A good fitness routine should include a little bit of everything. You need to perform cardio activities to improve your aerobic fitness and resistance training to keep your muscles healthy and strong. When designing your strength training plan, you should work to include all your major muscles groups. You can consider including the lateral raise as one of your upper-body exercises.
Type of Movement
The lateral raise is a simple movement that involves lifting your arms, against some type of resistance, straight out from your sides until they reach shoulder height. Because it is a simple, single-joint movement, this is a fairly easy exercise to perform correctly. The American Council on Exercise lists lateral raises as a beginner-level exercise.
Muscles Engaged
The lateral raise targets muscles throughout your shoulders and back. The American Council on Exercise explains that the primary muscles engaged in the lateral raise include the three deltoid muscles in your shoulder: the anterior, medial and posterior deltoids. The exercise also works other muscles. Your traps and biceps are engaged during the movement, and, if you perform the exercise from a standing position, you will even use your abs to help stabilize your body.
Equipment Needed
You can perform the lateral raise with more than one piece of exercise equipment. If you have access to dumbbells, you can easily use them to perform this exercise. If you don’t, you can also perform lateral raises with a rubber exercise band. Instead of lifting the weight against gravity, you use the bands resistance to strengthen your shoulder muscles. These bands provide a cheap and easily transportable alternative for this exercise.
Variations
"Fitness" magazine also describes a common variation to the standard straight-arm lateral raise. You can also do lateral raises with your arms bent at a 90-degree angle. Begin from a standing position and flex your arms to bring your dumbbells up to your hips. From this position, lift your arms up and out to your sides until your elbows line-up with your shoulders. Your hands should be extended in front of your body and at the same level.
Combinations
To produce a total shoulder workout, you can also include other shoulder exercises with the lateral raise. One easy circuit to create is mixing the lateral raise with the front raise. The front raise focuses more on your anterior and medial deltoids. You perform this movement just like the lateral raise, except that you extend your arms straight out in front of you instead of to your sides.
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