Seated Side Lateral Raise

What it is

This seated isolation exercise effectively targets the side heads of your shoulder muscles. You'll use dumbbells to lift your arms out to the sides, building broader, stronger shoulders. This movement helps enhance shoulder definition and strength without engaging supporting body parts.

Technique tips

• Keep your torso still to isolate the shoulder muscles.
• Maintain a slight, consistent bend in your elbows throughout the movement.
• Tilt your hands slightly forward at the top, as if pouring from a pitcher.
• Exhale as you raise the weights and inhale as you slowly lower them.
• Stop lifting when your arms are parallel to the floor; avoid going higher.
• Control the descent, lowering the dumbbells slowly back to the start.

How to track your progress

Log the weight and reps of each set. Straddly turns every set into an estimated one-rep max, so a heavier single and a strong set of eight both count as progress, and it flags a personal record the moment you beat your best.