Lateral Raises: How to, Muscle worked, benefits & mistakes

If you are seeking to build your shoulders and make them wider and more solid, there is no doubt that you need some exercises such as lateral raises, this helps to enlarge the muscles and build strength.

The lateral raise is also one of the most important exercises for the shoulder muscles, and you cannot make good progress if you do not rely on this type of exercises during the upper body training. 

The lateral raise is also an isolation exercise for the shoulder muscles and targets the deltoids well, gives you strength and helps build muscle mass.

In this post, we will learn well about the capabilities and benefits of this exercise, as well as how to do it professionally, and some mistakes that may hinder the path of your progress. This will be an opportunity to learn about them as well. 

We will also learn about the lateral raises variations and their effective role in doubling the results.

Let’s find out together!

What are lateral raises?

It is an exercise that primarily targets the medial deltoid of the shoulder muscles, it is relied upon by many bodybuilders to target the deltoids, and it is also good at increasing strength and size as well.

The lateral raises exercise is one of the exercises that increases muscle hypertrophy and sculpts them as well, so that the shoulder muscles stretch to the sides and are tense with each repetition, and the traps also play a role in this exercise along with the shoulder muscles and this is what we will reveal next.

You can rely on lateral or front raises exercises mainly to target the deltoids completely.

Lateral raises variations

The variables are not different exercises, they are similar, the same movement and the same position, but the method of raising the dumbbells to the sides is different so that the movement of the joints and wrist rotation plays different roles in targeting more muscles and less muscles.

Lateral raises external:

Your fists are directed forward when you raise your arms straight to the sides and this variable has the least effect on the target muscles.

Lateral raises neutral:

Your grip is neutral, that is, you raise your arms to the sides straight without turning your wrists, and this variable is our topic today and has a greater impact on the middle and posterior deltoid than the rest of the variables.

Lateral raises flexed:

In this variant, it focuses on raising your arms straight to the sides, but the forearm remains directed forward and the elbow is at a 90-degree angle and has less effect than other variables on the target muscles.

Lateral raises internal:

Your wrist is directed back when you extend your arms to the sides so that the movement of the shoulder joints rotates to target the upper traps, triceps and posterior deltoid muscles more than the rest of the variables.

LR Variations effects  

Lateral raises muscle worked

The neutral lateral raises target the shoulder muscles, but to varying degrees, so that they target most of the middle and posterior deltoids mainly. 

They also target the upper traps and triceps muscles. This happens when doing internal lateral raises, so that the internal rotation of the joints plays a role in extending the triceps muscles and operating the traps as well.

Do lateral raises make your shoulders bigger?

Several experiments have been conducted on proving the effectiveness of lateral raises exercises in activating the shoulder muscles, and there was competition between the strongest strength exercises such as the bench press, shoulder press and dumbbell fly, so that the superiority of the lateral raises exercise was greatly so that it succeeded in activating the posterior and middle deltoid in a way Large and when muscle activity occurs, hypertrophy is associated with it.

So as an answer to the question, yes the lateral raises can increase the size of the shoulder and build muscle over time and doing many sessions.

How to Perform a lateral raises like a pro

If you are still quite a beginner, you can start with very light weights because you have to master the movement first. Beginners make many mistakes and this is normal, but in the end you learn and become a professional. 

The goal of this exercise is to put more pressure on the middle deltoid muscles. This also targets the posterior deltoids so try to have good contact with your muscles.

How to do neutral lateral raises:

• You have the choice to do it sitting on the bench or standing, but we will choose to do it sitting on the bench, which will be better and more effective as well.

• First choose a dumbbell with a weight that matches your fitness level, remember if you are a beginner start with very light weights up to a kilogram in each dumbbell is a good start.

• Sit upright on the bench in a position where your muscles are tensed, your chest is pushed forward, and your back is well straight and a little bent forward 20 or 25 degrees.

• Keep your fists neutral throughout the exercise, your fists looking at each other, your arms straight down.

• As for the shoulder muscles, keep them in their natural position, that is, do not go with your shoulders to your ears or lower them excessively.

• Start by raising your hands straight at your sides (you can leave some slight bending at your elbows, that’s fine, but don’t over-flex for about 10 or 15 degrees).

• Stop when your arms are straight with your shoulders or slightly up, also try to squeeze your shoulders up with each repetition.

• Allow your arms to drop slowly and straight down at a constant speed.

