First of all,

I have to state that everyone is different and different things work for different individuals. As far as I am concerned, here is my story and I'll try to log as much of my experience here for other to follow.

Quick timeline first.

- Started training in 2008. was super skinny and decided to better myself with correct exercises, food, etc. (well, at least I thought so!)
- Trained religiously for a few years (always natural) to the exception of supplements. First rookie mistake, don't rely on supplement only. Your diet should bring you all the macros and micros. If not, you are not doing it right and all you'll do is exhaust your body real slowly. Supplements are called supplements for a reason.
- Trained about 5/6 times a week. Second rookie mistake, stop training upper body all the time! Of course, beginners want to see gain and want immediate impact. Having chest is easy, having a balanced and body that function is far more important.
- August 2011, after training legs one day, I went for back training the next. I was in a hurry, didn't want to stretch and the moment that changed my life until now happened....deadlift, bad posture, bad form, disc bulge L5/S1, sciatica on the left leg. The worst pain I have ever got to feel.

Before I jump into the sciatica and the pain, here are a few lessons
- Eat well: do your research. Understand what you eat and how it impacts your body and brain. That also applies to drinking water.
- Supplements: yes but keep them to a minimum. I repeat, your macros and micros should come from real quality food.
- Exercise properly: Get a trained PT that will teach the right form, gives you the right tips and the right foundations for the rest of your life. I've done so much chest, yes, I was pumped but totally unbalanced with my back leading to bad posture, etc..
- Don't take shortcuts when exercising: it's easy to give up on the exercises you don't like or the one you are shit at. THESE are the ones you should be focusing on.
- For whoever reads this and want to add more tips, feel free to do so

Anyway, back to the sciatica and the bulge. In the next 2 weeks, I got the worst pain, couldn't walk, couldn't sneeze, anything would be a mission and a potential aggravation of my condition. Needless to say no more training AT ALL.

Went to physios, GP, Chiros, RMTs to relieve some of the pain and it's find for temp relief. I got discouraged from surgery because it's 'invasive'.

- Early 2012: Started to feel better but never been 100%. Always feeling the risk of the bulge and sciatica happening again. Have tried to go back to training but every single time, I relapsed into aggravation of the bulge.

- 2012-13-14: relatively pain free but also have to mention almost exercise free. Super frustrating to be 'disabled'

- After another relapse, finally got sick of it, managed to get MRI, see a Neuro-surgeon and yep, I'm eligible for surgery....FINALLY. It's something I should have done right away back in 2012. Should have never listened to everyone telling me to avoid surgery. As of today, I'm scheduled for Microdiscectomy in the next couple of months and can't wait.

One thing to know about the process.
1. You need to see a GP and be convincing enough to give you a MRI referral.
2. Schedule your MRI. More likely will have to wait about 6-12 months. Tips: some hospital have Cancellation waiting lists (ie: you get on that list and when someone cancel, they call you). That got me an appointment in about 4 weeks.
3. Once you have MRI, go back to the GP and you have to plead your case to see a surgeon. Same thing, it will take time to have an appointment (about 2 to 12 weeks). Because of the severity of my injury, I managed to see a Neuro-surgeon within 3 weeks.
4. When you see the specialist, be ready to answer some weird questions. They will test your mobility and the severity of the injury. Without nerve damage (my case), you fall into the non-emergency bucket and will be scheduled for surgery. For me, the waiting time is 3-6 months.

I'm now waiting and will make sure to share my experience as it happens.

At this stage, super excited to get it done and move back to recovery and training again.

Stay tuned.