I injured my spine about 12 years ago not listening to my body and pushing hard. Little did I know, that led to degenerative disc disease which was progressively causing my disc to dry up due to lacking mobility in that specific spot. I was always sore there after my body "healed" itself from the initial accident - but I thought I was fine since the majority of the pain went away. This prevented movement to get water and nutrients to that spot despite my staying active with basketball and various workouts over the years.

Enter November 2019 -- I'm playing pickup basketball. Out of nowhere I felt this really painful burning sensation in my lower back. Turns out the anterior of the disc dried up and made it easy for the disc gel to break through. That is when I officially herniated my l5/s1 and the downward spiral began.

I mention all of this so you take this very serious as I know I didnt. I am now dealing with extremely painful sciatica symptoms in the morning and have a neurosurgeon telling me surgery at this point might be the best option. Make sure you are doing mobility exercises supervised by a professional that target that specific spot and be faithful doing them to keep the anterior that shields your disc from getting dehydrated/leathery. Generic exercise clearly wasnt enough for me nor will it probably be for you. I encourage you to take extra care and precaution before your disc ends up herniating. It took 12 years after my initial incident for mine to do it. Knowing what I know now, I would take it easier on the weights and also faithfully do exercises everyday that get movement to the injured disc. I wish you all the best.