Shoulder pain when pressing: what to do
The answer usually isn’t to stop training. Changing the angle, the load or the execution often gets rid of the problem without giving up the exercise.
The shoulder is the joint with the most freedom and the least built-in stability, so it’s the first place where poorly distributed volume makes itself felt. Pain when pressing rarely comes from the press itself and more often from the balance between how much you push and how much you pull.
Check the ratio
If you do twice as many pushing sets as pulling sets each week, your shoulder is carrying a workload it has no support for. Evening out that ratio solves a large share of cases without a single extra exercise.
Change the angle before you drop the exercise
A neutral grip, a slight incline on the bench and a shorter range at the bottom are often pain-free. The exercise comes back in its full form once the symptoms are gone.
If the pain runs down your arm, wakes you up at night or lasts longer than a few weeks, it’s no longer a programming question. That’s a job for a doctor, not a coach.