Skip to content
isolationisolationbeginnerdumbbell

Lateral Raise

The go-to isolation move for the side delts — the muscle that adds width to your shoulders.

Muscle activation

  • Side delts70%
  • Front delts15%
  • Traps15%

Approximate share of work; varies with grip, stance and tempo.

Add to a workoutCheck my form Pro

Step by step

  1. 1. Start position

    Stand tall holding light dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in.

  2. 2. Mid-rep

    Lift until your arms are about parallel to the floor.

  3. 3. End of the movement

    Keep the shoulders down away from your ears as you lift.

  4. 4. Common mistake

    Swinging the body to heave the weights up

Ways to do it

Lateral raise on 4 different setups — pick whatever is free in your gym. Progress is tracked separately for each.

How to do it

Setup

  1. 1Stand tall holding light dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in.
  2. 2Soften your knees and lean very slightly forward from the hips.
  3. 3Bend the elbows a little and keep that angle fixed throughout.

Execution

  1. 1Raise the dumbbells out to your sides, leading with the elbows.
  2. 2Lift until your arms are about parallel to the floor.
  3. 3Keep the shoulders down away from your ears as you lift.
  4. 4Lower slowly to just in front of your thighs without letting the weights swing.

Breathing

Breathe out as you raise, breathe in as you lower.

Tempo

2-1-1-0 (eccentric-pause-concentric-pause)

Muscles worked

Primary

Side delts

Secondary

Front delts, Traps

Key form cues

  • Lead with the elbows
  • Reach out, not up
  • Shoulders away from ears
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the body to heave the weights up

    Drop the weight and keep the torso still; strict light reps beat sloppy heavy ones.

  • Shrugging the traps as the arms rise

    Think about pushing the weights away from you toward the walls, shoulders staying low.

  • Raising the hands well above shoulder height

    Stop at roughly shoulder height where the side delt does most of the work.

Range of motion

From hands just in front of the thighs to arms roughly parallel with the floor.

Variations

  • Easier

    Seated lateral raise or partial-range raise

  • Harder

    Lean-away single-arm lateral raise

  • At home

    Resistance band lateral raise

  • Machine / cable

    Cable lateral raise or lateral raise machine

Related exercises