Pro tip:

If you want to keep the deltoid muscles tense, you should think about it first, let your mind know that you want to target that muscle and then the action comes after that, so that you should throw the weight of the dumbbells on the arms so try to direct the weight with your arms and shoulders well, try to keep the forearm neutral And straight, so if you don’t feel the tension of the deltoids, you definitely do an easy exercise.

Also, if you seek more tension, don’t let your muscles relax during the exercise, you will lower your arms down but not so much that your arms are dangling, keep your muscles engaged and raise your arms again before they become straight down.

How to include lateral raises to your training program?

This is easy. In every upper body training session, you can do lateral raises to target the shoulder muscles as well.

Example:

• 1- Pull Ups —-> 3 Sets / 5 reps.

• 2- Dumbbell bench press —-> 3 sets / 12-15 reps.

• 3- Lateral side raises —–> 3 sets / 12-15 reps.

• 4- Straight-arm lat pulldown —-> 3 sets / 12-15 reps.

• 5- Dumbbell reverse fly —-> 3 sets / 12-15 reps

How heavy should you go on lateral raises?

In general, the ideal weight a male can lift with lateral raises to target the middle deltoids is 15 kg.

For muscle hypertrophy, it is recommended to go with weights with resistance up to muscle failure during repetitions 6 to 8, while the limit that you must reach is 12 repetitions.

For starters, if you do not exceed 3 or 4 repetitions with a certain weight, this is not the right weight for you. Try going with lighter weights, and if it is too easy you can add weights gradually.

Mistakes people make during performing lateral raises

Yes, there are those who go to the gym and do everything they can with lateral raises and sweat and come home for a hot bath and wait for the appearance of the muscles of “Papai”, but there is nothing new to say, yes this is sad, but did you wonder about the reasons? Undoubtedly, there are some mistakes you may be making that may prevent you from obtaining satisfactory results.

So, trainer Shawn Nallywang introduced some mistakes that you should avoid while doing the side raises:

1- Lifting very heavy weights with excessive momentum

Lifting weights excessively has more negatives than positives, you do not want to spoil your muscles because the muscles may not react to the heavy weight and this is not what makes them improve and gain mass and strength, so you should go with somewhat light weights and at the same time be strict With less use of momentum, also focus on increasing lateral tension more with lifts.

2- Rising weights in front of your body instead of your sides

Always remember that we are doing a side raise, not a front raise, so if you want to target the medial deltoids, you should raise your arms straight at the sides so that they are straight with your shoulders, the front raise tends to target the front deltoids more.

3- Allowing your hands to raise up higher than your elbows

This mistake tends to be an exercise for the chest muscles more than the main muscle that we want to target in the first place, because raising your hands high this makes you do an external rotation of your shoulder and this is not in the interest of the shoulder muscles, so you should raise your hands in a way that your elbow is the same height the wrists.

4- Keeping your abs relaxed

Although it is a shoulder muscle exercise, this does not mean that you should leave your waist too loose, maintain some tension in your core and keep your abdominal muscles tight because this puts you in more control of the movement and improves your performance.

5- Lifting your upper arms above parallel to the floor

Keeping the back straight and completely solid may not be a good factor to target the muscles well, as trainer Shawn says that keeping the back in a straight and vertical position may lead to a change in the line of drag on the front head of the shoulder, and also reduces the activation of the lateral delt.

So try pushing your back a little straight forward, of course, that is, don’t arch your back because that in itself is another mistake.

What are the benefits of lateral raises?

Many specialists and trainers agree that shoulder press exercises have many advantages and benefits that you can get and enjoy when you get used to this type of exercise and adhere to it.

Some of the benefits that the shoulder press provides you with:

• Helps improve shoulder mobility.

• Increases muscle mass and increases strength.

• It targets multiple muscles such as triceps, and traps and helps strengthen them.

• It also strengthens the lower part of the body, such as the lower back, abdominal muscles, and obliques.

• It makes you gain muscles and helps increase the size of the shoulders, especially the middle and lateral deltoids.

• It improves the flexibility of the shoulder muscles and reduces the possibility of injury to the joints.

The best alternative to the lateral raises

According to studies, the exercise closest to being a good alternative and targeting the back and front deltoids is almost as effective as the side raises. Undoubtedly, it will be the shoulder press exercise because it is a compound exercise and works more than one joint, which makes it effective in targeting the shoulder muscles in addition to other muscles in a way secondary.

Relying on good alternatives may improve your performance and open the way for you to build new muscle and make significant progress.

Useful links

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