Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Lateral raises (also known as side raises) are mainly performed to place more emphasis on the middle head of the deltoid (shoulder muscle).

Besides the main shoulder muscle itself, various muscles around the shoulder joint are engaged to stabilize it. These include smaller stabilizing muscles such as the four rotator cuff muscles, as well as the larger trapezius, which pulls the shoulder joint upward.

In the arms, the biceps and triceps play a stabilizing role in keeping the position of the forearm relative to the upper arm consistent. The muscles in the forearms then stabilize the wrist joint to control the dumbbells or barbell.

In this variation, the lateral raises are performed with dumbbells.

Dumbbell lateral raise execution

Stand with the dumbbells in your hands. Keep your arms beside your body and your thumbs pointing forward (palms facing inward, ‘neutral grip’)*.

Keep your arms slightly bent beside your body.

Raise your arms outward and upward. Maintain the same slight bend in your arms. Keep the rest of your body as still as possible.

Finish at the height just before you feel your shoulders become pinched. Keep your elbows slightly below shoulder height.

Hold the weight here for 1–2 counts.

Lower your arms in a controlled manner over 2–3 counts until you feel there is no more resistance (so do not bring them completely back against your body).

Repeat.

Dumbbell lateral raise

Muscles involved:

Shoulder joint:

Deltoid (all heads)
Rotator cuff (subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor)
Trapezius
Levator scapulae

Chest:

Pectoralis major (especially upper portion)

Arms

Triceps
Biceps
Forearm muscles

Abdomen:

Rectus abdominis (straight abdominal muscle)
External oblique (external oblique abdominal muscle)
Internal oblique (internal oblique abdominal muscle)
Transversus abdominis (transverse abdominal muscle, ‘corset muscle’)

Lower back and spine:

Erector spinae
Lumbar multifidus
Quadratus lumborum

Dumbbell lateral raise technique

“For the side of the shoulder”

The deltoid pulls on the upper arms from three directions. Lateral raises are usually performed by people who want to train ‘the middle’ of the shoulder with them. However, (scarce) EMG measurements show that the anterior head also does most of the work during lateral raises (while the posterior head works almost as hard as the middle head). The difference between the involvement of the different heads is considerably smaller than, for example, during the shoulder press.

Arms bent or straight

The straighter your arms are, the farther your hands are from you, and the heavier the weight they hold becomes. Lateral raises with straight arms can therefore be heavier than lateral raises with slightly bent arms using a somewhat heavier weight. Normally, you want to make the exercise heavier through proper execution, which would mean straightening your arms as much as possible.

However, the more you straighten your arms, the greater the stress on the elbow joint and the muscles that must stabilize it. Bending your arms slightly more can make it easier to focus fully on the upper arms.

Keep your wrist at elbow height

Rotating the shoulder inward or outward reduces the involvement of the middle head of the deltoid. If your wrist is higher than your elbow (at the highest point of the exercise), your shoulder is externally rotated and the anterior head works harder. If your wrist is (much) lower than your elbow, your shoulder is internally rotated and the posterior head works harder.

Raise, don’t swing

Because you move the weight mainly outward during the first part of the exercise, the muscles do not yet have to work as hard. Gravity starts pulling harder as the weight moves upward. The endpoint of the exercise is therefore the hardest. Unfortunately, this point is often neglected.

A common mistake with lateral (and front) raises is performing the exercise ballistically. The arms are thrown outward with a swinging motion, and momentum then helps bring the arms farther upward. At the top, the weight is barely held before simply being allowed to fall back down. Sometimes you even see the legs being used to generate momentum.

This is not a way to work the shoulder muscles. It is a way to lift a weight with as little effort as possible. The shoulders then only have to work at the top of the movement, while the way down (the eccentric phase) is largely neglected.

Instead, raise the weight in a controlled manner. You should be able to hold the weight still for a few counts at every point in the movement; if not, you are training with too much weight. At the top of the movement, actually hold the weight for 1 to 2 counts. Then lower it in a controlled manner over about 3 counts. Keep the rest of your body as still as possible to prevent ‘cheating’.

At a glance