" does not.
• Cover all three learners. Visual: demonstrate it facing the camera, then rotate so side and back angles show too. Verbal: short, specific, countable ("last 4, 3, 2, 1"). Kinesthetic: say how it should feel ("you should feel this in your glutes, not your lower back").
• Name the next block during the last 30 seconds of the current one. Viewers should never be surprised.
• Count down the last 10 seconds of every timed interval, out loud, every time.

The full cue library, including the STEMS framework (Safety, Timing, Education, Motivation, Structure) and per-move cue examples, is in references/cue-library.md.

4. Shoot for angles that teach

Minimum viable setup is one camera on a tripod and a locked exposure. The priority order:

1. Wide master, full body head to toe. The viewer mirrors this angle. Return to it at every block change.
2. Side angle for hinges, squats, lunges: shows torso angle and knee travel.
3. Front angle for pressing, squats, symmetry checks.
4. Close-up inserts for grip, foot placement, equipment setup. Shoot these as cutaways after the master take if you are a one-camera crew.

• Repeat the demo facing each camera when you have more than one. If a second person can demonstrate, put the regression or the common-mistake version on them.
• Record horizontally for TV/laptop classes, vertical for short-form cuts. Lock focus and exposure before rolling. Light from the side and slightly above. Keep the background clean and logo-free.

Full shot list, camera placement notes, and audio guidance (wireless mic vs. post-recorded voiceover) are in references/shot-plan.md.

5. Edit with overlays that carry the timing

The viewer's eyes should be able to run the workout even muted:

• Rep counters on every rep-based move. Countdown timers on every timed interval. These are overlays, not just voiceover.
• Block titles at each transition: block name, work/rest timing, round number ("Round 3 of 8").
• Move names burned in when a new exercise starts, with the regression named too.
• Safe areas: on 16:9 keep essential text inside the central 90% of the frame; the lower third is safe. On 9:16 keep text in the middle third, clear of the bottom ~25% and top ~12% where platform UI (captions, like/comment rail, reply bar) sits. Details in references/shot-plan.md.
• Music bed sits under the voice, never over it. Cut on the beat at block changes if the music has a pulse.

6. Pre-publish check

• Play the video muted: can you follow the whole workout from overlays and titles alone?
• Play the audio only: do cues land before the moves change, with countdowns on every interval?
• Check overlays against the real platform UI on a phone, not just the editor preview.
• Description carries the equipment list, the block structure with timestamps, and the regression/progression notes.

Output Contract

A finished fitness video package contains:

1. The edited video with overlays, titles, timers, and mixed audio.
2. The class plan JSON (the bin/class_plan.py input) as the source of truth for the run sheet.
3. A description with equipment list, timestamped block structure, and level guidance.
4. Any short-form vertical cuts re-composed for 9:16 safe areas, not just cropped.

Operating Rules

1. Never invent physiology claims, study results, or rep schemes. If a number appears on screen (20/10, rep counts, hold times), it was verified or it is framed as the creator's own programming choice.
2. The warm-up and cool-down are not optional and are not skippable content. If a plan drops them, the validator flags it; cutting them requires the creator's explicit call.
3. Safety cues come first on every new move: range of motion, what should not hurt, and the regression. Performance cues come second.
4. One camera angle per teaching point. If a cutaway does not show something the master angle hides, cut it.
5. Regression and progression exist for every move, on camera or in voice. "Just keep up" is not a modification.
6. Keep SKILL.md-sized decisions in the skill; class-specific details belong in the plan JSON and references, not in general instructions.