Best weight room exercises for swimming

I have a couple of related questions, so I figured I'd just post here... I just started concurrently doing the rotator cuff/shoulder exercises (the ones that are often linked here) and weight training. I've got a cranky left shoulder that started acting up every time I inched toward 3 miles in open water or increased yardage in the pool. I'm pretty sure the problem is technique; my right elbow is high in the catch phase, but I noticed that my left arm goes straight down for a bit before I finally bend at the elbow, so I've been working on that. Just this morning, I felt a little pain, immediately adjusted, and the pain abated considerably. Now comes the hard part -- being consistent. Should I just do the rotator cuff exercises for a while before starting the weight training? I wonder if I might be jumping into it too quickly. I've made sure to lift very light weights, and I haven't really felt much soreness afterward. And I'm completely avoiding bench press, pushups and dips. I'm trying to be extra careful, because the shoulder set me back this open-water season, and I really don't want the same thing to happen again next year. Also, I have a very nice medicine ball that I bought last year and has been collecting dust in my closet ever since. Does anyone have any good specific medicine ball exercise recommendations? It's been about a decade since I used one with my swim team, and I don't remember much aside from tossing it to one another.

I have a couple of related questions, so I figured I'd just post here... I just started concurrently doing the rotator cuff/shoulder exercises (the ones that are often linked here) and weight training. I've got a cranky left shoulder that started acting up every time I inched toward 3 miles in open water or increased yardage in the pool. I'm pretty sure the problem is technique; my right elbow is high in the catch phase, but I noticed that my left arm goes straight down for a bit before I finally bend at the elbow, so I've been working on that. Just this morning, I felt a little pain, immediately adjusted, and the pain abated considerably. Now comes the hard part -- being consistent. Should I just do the rotator cuff exercises for a while before starting the weight training? I wonder if I might be jumping into it too quickly. I've made sure to lift very light weights, and I haven't really felt much soreness afterward. And I'm completely avoiding bench press, pushups and dips. I'm trying to be extra careful, because the shoulder set me back this open-water season, and I really don't want the same thing to happen again next year. Also, I have a very nice medicine ball that I bought last year and has been collecting dust in my closet ever since. Does anyone have any good specific medicine ball exercise recommendations? It's been about a decade since I used one with my swim team, and I don't remember much aside from tossing it to one another.