Push
Lateral Raise
What it works
Mainly: Side delts. Also: Traps.
Setup
Light dumbbells at your sides, slight bend in the elbow, torso still.
How it goes
Raise out to the sides to about shoulder height and lower slowly. This is a small muscle — the weight should look modest.
Two things people get wrong
- Swinging the whole body to get the weight up.
- Going far above shoulder height, which hands the work to the traps.
If the kit’s busy
Cable lateral raise, which keeps tension on through the whole range.
Also written as: Lateral Raises, Side Lateral Raises
In these programmes
These are setup and execution cues, not coaching. If something hurts, stop — and if you're training around an injury or a health condition, get a professional's eyes on it first.