My cousin who is a physical therapist (Masters degree in physical therapy from Wash U), said to never go beyond 90 degrees when benching. @ Homix, not sure how you're determining that...but if I take the bar to my chest, my elbows are definitely beyond 90 degrees. Depends on the size of a person's chest and arms. I'm sure there are some shorter guys with big chests and short arms who wouldn't break a 90 with the bar on their chest.

So when you guys do dips you don't go past 90 degree either..hmmm

do you guys even lift? you all talk about doing half reps but i bet most of you never topped 300 let alone 400lbs. I got to over 440 before i had a shoulder problem due to lack of strengthening, it had nothing to do with a full rep. Once you learn to strengthen your smaller supporting muscles then you should have no problem going to your chest with heavy weights...

^ Wow. You're a badass.

Only reason below parallel will hurt your rotator cuff is if angle between your torso & upper arm is also 90 degrees (or thereabouts). To coutner that keep your elbows closer to your body --- say about 45 degrees. benching never caused any injuries, incorrect benching did.