I was walking on air last Saturday as April ended a great month in jiu-jitsu and

the progess seemed real. My physical condition had improved to take on the

five-class-a-week grappling routine. I even jogged, which I hadn't for a long

time, for five miles on Friday when I didn't train. The wind was behind my back 

and I was starting to get somewhere.

It was at the end of Monday evening class that I went for Tim to spar the last

round. I had gone through Steve, the 200lbs+ beginner who had a daughter in the

kids' class, Pablo the skillful one-stripe bluebelt, and Christian, a strong and

tough young kid who knew nothing but forcing his way around. Leaving Christian

lying on the mat to recover, I did not feel tired at all.

These days I enjoyed sparring with beginners. A novice knew very little and

typically tried to wrest what he thought he wanted. If he grabbed my arm when I

was in his guard, e.g., and I defended, he would go for it again, wasting 

energy, as he didn't recognize leverage or had no plan B. Sometimes it felt

funny when I suddenly asked my partner in the middle of the fight "What do you

achieve holding my head like that? There is no choke." They got on top of me

often but lost the position soon and were fun to play with. Moreover, knowing 

little, they often gave opportunities for me to attack. I would try to submit

but wouldn't feel bad if I failed. 

I foiled Tim's takedown and we went to the ground. In about two minutes, he

ended up in my guard. As he lifted my right leg to pass and I shifted my weight

to the right to counter, a tinge of pain came on at my lower back. He flipped

the leg to the other side, passed, got on top of me, and flattened me out. The

pain grew and I called it off. So far, I couldn't seem to pin-point the exact

move that had led to the injury.

Meanwhile, it was painful to even engage the core in such simple things as

climing up and down the stairs, getting up from the couch, or lowering myself

onto the toilet. I had to remind myself to relax the ab muscles and breathe. To

avoid pain, I tried to move around using the legs and feet with as little core

as possible. My walking reminded me of the game Plants vs. Zombies.

I first suspected that one lumbar disc was herniated but after some reading,

concluded it should again be muscle pull because in the former, the pain would

have been chronic. Instead, I felt as if I did a dead-lift or kettlebell swing

with poor form. The last injury that kept me from jiu-jitsu was from

weight-lifting a few months ago (Dec 17, 2021) and the symptoms were similar.

I seem to have learned little from this experience except maybe Tim and I tend

to hurt each other. I should recover in a week.