1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with arms hanging at your sides. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, bend your hips back until your shoulders are just in front of them. This puts you in position for your side delts to work optimally as you raise your arms.
2. Raise the weights straight out to your sides—but no higher than 90 degrees—with your palms facing down. Keep a slight bend in your elbows. Lower the weights under control. Don’t swing your reps up.
Quick Tip
Many lifters make a pouring motion while raising the weights, turning their pinkies up, to activate the side delt better. But this can cause shoulder impingement over time. By bending the torso forward a bit, you get more direct tension on the delt without having to twist the wrist, thereby sparing the shoulder joints and building muscle safely.
Did You Know
You can also perform lateral raises with a cable to get more resistance at the bottom end of the range of motion.
