Agreed, the bench press has turned taboo for many throwing athletes in CONUS and I find it amusing.
The problem has nothing to do with the bench press and everything do to with inadequate training, therapy, stretching, etcetera to ensure that:
- the shoulder internal rotators and pectoral minor do not become tight and short
- shoulder external rotators and lateral abductors do not become lengthened and weak
- seratus anterior is properly strengthened
- overhead mobility and dynamic stability is addressed
- scapular depression and downward rotation is regularly trained
- overall mobility and dynamic stabilization of shoulder girdle is addressed
- hip mobility is sufficient
- training program as a whole is sound
I have integrated various drills that Thorkildsen performs as general preparatory training into the training of my quarterbacks. I met a throws coach in 2007 who had acquired these videos of Thorkildsen and I noticed that they have more recently been posted on Youtube:
Many fantastic drills for all throwing athletes.