Research and empirical evidence suggests that addressing issues of movement pattern balance, i.e., balancing pushes with pulls, is a great way to prevent muscle imbalances that lead to joint injury.
In the upper extremity, more specifically the shoulder, it may be a little too simplistic to say that a horizontal pull like a barbell row will balance a bench press because they look like opposing movements.
Muscle balance in the shoulder is strongly associated with movement of the scapulae and the muscles that control the scapulae in the three cardinal planes. Therefore, it’s important to identify how the scapulae are moving (or not moving) during the performance of a primary exercise before you determine a movement to balance scapular function.
Bill