Boxing and grappling with a sub-par rotator cuff

[Hands]

I avoid military press because it seems to require movement that specifically aggravates my injury, and the doctor told me to stay away from anything that actually causes the click to occur.

Do you military press with a single barbell or dumbells? I can do a millitary press but it has to be with seperate dumbells but I stay the hell away from a single barbell.

I had a bum shoulder for a number of years. The problem was from my capsule being too loose, its the connective tissue that keeps the ball of your arm in the shoulder socket. I got a capsular shrinkage done and that helped. Since then I focus on using dumbells for bench and all the other exercises. They work your stabilizer muscles, which will prevent the problems you're having and will correct it to some extent.. Yeah, you can't lift as much weight with dumbells but working the stabilizers has kept my problems from training down to a minimum. Some body-building books claim that building the stabilizers leads to greater muscle growth.

Of course I'm not a doctor, its just my experience with rehabbing a crappy shoulder. I figure if you're lifting the heavier weights, dumbells are less likely to hurt you (unless you do something silly). You may want to see some type of specialist if your healthcare provides that option.

[LI GUY 1]

Maybe try changing experimenting with yor grip on military presses and only going down to chin level? A wide grip can put more stress on the rotator cuffs. Also, the bottom part of the military I beleive places the most stress there too, so maybe in your case I would see nothing wrong with partials because it is a good strength builder. Just work with what you can.

Also, in a military, do you press the bar up and forward a bit (a lot of people do and this puts more stress on you)? I find it much better to get my head under the bar and push straight up, no angle, of course only once the bar has cleared my head. When I start the lift at collarbone level, I move my face back and around the bar rather than move the bar around my head and then put my head back to nuetral once I clear my head.

Good luck. Nothing else I guess.

[Donkey_Fizzle]

Both of my shoulders are sub luxed. Meaning, I have done enough damage to the tendons and ligements that they no longer do the bulk of the work in keeping my arms in thier respective sockets. And still my sports doc doesn't consider invasive surgery an option due to the risk of loseing mobility. Light repetative exercise is they key. My physical therapist gave me these resistance bands that I can use just about damned near anywhere and seems to have made the most improvement. Shoulders are a pesky problem area to have because you use them constantly. Avoid any movement that causes actual pain but don't avoid movements that cause the "click" if there isn't pain associated with the noise. Hell I pop a creak worse than an old house and if I avoided every movement that caused noise I had to give up everything including masterbation and breathing.