Hot & Steamy in the Baja-de-Bethnal

Just had another seminar with Royce Gracie, this was definitely his best so far (I been to 3 now). Royce showed us a technique and then a follow-on and then a defence or counter to it. Some of the moves were again, so simple and yet, it seemed no one realised the possibility that the move existed from that position. My favourite of the night was a calf muscle crush which was achieved by attacking your opponent who was in turtle position- Royce then showed how this very painful technique could be overturned into an armbar by the opponent - sweet!
There were lots of great moves like that but the extreme humidity and warm temperatures (London is currently gripped ina heatwave) inside the Bethnal Green dojo made training almost unbearable. I think I sweated about three gallons. The whole floor was awash with fellow sweat and the mirrors were completely steamed up. The only person without a bead of sweat was Royce - I guess it like just another night in Rio - or California for him.
The session concluded with Royce making us spar. The first spar I had was with blue belt Suzi, who was fast and furious but I had a good weight advantage (hard to believe I know there are actually people smaller than me) so I felt ok with that one. Royce could see me and made me change partners to RGDA member (Adam?) who is a very big guy. Of course I got totally owned and got tapped about four times in a row! Royce looked at me and demanded to know how long I had been training? I thought he was having a go at me - like, Seymour you are so pants, how come this white belt is beating you! - but no he just wanted to assess my experience because he promoted my opponent from white to blue belt 2 stripes! Wow, now I didn;t feel to bad about getting owned. Royce also gave me another stripe (out of pity probably).
After that it was Q&A. He must get asked the same questions time and time again from all his seminars it was like he had an automatic response each time. Especially when asked about his recent Matt Hughes fight (overtraining was the fault in that case). But he was genial enough to answer any Q thrown at him, although he did get a bit touchy at one point - not even sure what the question was, but he tried to say how much Gracie Jiu-Jitsu had contributed to the current MA scene.
Anyway, a great session. I still didn't get to spar with Royce (he didn't offer this time round) but some lovely technques learned. And thanks to Suzi, the lone Leicester BJJ rep, for being a great training partner - come to London again soon!
I'm in bad need of rehydrating now...until next time!