As long as I can remember I have had a bad left shoulder from being a goalie in hockey, now in recent year with weight training, I have always struggled when it came to shoulder exercises and bench pressing. After a few years I have strengthened my shoulder a lot and don't notice much pain, although my lifts still suffer from the lack of strength in the shoulder.

This one in particular I have been struggling with for some time. When I do chest incline with dumbells, my max as of today is 110lb bells, so 220lbs total for 6 reps. If I switch to flat bench with dumbells I max out at 80lbs a side, but usually only 75lbs. Bench press with a barbell max is 180lbs (which is embarrassing) and my shoulder hurts like a bitch. A lot of guys I know say its weird I can push so much more in incline.... Thing is, I don't feel the shoulder pain with incline as much, only when I am bringing the weights up from my knees.

Has anyone suffered from this problem before? Does anyone have some tips to help me increase my shoulder strength and my flat bench weight limits?

Looking for any and all insight

P.S

I've tried to get cortisone shots and my doc is a bitch and doesn't think I need it.