How to do lateral raises the right way

Lateral raises are a fundamental part of any shoulder workout routine. When you want to hit your deltoid muscles, this versatile move really helps enhance shoulder width and strength for those bulging boulder shoulders. Incorporating lateral raises into your workout regimen can contribute to a balanced upper body and better overall shoulder stability.

Today, many of us spend a lot of time with our arms forward in front of us and our shoulders and spines hunched over our phones or computers. I love the feeling after strengthening and stretching my shoulders, and moves like lateral raises and simple shoulder stretches help relieve shoulder discomfort I have from sitting or working for many hours.

In this guide, we’ll delve into how to do lateral raises, including the equipment you’ll need, the muscles involved, the possible variations, and more.

What are lateral raises?

The lateral raise is an isolation exercise that specifically targets your lateral deltoids in your shoulders as well as other supporting muscles. This strength training move involves lifting the weights out to the side, away from your body, until the weights are about shoulder height.

What equipment do you need for lateral raises?

Lateral raises require very little equipment, making them easy to do at the gym and at home. All you need are dumbbells or resistance bands to provide the necessary resistance for the movement. Dumbbells allow you to choose your weight and increase it as you get stronger, but resistance bands provide constant tension throughout the exercise, challenging the muscles in a different way.

You can also use effective cable machines or gym machines designed specifically for lateral raises. Basic dumbbells or resistance bands will do just as well if you’re at home. Personal trainer John Chase uses resistance band lateral raises to pump his shoulders.

What muscles do lateral raises target?

Lateral raises primarily target the lateral deltoid, which is the middle head of the deltoid muscles in your shoulders. They also engage the supraspinatus, a smaller shoulder muscle located above the shoulder joint. Other muscles also help stabilize your shoulder joints throughout the movement, including your anterior shoulder deltoids, trapezius muscles in your upper back, and the serratus anterior muscles above your ribs and under your armpit, 

What are the benefits?

Adding lateral raises to your workout regimen provides plenty of benefits:

• Targets your shoulder muscles and works your way toward those desirable strong boulder shoulders.
• Research shows that doing lateral raises can yield muscle hypertrophy or growth of the lateral deltoid, so it’s worth doing if you want to beef up your shoulders.
• Helps correct muscular imbalances between your right and left sides.
• Improves your upper body strength.
• Improves shoulder flexibility and stability.
• Enhances your overall functional fitness.

How to do lateral raises

Make sure to use proper form for lateral raises to reduce your risk of injury.

Here’s how to perform a lateral raise:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides, palms facing inward.
2. Engage your core muscles to maintain stability throughout the exercise.
3. With a slight bend in your elbows, exhale and raise the dumbbells out to the sides in an arcing motion until your arms are parallel to the floor.
4. Keep your wrists straight, and avoid using momentum to lift the weights. Focus on using your deltoid muscles.
5. Hold the top position for a moment before inhaling as you slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
6. Repeat for your desired number of repetitions, maintaining controlled movements throughout.

Modifications to increase or decrease the difficulty

You can make lateral raises a little more challenging or a little easier with the following modifications.

Make it easier

Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle throughout the movement to bring the weight closer to your body, which makes this exercise more manageable for beginners. Research reveals that the bent-arm lateral raise engages your triceps, front deltoid, upper traps, and lateral deltoids. You can also choose a lighter weight until you improve your strength and technique.

Heighten the challenge

You can increase the difficulty by using kettlebells instead of dumbbells. The difference lies in how their weight is distributed; dumbbells have a more equal weight distribution than kettlebells, which helps provide more balance when you’re lifting.

Lateral raise variations

These are the best lateral raise variations to switch up your workout routine and maximize results.

• Dumbbell lateral raises – Using dumbbells allows for a full range of motion and provides unilateral training to address any strength imbalances between your body’s left and right sides. You can also perform seated dumbbell lateral raises on a bench.
• Thumbs-up grip – Instead of a standard grip with your palms facing down, you can try a thumbs-up grip with your palms facing forward. This variation engages different muscles in your shoulder complex. 
• Cable lateral raises – With this variation, you use a cable machine with adjustable pulleys and a handle attachment. Stand with your side towards the cable machine, grasp the handle, and perform lateral raises while maintaining tension on the cable throughout the movement. This variation provides continuous resistance, challenging the muscles through both the lifting and lowering phases.
• Resistance band lateral raises – You can also do the exercise almost the same way using resistance bands attached to something below your arms.
• Machine lateral raises – Many gyms have a lateral raise machine, which typically has padded arms that move in a fixed range of motion. Sit or stand in the machine and adjust the seat and handles to align with your shoulder joints. Grasp the handles and lift the padded arms out to the sides until your arms are parallel to the floor, then lower them back down under control. Machine lateral raises are an excellent choice for beginners and those requiring more stability than free weights.

Common mistakes to avoid

The following are the most common mistakes to avoid when performing lateral raises:

• Letting your arms go above a 90-degree angle.
• Using a weight that’s too heavy.
• Using momentum to lift the weights.
• Using more of your trapezius muscles in your upper back rather than primarily engaging your deltoids.
• Dropping your head forward.
• Shrugging your shoulders.

Top tips to master the lateral raise

These top tips will help you master the lateral raise.

• Maintain good posture with a neutral neck and spine alignment throughout the exercise.
• Keep the reps slow and controlled to truly isolate your delts.
• Only bring your arms up to shoulder height.
• Try not to bend at your waist.
• Engage your core.

Are there any risks of lateral raises?

Lateral raises are, generally, fairly safe exercises. In fact, they’re sometimes recommended as a replacement for overhead presses since they work the same muscles but have less risk of a rotary cuff injury. There are still some risks to be aware of.

Using excessively heavy weights or resistance can increase the risk of shoulder impingement or strain. To avoid this, start with lighter weights and focus on gradually increasing the resistance as your strength improves. You should also avoid using momentum to lift the weights, which can place unnecessary stress on the shoulder joints.

FAQs

Can you do lateral raises every day?

You can technically do lateral raises every day, but most fitness trainers and experts don’t recommend it. Your muscles need sufficient time to repair and recover following strength training workouts, and especially isolation exercises. Doing lateral raises two or three times a week is enough to see results over time. Most fitness professionals recommend leaving at least one day in between working the same muscle group.

Are lateral raises enough to build your shoulders?

Lateral raises are an excellent exercise to stimulate growth in your lateral deltoids, but you should also incorporate other exercises into your routine that hit all three shoulder deltoids and the supporting muscles. Try a mix of isolation exercises like rear delt flys and front raises with compound moves like the classic shoulder press.

How often should you do lateral raises for results?

You can perform lateral raises two or three times per week to generate results and boost your shoulder power. 

How to include lateral raises in your workout routine

Lateral raises are an excellent choice for your push day workout. If you train your upper and lower body on different days, lateral raises will go into your upper body workout. 

Make sure you allow enough recovery time between sessions. You should always allow at least one rest day between training the same part of your body and use other moves like shoulder presses and rear delt flys to amplify your results.