Side delts exercise
Dumbbell Lateral RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Side delts
- Also works
- Traps, Front delts
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Dumbbell Lateral Raise?
- Stand tall, dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in, elbows soft.
- Brace your abs and set your shoulders down.
- Raise your arms out to the sides until level with your shoulders.
- Pause, then lower slowly back to your sides.
Cues
- Lead with your elbows
- Stop at shoulder height
- Shoulders down, no shrug
Common mistakes
- Swinging your body to lift: use lighter dumbbells and stand still.
- Lifting above shoulder height: stop when your arms are level.
- Shrugging as you lift: keep your shoulders down and away from ears.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Standing tall, feet slightly wider than hip-width apart (a split stance is also fine), knees soft. Torso braced, upright, no lean. Shoulder blades down and back, held there; head in line with the spine. One dumbbell in each hand, closed neutral grip (palms facing the body), wrists straight.
The movement
Both arms rise together out to the sides in a smooth arc, the elbows leading slightly ahead of the hands. Only the shoulders move: the elbow angle stays fixed, the wrists stay straight, the torso and legs stay still. The way down retraces the arc, the dumbbells turning back to neutral as the arms pass 60–70°. Sources differ a little on height: ACE stops "level with your shoulders", the NSCA text allows "parallel to the floor or nearly level with the shoulders", and some coaches go higher.
End position
(turnaround point): arms level with the shoulders and about parallel to the floor: shoulder abduction about 90° (accept 80–90°). The elbow bend is unchanged (about 15°). Elbows and upper arms level with or slightly higher than the hands. The front edge of each dumbbell tipped slightly up (a little outward rotation) past about 60–70° of the raise, per ACE. Arms about 15° in front of the frontal plane (accept 0–30°), out to the sides and slightly forward. Shoulders do not shrug towards the ears.
Tempo
About 2 s up, a 0.5 s hold at the top, about 2.5 s down, no rest at the bottom.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder abduction at the top | 90° | 80–90°, never above | |
| Shoulder abduction at the start | 10° | 5–15° | |
| Elbow flexion (held all rep) | 15° | 10–25° | |
| Arms forward of the frontal plane | 15° | 0–30° | |
| Hand height vs elbow at the top | hand level or 0–5 cm lower | never higher | |
| Torso sway front to back | 0° | under 5° | |
| Shoulder shrug (acromion rise) | 0 cm | under 2 cm |
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 Dumbbell 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
