I am a newb having never trained before. I am VERY interested in giving it a try. However I have just undergone shoulder surgery for some cartilage tears in my rotator cuff. This includes two bone anchors. Would this type of surgery/injury be something to prevent me from ever training in martial arts?

Short answer yes with an if. Long answer no with a but.

Work on stabilizing those muscles first. Do ALL the exercises your doctors tell you to do.

You should be undergoing some sort of physical therapy no? Ask those people.

Having a shoulder injury is bad. I can only suggest you to consult a physical trainer and go through all the rehabilation process suggested by him. You also need to do physical traning regularly to make your muscles stronger.
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I am a newb having never trained before. I am VERY interested in giving it a try. However I have just undergone shoulder surgery for some cartilage tears in my rotator cuff. This includes two bone anchors. Would this type of surgery/injury be something to prevent me from ever training in martial arts?

It won't prevent you from doing martial arts EVER, but it will prevent you from training right now. So, your priority right now should on getting that shoulder to heal while trying to get in your best physical shape.

Instead of trying to look at a crystal ball regarding your martial future, concentrate on healing your shoulder first while avoiding training your neck and arms without PT supervision. In the meantime, do your roadwork, work your abs, your core to the extend you do not use your injured shoulder, and work your lower body. Having a bad shoulder will prevent you from doing the big lifts, so instead, opt with leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls (or hamstring curls if you can) while working your lower back (and your abdominals.) Work on your lower body, hip, lower back and thoraccic flexibility and mobility.

Then, if and when your shoulder heals, not only you'll be fully healed, but you'll be in better shape. At that point, if you still wish to do MA, you'll be in a far better physical condition.

Yeah, surgery was just a few days ago so I know I can't do anything yet. Heck, walking even hurts my shoulder at this point. PT starts next week and will last about 6 months if everything goes well and I do what I am supposed to do. I was just asking in general. I know that certain sports have that injury that is almost always a career ender. I guess I was just trying to find out if a shoulder injury was one of those injuries for MA. Thanks for all the advise and I look forward to learning a lot from you guys.

It won't prevent you from doing martial arts EVER, but it will prevent you from training right now. So, your priority right now should on getting that shoulder to heal while trying to get in your best physical shape.

Instead of trying to look at a crystal ball regarding your martial future, concentrate on healing your shoulder first while avoiding training your neck and arms without PT supervision. In the meantime, do your roadwork, work your abs, your core to the extend you do not use your injured shoulder, and work your lower body. Having a bad shoulder will prevent you from doing the big lifts, so instead, opt with leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls (or hamstring curls if you can) while working your lower back (and your abdominals.) Work on your lower body, hip, lower back and thoraccic flexibility and mobility.

Then, if and when your shoulder heals, not only you'll be fully healed, but you'll be in better shape. At that point, if you still wish to do MA, you'll be in a far better physical condition.

I must disagree. Shoulder injuries should only stop bench press. There are plenty of ways to deadlift and squat around a shoulder injury. Zerchers, safety bar, Zombies etc etc.

That said PT for the shoulder must be a priority.

I must disagree. Shoulder injuries should only stop bench press. There are plenty of ways to deadlift and squat around a shoulder injury. Zerchers, safety bar, Zombies etc etc.

Zerchers are not shoulder-safe - the full load of the weight is on the arms, and consequently hanging from the shoulders. Safety squats might be all right, depending on where the bars are sitting and how much control you have.

And if "zombies" are what I think they are, you're saying that putting all the weight directly on top of the injured area is a good idea?

As you put it, "I must disagree."

I must disagree. Shoulder injuries should only stop bench press. There are plenty of ways to deadlift and squat around a shoulder injury. Zerchers, safety bar, Zombies etc etc.

That said PT for the shoulder must be a priority.

Dude, the OP just had his shoulder operated, not just injured, but operated. As in cut, digged in, and sewed back together. We are not referring to the typical "ouch" shoulder bump, impigment or grinding you get from overuse, an arm triangle or **** like that. This was a shoulder surgery.

