Lateral Raises: How to Build Wider Shoulders

Broad shoulders come largely from the side deltoids, and the lateral raise is the most direct way to train them. It is a simple exercise that is surprisingly easy to do badly — usually by using too much weight and too much momentum.

The Technique

• Stand holding light dumbbells at your sides, a slight bend in your elbows.
• Lean your torso slightly forward from the hips.
• Raise the dumbbells out to your sides, leading with your elbows, until your arms are about parallel to the floor.
• Pause briefly, then lower slowly over two to three seconds.

Imagine pushing the dumbbells out to the walls rather than lifting them up to the ceiling.

Common Mistakes

• Swinging: using your hips and lower back to throw the weight up shifts work away from the delts.
• Shrugging: if your shoulders rise toward your ears, the traps take over. Keep your shoulders down.
• Too heavy: side delts are small muscles. Weights that feel embarrassingly light are often the right ones.
• Rushing the lowering: the controlled descent is where a lot of the work happens.

How High?

Raising to about shoulder height trains the side delts well. Going higher is fine for most people and brings in the upper traps; if it pinches your shoulder, stop at shoulder height.

Variations

• Cable lateral raise: constant tension throughout the movement.
• Lean-away lateral raise: hold a pole or rack and lean away for more tension at the bottom.
• Machine lateral raise: stable and easy to push close to failure.
• Partial reps: after full reps reach failure, a few partial reps near the bottom can extend the set.

Volume and Frequency

Side delts recover quickly. Two to three sessions a week with three to four sets of 12 to 20 reps is a common approach. They respond well to higher reps and short rest. Pair them with the presses in our shoulder workout guide.