Everyone who benches knows and fears the torn rotator cuff. So it makes sense to be preemptive in avoiding it. Assuming I'm healthy and uninjured, what single exercise can I do to help avoid the tear? (Preferably a compound exercise, but since the goal is to strengthen a stabilizer, I understand if this isn't possible.)
The suggested duplicate is a question about rehab (i.e. answers targeted at people who are already injured), whereas mine is about prevention in healthy individuals.
I'm a big Rippetoe fan and his use of the standing overhead barbell press. It's my go-to upper body pushing lift, I try to do it 2x as much as I bench. Being able to press your own bodyweight is a real strength achievement in its own right, and steady pressing has had my own shoulders in good shape.
There's a good answer with discussion over here.
I don't have any hard data on it, but I've been doing gymnastics for a while on rings, and the stabilization required for that is tremendous. If you have a set of rings laying around consider trying to maintain the support position for a while, and maybe move into ring dips (if you aren't there already). Off topic, but another great thing about rings is that you can do a ton of really tough exercises with them and they travel well.
Looking around a gym it's pretty easy to see where a lot of the shoulder injuries come from: non-stop bench pressing with little back (or rear deltoid) development, isolation work (again, almost always neglecting the back), and impingement inducing zany exercises.
Swimming would probably be the safest exercise.
A properly constructed workout plan will eliminate injuries
Some sports are prone to Rotator Cuff injury
Accidental Injuries
BTW, the Bench Press does not work any of the Rotator Cuff muscles. Except the a very minor workout of Subscapularis which no resistance exercise targets.
Below is a list of the Rotor Cuff Muscles with some common and safe resistance exercises that work those muscles.
Infraspinatus
Shoulders Bent-Over Lateral Raises
Shoulders Low Pulley Bent-Over Lateral
Shoulders Pec Deck Rear Delt Laterals
Back Bent Rows
Back T-Bar Rows
Teres Major
Shoulders Low Pulley Bent-Over Lateral
Chest Dumbbell Pullovers
Chest Barbell Pullovers
Back Reverse Chin-Ups
Back Lat Pulldowns
Back Back Lat Pulldowns
Back Close-Grip Lat Pulldowns
Back Straight-Arm Lat Pulldowns
Back Seated Rows
Back One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
Back Bent Rows
Back Deadlifts
Supraspinatus
Back Press
Subscapularis
No resistance exercises?
When you perform a bench press, the movement pulls the shoulder mostly inwards i.e. toward the chest, and potentially upwards and downwards depending on whether you are doing incline / decline. If your shoulders are weak, then they can easily become overloaded as your bench press improves. Ideally you should strengthen the rotator cuff from all angles, but if I was to pick only one as you've specified, I would strengthen it in the direction of external rotation, as this is the opposing direction to which the weight is pulling your shoulder. Strengthening the muscle in this direction will mean your shoulder will better be able to stabilise itself by resisting the pull that is placed upon it.
An easy way to train this is to perform Cable External Rotations, I have experienced rotator cuff stress from benching, and performing external rotations with every workout that involves shoulders resolved the issue for me.
I strongly recommend YTW routine:
How to do it: Grab a set of dumbbells (3-5 lbs) and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Draw your shoulder blades down and back and keep them there during the entire movement. Raise your arms up into a Y position, keeping them straight the whole time. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.
To move on to T raises, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keep a slight bend in your knees as you shift forward at your hips. Keep your back parallel with the ground and your abs engaged. Raise your arms out to shoulder height in a T position, palms facing forward. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.
Finally, for W raises, start in the same bent-over position as you were in for T raises. Bend your elbows more than 90 degrees and raise your arms up to shoulder height, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you lift. At the top of the movement, your arms should form a W. Pause, then slowly lower back to the starting position. Repeat 10-15 times.