Now, let's take a look at a few of exercises you mentioned.

1. Zombies: as Russ said, you put the bar on the cravices of your shoulders, keeping it place by extending your arms up. Anterior deltoids come intto place, not to mention that the entire weight comes down on your trunk through the shoulders.

2a. Squats - back squats. If the shoulder injury prevents you from externally rotating the arm beyond you, you can't put yourself under the bar and onto your back. Period. Shoulder injuries are one of the number one reason why squatters get to extend their arms almost all the way to the plates to avoid the excrutiating pain.

2b. Squats - front squats, bodybuilder style. Just no. You have to elevate the shoulders in a semi-shrug as you contract your arms down to hold the bar. A lot of times it's been my shoulders rather than my back or hips that forces me to abandon a lift. They tire up just by the mere pressure imposed on them.

2c. Squats - front squats, oly style. I suck at them. My elbows and shoulders are horrendously inflexible, making this painful. Draw your own conclusions with some who just had his shoulder carved out and sewed back together.

3. Deadlifts, out of the question unless its only with very light weights (which is great with the shoulder but nix the whole purpose of the deadlift, and there are better exercises than this for this particular situation.) You grab and lift/pull something heavy enough, and you force the shoulder to depress. This the shoulder will naturally try to balance that out by elevating and retracting. Not good if it's just been carved out.

Ok, I gotta go. That's all I can suggest for now.

In case anyone's curious about what a safety squat bar (http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/im-0210.html) is...

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/im-0210a.gif

I wish I had one. It might take the load off the shoulder. Emphasis on might.

Coming from a power lifting background I can assure you I will not be doing any kind of upper body work or any free weight lower body stuff for at least several months. I will likely do some machine leg work like leg presses, extensions, and curls, but that will be it. And hyper extensions and lots of ab work. It will still be a couple weeks before I can do any of that. At this point even walking can be painful as it causes my arm to bounce even slightly. It is getting a little better though and physical therapy starts in a week.

Oh, hey, how about hip belt squats (http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=460624)? No shoulder involvement at all.

I am a newb having never trained before. I am VERY interested in giving it a try. However I have just undergone shoulder surgery for some cartilage tears in my rotator cuff. This includes two bone anchors. Would this type of surgery/injury be something to prevent me from ever training in martial arts?

Talk to your doctor and physical therapist. I had shoulder surgery and once the Therapist and the Doctor said "No limitations" and I was good to go. I started training again.

Yeah, I have my first followup and my first PT session next week so I will talk to them about that then just to find out their thoughts. I know it will be several months before I will be able to do much in the way of strength training the shoulder but I am hoping that by then I can at least get started learning the basics.

Zerchers are not shoulder-safe - the full load of the weight is on the arms, and consequently hanging from the shoulders. Safety squats might be all right, depending on where the bars are sitting and how much control you have.

And if "zombies" are what I think they are, you're saying that putting all the weight directly on top of the injured area is a good idea?

As you put it, "I must disagree."

Zombies rest on the front delts, but they put the shoulder in a natural posistion. I'm not saying they will neccesairly work for the OP they are just one of many ways to work around some shoulder injuries. Zerchers can be used in some shoulder injuries becuase they put less tension on the shoulder than traditional back squats.

These are two ways I currently lift with shoulder injuries becuase traditional back squat is extremely uncomfortable on my left shoulder.

These are both ideas I acrued from Keith Wassung, a pretty awesome powerlifter. He occasionally posts on SnP on sherdog.

I'm not saying which will work for the OP I'm just saying even with a shoulder injury there are many ways of training squats and deadlifts with free weights around such shoulder injuries.

The best bet would probably to sequester a strong platform for your feet involving two raised boxes. Then use a dipping belt and squat using that. This would place no stress at all on the shoulders.

Oh, hey, how about hip belt squats (http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=460624)? No shoulder involvement at all.

Goddamit.