Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)

Setup

Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides with palms facing inward. Let your arms hang naturally with a slight bend in the elbows, chest up and core engaged.

How to do it

1. Raise both dumbbells out to the sides in an arc until your arms are parallel to the floor.
2. Lead with your elbows rather than your hands, keeping the slight elbow bend throughout.
3. Control the descent back to the starting position, resisting gravity on the way down.
4. Keep your torso still without swinging or using momentum to lift the weights.
5. Pause briefly at the top with arms level before lowering.

Watch out for

• ✗Using too much weight and swinging the body or leaning backward to generate momentum.
• ✗Raising the dumbbells too high above shoulder level, which shifts tension away from the side delts.
• ✗Shrugging the shoulders upward instead of keeping them down and back throughout the movement.