Man, that sux dude because you would have probably won States and possibly went to Nationals with some of the numbers you were putting up if you ever wanted to do powerlifting.
Got my purple belt this weekend!
Unfortunately my back is still bothering me quite a bit, so much so that I decided against more KB swings last week and I've got an MRI scheduled for Tuesday. Not that I think it's THAT messed up but I would rather have the money I'm spending on PT go towards a fix rather than blind guesses - which is where we were. Where the pain manifested should have come from a nerve in the sacrum but it seems to be moving fine, now, and the other SI related symptoms don't exist. I've also got/had pain in my calf which wouldn't be associated with SI. I also had very limited ROM before lumbar spine manipulation in my left leg but the manipulation was only very temporary relief, a couple hours at best which neither doctor could figure out. And my favorite part, defending chokes hurt like hell in my hip glute, the same place it hurts when extending and raising my leg. Even if there was no torque on my back/neck. There have been days of jiu-jitsu that I haven't been able to do any drills because they're all chokes and even drilling with partners trying to take it easy is too much.
I just hope I'm able to be mostly recovered for 2 or 3 tournaments before the end of the year.
Any professionals out there want to take a stab at it?
Well at least you know what it is now. The mystery part of an injury sucks.
it looks like you are doing most of it.
Still lifting, keeping it light for no apparent reason. Talked to the neurosurgeon today, which I wasn't impressed with, spent all of 5 min in the room with him. He ordered epidural injections and wanted to see me in 6-8 weeks to talk about surgery which I'm very against at this point....
I've also started my private lessons to prep for Pan Am's in March. The general idea is to add techniques(1-2 a week) up until about 8 weeks out at which point it's just refining what works best for me leading up to that point. In addition to privates I'm also doing small group work on the weekends for an hour or 2 which gives me time to work on specific drills/positions/techniques basically as much as I need for free. I'm being careful not to spread myself too thin, neither of these are not very intense sessions but more focused on getting good muscle memory and figuring out what works for me and what I shouldn't waste time on.
Not many people I know do both powerlifting and bjj. May want to think about not lifting extremely heavy anymore b/c that could affect your bjj sessions and maybe that's what caused your last injury. My powerlifting training is similar to yours and no way I'd want to do bjj the same or next day, even sparring for an hour (did martial arts in the past). Your joints and ligaments take a huge toll when lifting heavy; I try to take it easy on off days with light abs or biking/walking/stretching/foam rolling/stim to get blood flowing for recovery but of course I'm an old man (late 30's) - you younger whipper snappers may be able to recover faster.