Side delts exercise
Cable Lateral RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Side delts
- Equipment
- Cable
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Cable Lateral Raise?
- Set a low pulley with a single handle; stand side-on to it.
- Hold the handle in your far hand, across the front of your body.
- With a soft elbow, raise your arm out to the side.
- Stop at shoulder height, pause, then lower slowly across your body.
Cues
- Elbow leads, wrist follows
- Stand tall, no lean
- Stop at shoulder height
Common mistakes
- Leaning away from the cable: stand tall and lighten the weight.
- Lifting above shoulder height: stop when your elbow reaches shoulder level.
- Bending the elbow to pull: keep the same slight bend throughout.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
One cable column, pulley at the lowest setting (about 15–30 cm off the floor), a single D-handle (stirrup). Knees soft, torso upright and braced, shoulder blades down. The working hand is the one away from the column: it reaches across in front of the body to hold the handle with a neutral grip (palm facing the body), wrist straight. The cable runs from the low pulley across the front of the thighs.
The movement
The arm sweeps up and out in an arc from across the body to out at the side. The cable stays in front of the body all the way, never behind it. Only the working shoulder moves: the elbow angle is fixed, the wrist straight, and the torso does not lean away from or towards the column. The shoulder does not shrug. The way down retraces the arc slowly back across the body. Sources differ on pulley height: ACE sets it at about waist height, ExRx uses a low pulley.
End position
(turnaround point): elbow at shoulder height: shoulder abduction about 90° (accept 80–90°). Arm out to the side and slightly forward, about 15° in front of the frontal plane (accept 0–30°). Elbow bend unchanged. The hand at or a little below the elbow. A 1 s pause (ACE).
Tempo
About 2 s up, a 1 s pause at the top, about 2.5 s down.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pulley height | 20 cm | lowest setting, 10–30 cm | |
| Elbow flexion (held all rep) | 20° | 10–30° | |
| Shoulder abduction at the top | 90° | 80–90°, never above | |
| Arm forward of the frontal plane at the top | 15° | 0–30° | |
| Torso lean sideways | 0° | under 5° | |
| Pause at the top | 1 s | 0.5–1 s |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Cable Lateral Raise is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
