How to correctly perform the lateral side raise

If I had to pick an exercise that was performed worse than any other exercise I would say the lateral side raise would win hands down. People get this one wrong. And, they get it wrong bad! This post will look at some common mistakes as well as how to correctly do the lateral side raise for better delts.

What muscle does the lateral side raise target?

This exercise is just about the best exercise there is for the lateral (side) deltoid. It targets the muscle in such a way that almost no other muscles come into play during the movement. This means that it is very important for isolating and bringing up the side of your shoulders as you can hit this first before moving onto the more general shoulder exercises.

How to do a lateral side raise

Here are the steps you should follow if you want to perform a lateral side raise correctly for maximum muscle growth.

1. Grab two dumbbells

2. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and lean forward slightly

3. Keeping a slight bend in your elbow place your arms by your side

4. Keeping your little finger higher than the rest tense your shoulders and raise the dumbbells until your arms are parellel with the floor

5. Slowly lower the dumbbells back down the start position

Common mistakes

There are many ways to muck up this exercise and as such slow down your progress.

1. Standing too straight.
You do not want to be standing to upright for this exercise as the shoulders are designed in a way that requires you to bend slightly forward to target the middle deltoid.

2. Too fast.
To hit the shoulder properly you need to make sure the motions are slow and controlled and do not use the motion to get the weight in place. This is especially important for this exercise.

3. Hand placement.
Make sure your hands are in the right place. If your pinky finger is not the highest on the hand then you probably won’t be hitting the middle delt as well as you could be.

Final tips
I started out by doing one arm at a time. This really allowed me to feel the muscle moving and made sure I wasn’t skimping out on the technique. The shoulders crave special attention to grow - make sure you work them properly.

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