Side delts exercise
Seated Dumbbell Lateral RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Side delts
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise?
- Sit tall on the bench end, dumbbells by your sides, palms in.
- Keep a slight bend in your elbows.
- Raise your arms out to the sides until they reach shoulder height.
- Pause, then lower slowly back to your sides.
Cues
- Elbows lead, hands follow
- Shoulders down, chest up
- Stop at shoulder height
Common mistakes
- Rocking the body to lift; sit still and use lighter dumbbells.
- Hands higher than elbows; keep elbows level or above.
- Shrugging up; keep your shoulders away from your ears.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Seated on the end of a flat bench (or an upright bench with the back pad at 85–90°), torso upright, hips and thighs on the seat, feet flat about hip-width, knees about 90°. Abs braced, shoulder blades down and back, head neutral. A dumbbell in each hand, closed neutral grip (palms facing the body). Dumbbells hang beside the hips, just outside the bench edge so they clear the seat.
The movement
Both arms rise together out to the sides in an arc; elbows and upper arms lead and stay a little ahead of the hands. Movement is shoulder abduction, not rotation. The elbow bend does not change. The torso stays upright and still; no rocking back on the seat.
End position
(turnaround point): upper arms raised out to the sides to shoulder height: shoulder abduction 90° (accept 80–95°). Elbows level with or slightly higher than the wrists and directly to the side of the shoulders; because the elbows are bent, the dumbbells sit slightly in front of them. Arms 0–20° in front of the frontal plane. Brief pause.
Tempo
Raise 1.5 s, hold 0.5 s, lower 2 s.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat / back pad | bench end, torso vertical | back pad 85–90° | |
| Knee angle | 90° | 80–100° | |
| Elbow flexion (held fixed) | 20° | 10–30° | |
| Shoulder abduction at top | 90° | 80–95° | |
| Arms forward of frontal plane at top | 10° | 0–20° | |
| Elbow height vs wrist at top | elbow ≥ wrist | equal to 5 cm higher | |
| Torso sway | 0° | 0–5° |
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 Seated 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
