Side Lateral RaiseMuscles Worked
The side lateral raise isolates your shoulders, specifically the side delts that give your shoulders their width. Standing tall and keeping each rep strict makes it a pure shoulder exercise, with no help from your legs or back.
PrimaryShoulders
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Beginner
- Type
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
How to do it
- Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing in.
- Soften your elbows slightly and tip your torso a touch forward.
- Raise your arms out to the sides, leading with your elbows, until they reach about shoulder height.
- Pause briefly with your hands roughly level with your elbows.
- Lower the dumbbells slowly back to your sides.
Form tips
- Pick a light weight, because swinging your torso or shrugging means it's too heavy.
- Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears so your traps don't take over.
- Think about pushing the dumbbells out to the walls rather than up to the ceiling.
Why it made the list
No. 3 of 13
Best Shoulder Exercises
The go-to isolation for the lateral/medial delt. Responsible for the "wide shoulders" look. Simple, universally known, effective.
More shoulder exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Side Lateral Raise sets in KasMaker and watch your shoulders fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
