I have been lurking for a time here now, but have yet to see anyone even mention my biggest concern.

I am currently pre-op, about two months out still, so gathering as much info as I can now.

My biggest enjoyment for exercise was martial arts, generally high impact, high contact traditional arts. Grew up mostly in Tae Kwon Do to give an example, so high cardio, lots of jumping and kicking.

No one mentions anything about this sort of training after a sleeve. Is it possible? Has anyone had any success with it?

ME! I am a training instructor for mixed martial arts and had my sleeve done 5/16.

Per doctor's orders:

First three weeks, no participation.

Next three weeks, light participation, no jumping kicks, no spinning kicks, no sparring.

After 6 weeks, kicking was fine, no contact sparring was fine.

I started back at full force at my three month mark. I am feeling 100% fine and my kicks have improved greatly 72 pounds down!!

You will be fine!

Glad there is at least one other martial artist here! =D What do you study, more MMA fightsport, or more traditional?

Oh no! I am not tough enough for MMA fight. HA!

We do mixed martial arts with an emphasis on TKD, a bit of Karate, Jujitsu and Hapkido. I also teach Women's self defense including pins, throws and take-downs, so I was really worried that, like you, I would lose a lot of mat time.

I went a little slower because during my surgery, the doctors found and removed a large piece of my liver because they found a growth (benign). I was a little freaked out so I didn't push myself and that's ok. I really didn't want a random kick to the stomach that would make me miss more time so slow and steady was my motto. Plus, with so little calories going in, I really didn't have a lot of extra to expend. I did my poomse, solitary sparring, a lot of walking on the mat during class and gentle stretches to keep myself loose.

ME! I am a training instructor for mixed martial arts and had my sleeve done 5/16.

Per doctor's orders:

First three weeks, no participation.

Next three weeks, light participation, no jumping kicks, no spinning kicks, no sparring.

After 6 weeks, kicking was fine, no contact sparring was fine.

I started back at full force at my three month mark. I am feeling 100% fine and my kicks have improved greatly 72 pounds down!!

You will be fine!

So this topic is kind of old, but I just found it. Did you start back with the BJJ component of MMA at 3 weeks or did you wait a bit? Any issues with knee on belly? (that part concerns me the most because that hurt before the surgery!) My doctor cleared me to go back to practice in 5 weeks, but not a lot of people on here are into MMA and BJJ and it would be interesting to know how comfortable you were back in the gym following surgery. Thanks!

I just found this via the search engine - I was looking to talk to some people that have had experience with martial arts after the sleeve. My daughter and I just joined a local karate dojo. Our sensei told us that we won't necessarily lose weight from doing it, but that we would firm up. I am just over a year out and not at goal yet, and I still have a body fat apron that I am trying to get rid of. Has anyone had experience with this and lost the apron through this?

I'm started tkd about 4 months before surgery as my fitness plan going forward. I'm got back in class 3 weeks after surgery, modifying where I needed to and skipping sparring and self defense til about 2 months out. I'm four months out now and even participated in a 7 1/2 hour boot camp. I'm do think the tkd is helping with the weight loss and my lower half is becoming more toned than its ever been from all the kicks and king's!

Lunges not kings! Not sure how autocorrect came up with that!

Lunges not kings! Not sure how autocorrect came up with that!

HA! Gotta love autocorrect ...

I am an AKKI fighter. Real hardcore hits. I was sleeved July 1. I am back in the dojo with full surgeon consent.