I tore my rotator cuff 3 years ago. I would estimate that 50% of guys who train for strength have some sort of damage in the shoulders due to wear and tear..
this is what I have learned:
1. the initial injury rarely is noticed.. in my case I would notice weakness in my arm, or it would hurt if i lifted my arm up. this did not keep me from lifting so i continued to pound away and ignored the initial signs
2. mobility work is poor in strength athletes. this is why it is important to improve shoulder mobility BEFORE the injury has a chance to happen
3. a physical therapist will teach you mobility exercises before and after the injury.. until you regain mobility you will not recover
4. surgery will be necessary if you continue to pound away and tear it more but it should be a last resort only unless your name is Drew Brees or Cam Newton
5. this injury takes a long time to heal.. what happens is scar tissue will fill in.. but if you do not let it heal it will just keep getting worse
6. you need to avoid flat bench, incline bench, militaries, behind the back pulldowns, pullups, dips, etc. you can allowed front pull downs with light weight and decline bench with light weight. also TRX pushups are okay. machine work is fine with limitations. you don't have to totally give up on working your chest, but you do need to change things up unfortunately
my initial injury happened almost 3 years ago. I was benching 400+ at the time.. after many trips to the PT, almost daily mobility exercises, thousands of dollars for MRI's and other BS. I am still not 100% and probably never will be. I can still bench 200 no problem but if my shoulder starts hurting i always stop. i cringe when i see 20 somethings trying to eek out a last rep going super heavy with poor form, as much as i want to talk to them and tell them my story it just isn't my place to butt in. but yeah continue lifting like that + ignore mobility i the shoulders and your rotator will give out eventually.. just imagine pulling a frozen rubber band apart, it will snap at some point
1. proper warmup.. not throwing 1 plate on and doing 8 reps then throwing 2 plates on and going heavy.. start out just lifting just the bar, leave your ego at home. it is totally true you need to warm up!
2. mobility!! learn the exercises via youtube or a good PT
3. proper form... don't cheat on reps cause your shoulder will give out eventually
4. you young guys who think you can do what you want without getting injured will figure it out once you get closer to 40. YES there is such thing as over training. you young punks will learn the hard way eventually cause i used to think the same way