4:55 to 6:45p

4:55-5p: Got in a little early and stretched. Watched the end of kids class. About 10 kids between 6 or so and 13 (??). It was hot. In the 90s today. Fans going. Roll up doors open. Still hot.

5-5:30p: Small class. Probably the heat. Bingo taught. Warm-ups included 10 arm bars and 5 triangles (each side) without hands. Then 10 arm bars and 5 triangles with hands. Took them a bit slow due to the heat.

5:30-6p: Technique. Scissor sweep. Traditional and knee push (for bigger guys). Good to practice sweeps. Haven't done that in a while.

6-6:30p: Rolls. Probably 6 minutes or so. Eric first (White Belt). Eric's about 6'4" or so and 255lbs. Big guy. He passed my guard and I basically spent the entire roll in side control purgatory. Couldn't do a darned thing. Fended off numerous arm attacks (kimura and americana). Almost rolled out to knees / elevator (once), but Eric had good control of me. Battled to suppress intense claustrophobia, suffocation panic instincts the entire roll. Focused on movement by inches to improve breathing ability and work my way to half guard. Managed to recover half guard near the end. That's about all I could do.

Owen (Blue Belt) up next. Owen's 6'4" 220lbs. He basically kicked my butt all over the mat. Couldn't count the submissions. Few arm bars. Kimura. Probably others. I either surprised him at the start of the roll or he gave me a Sweep off a Pass. Took side control, but rushed to mount to quickly (he reversed as soon as I took mount). He had good control of my head/upper body. Should have gone to knee on belly or broke his overhook grip before transitioning. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Gus (White Belt) third. Gus is probably my age, but much smaller. ~5'4" or so and 135lbs. Tough as nails though. We rolled pretty hard. Passed his guard and took side control. Tried a step-over choke, but must have had something wrong. I thought it was pretty tight, but didn't get the tap. He exposed his right arm once with an overhook behind my right ear. Implemented the side control to kimura technique Professor Kadu taught a while back. Worked well enough, although I need to take more time to secure the position before going for the submission. Pulled guard a couple other times. Couldn't secure anything that resembled a comfortable open guard. He was not going to let me play my game. Gus passed and had all sorts of funky gi choke grips / twists, which caused quite a bit of pressure...just not the right type of pressure to put me in any real danger.

16yr old Kayl was next. He's been training a couple months. We rolled light. Worked on transitions between guard pass to side control, securing side control with cross face, side control to knee on belly, knee on belly to mount, mount to arm bar.

6:30-6:45p: Mopped the mats. Talked to Bingo and Owen for a bit. It's really great knowing I can be so far away from home and still walk into a gym and instantly connect with a group of strangers.