Judging protraction by visual cues

Here's something that's been bugging me for a while.

I see sometimes people submit form checks of sPL movements or pseudo planche pushups. Often people use the visual cue that you should not see the scapula stick out in the back, like people are looking for a certain "roundness" that sometimes can be misleading in that protraction is there.

I don't know the anatomy terms so I may not be naming the bits correctly here but when I look at the body shape in sPL movements I'm looking more engagement in the lats, that look of tension in the ribs muscles (the serratus I think), traps and the shoulders are pushing and being held apart, i.e. the shoulders are keeping the body in place rather being jammed by the body's weight. I don't pay much attention to the cue of scaps sticking out in the back because I think it depends on the person.

For example, look at https://courses1.gymnasticbodies.com/spl-se4/ and in general this particular athlete. To my eye it looks fine, but I if one were to use the cue that "scaps stick out in the back" then this would need more "protraction". 

So, to clarify, is the cue sometimes used in form checks and critiques that there should be more protraction because the scapulae are sticking out in the back somewhat dependent on how your back looks or am I misinterpreting what that cue means ?

I think this is the easiest way to see it, if someone was to put your hand on your upper back, is it flat?  If it is, is there enough's protraction, if there's a gap, not enough.

I don't know much but I feel like you're onto something. I've definitely seem some form checks here get the OK despite not having this amount of protraction people say we should have. Or at least not visually having it either because of misunderstanding of what it actually means on our part or because of body type and proportions, etc.

alan tseng said:

I think this is the easiest way to see it, if someone was to put your hand on your upper back, is it flat?  If it is, is there enough's protraction, if there's a gap, not enough.

I understand it would be the easiest way, but is it always correct ? It seems to me that one can have correct shoulder protraction and depression and you'll still see the scaps stick out in the back, like the athlete does in sPL/SE4. You can see him again in HBP/PE20 at the top of the rep with correct protraction and depression of the scapulae, yet you see the tips of the scapulae. Maybe that's just the way it looks on some people. 

My point is if "the scaps sticking out the back" is a poor cue to look for and makes one focus on the wrong things.

No my cue is different, instead of "is it sticking out", I'm saying "is there a gap?"

From coaching this movement more than any other thus far to newcomers, I can tell when its correct, but I can't tell you exactly what visibility/lack of makes it so without someone in front of me to point to. In general though shooting for exaggerated protraction and stressing widening of the scaps rather than jamming/hunching straight forward, and then letting them settle into a more subtle pattern as the activation gets more refined works better than trying to coach subtler cues from the get-go. Just look at all the confusion re front lever scap positioning