Side is still tender. Doesn’t hurt as bad as the last time I injured my rib, so I’m hopeful that I can work through it and not have to take any time off of class.

Warming up I partnered up with Mongoose Mike. Damian dubbed him that last week. He’s small (5′ 4″ ~120 pounds), but really quick. And coming to class 5x per week, so progressing fast. He’s Ethiopian, and it turns out they have mongooses (mongeese?!) there, so hence the nickname. Damian commented a couple of times on our Sidecontrol 101, mostly positive.

Great class tonight. We learned a slick method to get to turtle guard from half guard, and then three beautiful passes from there. I sorely needed some half guard instruction, so this was a welcome addition to my mental library of techniques. Mongoose Mike and I paired up for most of the drilling, though at the end I did a few with Rob. Even though they’re 60 pounds different in weight, the technique is pretty effortless.

Two new faces in class, and they both made it to the end. We’ll see if they come back or not.

Lots of people wanted to roll with me tonight, but I’m still trying to take it easy and finish healing up. I told Damian that I still owed him 60 pushups from last week…he simply replied “I know.” I gave him 70, extra 10 for interest. Did some sit ups too while waiting for the fundamentals class.

Fundamentals was an extension of the 5 positions, adding the reverse scarf hold and knee on belly positions. It was 3 of us, so I got to practice on the heavy bag. My ribs were hurting, so I took it slow and focused on getting every detail correct. We eventually switched partners and sped it up too.