Dumbbell One-Arm Lateral Raise

Muscles involved:

Shoulder joint:

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

Chest:

• Pectoralis major (especially the upper portion)

Arms

• Triceps
• Biceps
• Forearm muscles

Abdomen:

• Rectus abdominis (straight abdominal muscle)
• Obliquus externus abdominis (external oblique muscle)
• Obliquus internus abdominis (internal oblique muscle)
• Transversus abdominis (transverse abdominal muscle, 'corset muscle')

Lower back and spine:

• Erector spinae
• Lumbar multifidus
• Quadratus lumborum

"For the side of the shoulder"

The deltoid muscle 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 during lateral raises the anterior head also does most of the work (while the posterior head works almost as hard as the lateral head). The difference between the activation of the different heads is nevertheless much 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 a slightly heavier weight and bent arms. Normally, you want to make the exercise more challenging through proper execution, which would mean straightening the arms as much as possible.

However, the more you straighten your arms, the greater the stress on the elbow joint and the muscles that stabilize it. Bending the arms a little 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 activation of the lateral 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 (considerably) lower than your elbow, your shoulder is internally rotated and the posterior head works harder.

Raise, don't swing

Because you move the weight primarily 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 rises. The endpoint of the exercise is therefore the most difficult. Unfortunately, this point is often neglected.

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

This is not a way to make the shoulder muscles work. 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 almost entirely neglected.

Instead, raise the weight in a controlled manner. You should be able to hold the weight still for a few seconds 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 seconds. Then lower it in a controlled manner over about 3 seconds. Keep the rest of your body as still as possible to prevent 'cheating'.

In this one-arm variation, also prevent yourself from tilting your torso to the left to make it easier to raise the weight in your right hand (and vice versa).

• Dumbbell lateral raise
• Seated dumbbell lateral raise
• Face pulls
• Incline dumbbell lateral raise