Lateral Raise: Gym Shorts (How To)

Dumbbell Lateral Raise Correct Form

Gym Shorts videos provide short video demonstrations of correct form for various exercises.

Follow these steps

• Grasp dumbbells with neutral grip
• Raise arms out to your sides & slightly forward
• Palms down
• Slow & controlled movement
• Arms end with hands slightly above & in front of shoulders
• Stand upright & look straight ahead
• Keep it strict (torso still)

What Is the Dumbbell Lateral Raise & Why Do It?

This movement is an upper body exercise that uses dumbbells to train the muscles of the shoulders.

As an upper body shoulder exercise, this trains the anterior & lateral deltoids, along with the supraspinatus and trapezius.

Many home gym lifters do not have access to dumbbells, but adjustable dumbbells and fractional plates enable more people to perform this & other dumbbell exercises. Additionally, for this movement in particular, you won’t be using much weight.

Because of the long moment arm between the shoulder (glenohumeral joint) and the dumbbell at the top, plus the relatively small amount of muscle mass contributing to the exercise, little weight will be used for this exercise. Many grab dumbbells that prevent them from using proper form, so they bend their arms and move their torso. Keep it strict.

Lifters perform this exercise primarily for hypertrophy of the lateral & anterior deltoids.

Programming the Lateral Raise

Typically, only advanced lifters perform this exercise, because for novice and intermediate lifters the main lifts paired with supplemental lifts provide sufficient hypertrophic stress for the shoulders. Furthermore, lifters tend to first add other accessory movements to their program that target other, larger muscles (such as the triceps or biceps).

Perform these at the end of the workout. One way to perform them is as part of a circuit with other exercises, especially dumbbell movements. A common pattern is to perform a set of dumbbell side lateral raises and then bend over for bent over lateral raises.

Execute for 2-5 sets of 8 to 20 reps. Because of the small dumbbells used, these are often progressed by adding reps, not weight.

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