More squat practice & Bench Press

So - instead of weighted back squats, I decided to just continue working on strengthening my squat form.

So - while Daniel was working on his back squats, I started off squatting slowly down to a 12(ish)" stool - just practicing depth and trying to keep my right knee from collapsing in. Then I practiced just the bottom ROM of the squat ... just getting a few inches off the stool and controlling back down.

Then i put a step, like one would use in an aerobic step class, on top of my stool (it was plenty sturdy) which brought the height to about mid thigh, and just practiced stepping up onto it.

This might have taken 20 minutes or so. I didn't time it - or count reps.

Then I did my usual Bench Press x 5 reps

45-45-50-60(PR)-60-60

I threw an extra warm up round in there because the first one felt weird. I had sort of a kink in my right shoulder that made full ROM a little uncomfortable, but after stretching it and massaging it a bit it was fine. These were hard. For pretty much every set, I had to rest at the top of the ROM after the 3rd & 4th Rep, and the 5th rep was always a close call, but I got it every time.

In other news I've noticed that I am not seeing much improvement in my burpees any longer. I think that the main problem is that, except at the gym, I am almost always concerned with doing the burpees quietly - at work i don't want to be 'caught' (mostly due to the embarrassment factor) and at home, I don't want to bother our downstairs neighbors, and so my form and intensity is sacrificed. I've decided, at work at least, to stop caring so much, and to be better about requiring better form from myself in order for a rep to count.

Fortunately, there will be ample opportunity to practice burpees with good form while we are in Florida.