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Stretching... well some gym nuts of the heavy-weight kind don't do it at all. It's important in the long term (IMHO) but has not effect in the short term.
However... those that do really long endurance sports, triathlons, running etc get value from stretching I think. I think that in those cases they sheer amount of time they spend at it and the waste products that are released mean that stretching is useful to
- prevent serious tightening
- reduce recovery time
On the shoulder... I'm glad it's working for you. Ur.. I don't do much stretching of the shoulder.. If you've got a problem area, take care with your streching yes? Shoulders are delicate joints.
If you do get worried about benchpress, some safer pec moves might be
- cable crossovers (I think that's the term). this is where you use the
machine which has two cables and stacks opposite each other. It works
the chest and seems safer (to my uneducated view) if your shoulder
gives way.
- DB flyes... I do these while lying on the floor. Sure I get funny looks, but I can
go to exhaustion without worrying
- "pec dec", although it depends on how the one your gym has matches withwith
your body shape (sometimes it feels ok, sometimes not)
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