Today I want to share one of my absolute favorite exercises for building bigger, more defined shoulders.
And no, it’s not a shoulder press variation.
For growing the shoulders, lateral raises are arguably the most important exercise you can do. But what’s the optimal way to perform them?
Read on to find out.
Some Basic Shoulder Anatomy
As you may know, the shoulders (also known as the “deltoids”, or “delts”), is not one muscle, but consist of three heads: the anterior (front) delts, the lateral (side) delts, and the posterior (rear) delts. Each head must be trained through different exercises to ensure optimal development.
However, the anterior (front) delts are already heavily involved in basically all types of pressing movements, such as shoulder presses, dips, and push ups. It’s also heavily worked during bench pressing, especially incline bench press variations. As the incline increases, more and more of the workload shifts to the shoulders.
This means that for many people who go to the gym and do a lot of bench pressing (and too little back training), the anterior delts are already developed to a degree that is disproportionate in relation to the other heads. Down the line, this can lead to muscle imbalances and eventually shoulder injury.
Because of this, direct isolation of the front delts (using exercises such as the front raise) are typically not needed for the average gym enthusiast (who’s not a professional bodybuilder competing on stage).
Conversely, the posterior (rear) delt is worked during pulling movements that train the back, like pulldowns, rows (especially wide-grip rows with flared elbows) and rear flies. Because it’s not a “mirror muscle” as such, it’s rarely given the attention that it deserves.
Even though the rear delts are already trained indirectly with back movements, they should still be trained directly with isolation exercises (like rear flies) for the best results, and to prevent injuries.
But what about the lateral (side) delts?
Which Exercises Work the Lateral Head?
The lateral head of the shoulder is different than its two counterparts. Unlike the front and rear delts (which are worked when you train pushing and pulling movements), the side delts are not heavily involved in most compound exercises. For this reason it makes sense to work them with isolation exercises.
The lateral head is worked when your elbows are flared out to the side, such as with lateral raises, upright rows, and (to some degree) shoulder presses.
One of the reasons I prefer dumbbells to barbells when shoulder pressing is because of the advantageous elbow angle. When doing a shoulder press with a barbell, your elbows are forced in front of your body, increasing the stress on the front delts, which are already worked during most pressing exercises.
When doing a shoulder press with dumbbells, the elbows are more flared out to your side, meaning that your side delts share a greater part of the load.
That said, lateral raises are the absolute best exercise for growing the lateral delts, so it makes sense to prioritize them in your training.
Tip: A great tip for growing your side delts is to train them as the first muscle group on your push days (or whichever day you’re training them). As the side delts are not heavily involved in most pushing exercises, training them first won’t impact your performance on exercises like the bench press. Most importantly, it ensures that they’re trained while you’re fresh, which ultimately will lead to better muscle growth.
The Dumbbell Lateral Raise Solution
In my opinion, lateral raises are unmatched for building the side part of the shoulder. The most commonly seen variation is the standing dumbbell lateral raise.
While it’s not a bad exercise, the standing dumbbell lateral raise is often performed with no attention to form, too heavy weight and a lot of swinging, thereby incorporating other muscle groups and minimizing the isolating effect on the side delts.
The solution for this is the bench-supported lateral raise, one of my favorite dumbbell exercises for the side delts.
By setting the bench at a high incline and leaning against it, we remove the need to bend over, thereby minimizing core engagement and lower back involvement, allowing us to fully focus on the side delts. To perform this variation:
- Set a bench to a high incline so that it’s almost vertical, at about 60 degrees.
- Grab a pair of dumbbells. While standing and facing the bench, lean against the bench for support.
- Make sure to drive with your elbows and not your hands, and avoid resting the dumbbells at the bottom position, as this removes the tension from the shoulders.
- Perform the lateral raises for the desired sets and reps.
The high bench makes this variation extremely efficient, as it perfectly aligns the side delt fibers with the scapular plane. This makes the movement feel more natural, and the support from the bench minimizes the urge of assisting muscle groups to take over.
However, we can make the lateral raise even better yet.
The Best Lateral Head Exercise
Now we have arrived to my absolute favorite exercise for the lateral head, which is the one-arm cable (behind the back) lateral raise.
The way that most people do the cable lateral raise is by setting the cable at the lowest setting, grabbing a handle and then initiating the movement. While this variation is not bad or wrong, we can make some adjustments to improve it.
Remember that a major benefit of using cables over dumbbells is the constant tension they provide. As such, we want to benefit from this as much as possible. Here’s how:
- First we will set the cable higher, at about knee height. This does two things:
- It ensures that there’s constant tension on the side delt throughout the whole movement, and that the shoulder muscles are not resting at the bottom.
- It increases the range of motion, as we can now lift our arm higher before the angle of pull from the cables becomes less effective.
- Secondly, we can make the exercise more effective by removing a weak link (the wrist). Instead of grabbing the handle, I recommend using either an ankle-cuff and looping your hand through it, or by using a normal attachment and supporting it on your wrist, like shown on the picture:
Studies have shown that unilateral exercises provide better muscle stimulation, which is essential for growth. Another benefit is that since you’re working one side at a time, you’re able to really concentrate on the mind-muscle connection and work with a high intensity, something that is harder to replicate with the dumbbell lateral raise.
One option is to do the movement starting with the cable behind the back, which will give a slightly different stimulus compared to doing it with the cable in front of your body.
With the cable behind the back there might be more involvement from the traps and front delts, and because of this you might be able to lift heavier, but this doesn’t mean that either variation is superior. Experiment and see which one you like better.
You can also switch between these two variations, either during your weekly training cycle or between your monthly training cycles, to switch things up and prevent your progress from stagnating.
The cable lateral raise is not a taxing movement for the body and can be included in any training program 1-2 times per week, for 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps. Remember to push yourself, and to take the last reps of each set close to or until failure. Intensity is the key.
Finally, to reap the maximum rewards, perform them as the first exercise on your side delt days, and watch your shoulders grow!
Try it for some time and let me know what you think!