Side delts exercise
Lean-Away Cable Lateral RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Side delts
- Equipment
- Cable
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Lean-Away Cable Lateral Raise?
- Set the pulley low and stand side-on, holding the column with your near hand.
- Take the handle in your far hand, cable across your body.
- Lean away from the column with a straight body.
- Raise your arm out to the side until your elbow reaches shoulder height.
- Lower slowly until your hand is back in front of your hip.
Cues
- Fixed lean, no swinging
- Elbow leads the hand
- Shoulder down, not shrugged
Common mistakes
- Swinging the body to lift; keep the lean fixed and lighten the weight.
- Hand above elbow at the top; lead with the elbow.
- Shrugging the shoulder; keep it down and away from your ear.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Cable column with the pulley at its lowest setting and a single D-handle. The lifter stands side-on to the column, the free (near) side towards it, feet together or hip-width, about 30 cm from the column base. The free hand holds the column upright at about waist to chest height with a straight arm. The working hand is the one farther from the column: it holds the handle, so the cable runs from the low pulley across the front of the body to that hand. Palm facing the body (neutral grip). Abs and glutes braced; shoulders level relative to the torso.
The movement
The hand travels in an arc from in front of the opposite hip, out and up to the side, in the frontal plane of the leaning torso. Movement is shoulder abduction only; the elbow angle stays fixed. The lean angle, free arm and feet do not change; the body does not swing towards or away from the column. The shoulder does not shrug.
End position
(turnaround point): working arm raised out to the side until the elbow is at shoulder height relative to the torso: shoulder abduction 90° measured from the torso (accept 80–100°). Elbow level with or slightly above the hand. Arm 0–20° in front of the frontal plane. Brief pause.
Tempo
Raise 1.5 s, hold 0.5 s, lower 2 s (slow, against the cable).
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pulley height | lowest | floor to 20 cm | |
| Feet to column base | 30 cm | 20–45 cm | |
| Free arm | straight, gripping column | elbow 170–180° | |
| Elbow flexion, working arm (fixed) | 20° | 10–30° | |
| Top: abduction relative to torso | 90° | 80–100° | |
| Arm forward of frontal plane at top | 10° | 0–20° | |
| Lean change during rep | 0° | 0–3° |
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 Lean-Away 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
