Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Exercise:
Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Target Muscle:
Shoulders (Lateral Head)
Equipment:
Bench, Dumbbells
Execution:
Sit down on a flat bench and hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides.

Lean forward slightly, and with a small bend in your elbows, raise the dumbbells out to your sides in a circular motion until your upper arms are parallel to the floor with your palms facing down.

Lower the dumbbells back down following the same path and repeat.
Tips:
- Always favor moderate weights and strict form on this exercise. Trying to heave around very heavy dumbbells using a lot of body momentum places the shoulder joints under a lot of stress and can easily lead to injury.

- Make sure to lean your torso slightly forward rather than remaining completely upright. This shifts the line of pull onto the lateral head of the shoulder where you want it, as opposed to the anterior head.

- Flex your abs hard and lock down your ribcage throughout the exercise, as this will shift tension off of the upper traps and more onto the shoulders.

- Always keep your hands and elbows in line with eachother as you raise the weights up, as bringing the hands higher than the elbows causes the rotator cuff muscles to take over.

- Do not raise your upper arms any higher than parallel to the floor. Once you go past parallel, the tension is taken off of the lateral deltoid and the upper traps begin performing the bulk of the work.