Lateral Raises - Everything to Know

Long Levers Are Tough

A lever is a rigid beam or rod that pivots around a single pivot point.

Our bodies are composed of systems of levers that pivot around mostly fixed pivot points.

In a lateral raise, the “lever” is our entire arm, and the pivot point is our shoulder (glenohumeral) joint.

There are technically several pivot points involved in a lateral raise - but today we’ll focus on the shoulder joint.

Relative to most other exercises, the traditional dumbbell lateral raise uses a long lever - the entire length of the arm.

The longer the lever of any motion, the more difficult it is to coordinate controlled motion and contraction around a joint.

This is because longer levers move greater distances for the same change in angle:

Note how the 10ft lever moves ~twice the horizontal distance as the 5ft lever, despite both moving through a 45º angle change.

The larger the change in distance, the more resistance our bodies have to deal with for the same weight of lever.

Why does this apply to lateral raises?

Because we’re constrained to hold the dumbbell in our hands, the weight is as far away from the shoulder joint as it can be.

Because of this longer distance, managing the weight of the dumbbell becomes a more difficult task - because longer levers have a greater capacity to generate momentum when they move (inertia, for you physics nerds).

Think about this in another way: taller people generally have a tougher time coordinating motions like squats - and this is because taller people have longer average lever lengths that magnify forces.

Lateral raise motions can be difficult to manage for the same reason - with other upper body motions, lever lengths are much shorter, like in presses, pull-downs, curls, and triceps extensions.

Resistance Profiles

The traditional dumbbell lateral raise also presents a mismatch between our strength and the “strength” of the dumbbell against us.

At the bottom of the motion - when the arms are at the sides - the dumbbell resists us very little.

But, at the top of the motion - when the arms are 90º from the torso - the dumbbell resists us maximally.

The bottom of the motion - from a muscular standpoint - is where we’re strongest.

And the top of the motion - from a muscular standpoint - is where we’re weakest.

This mechanical mismatch - in tandem with managing a relatively long lever length - often makes the traditional lateral raise very awkward and difficult to manage.

Speaking anecdotally - DB lateral raises are the most offensive upper body motion for many shoulder rehab clients I’ve trained in the past.

Without getting too nitty-gritty into the details of why that might be, I believe it suffices to say that the two variables we’ve discussed so far play a substantial role in the discomfort people often feel.

How can we fix this?

If you’re not someone who has any trouble with DB lateral raises - by all means, continue doing them!

They’re an exercise that works fine for many people.

But, if you’re someone - like me - who could never quite feel comfortable with them, keep reading.

Solution #1

The first solution comes by addressing lever length.

Although I referred to the lever in a lateral raise as the entire length of the arm, this is only true in instances where resistance is applied to the hand.

In the context of exercise, lever lengths are ultimately determined by our body’s relationship to resistance.

To “shorten the lever” of a lateral raise, we can use a cable or machine, where the resistance can be applied closer to the shoulder.

This effectively shortens the lever so that we’re moving the resistance through a shorter distance - and therefore a less complex loading scenario.

To do this with a cable, you can wrap the handle through your hand and on top of the forearm or upper arm - like this:

Solution #2

If you can’t load with a cable, then matching the resistance to our strength is the next best option we have.

Doing this with two dumbbells isn’t possible - you must use a single arm and manipulate your body around the resistance to change where the DB is heaviest and where it’s lightest.

Here’s a video reel I made on changing the setup:

Although the lever isn’t shorter (the arm is still straight and the weight is still in the hands), setting up this way allows you to load your shoulder most when you’re in the strongest muscular position.

If you find that keeping your elbow straight feels awkward, using a slight elbow bend is not a bad idea.

Solution #3

It’s important to remember that longer-lever movements aren’t inherently “bad”, but rather can present issues in people who are not naturally comfortable with these motions.

If you do have access to cables, you can adjust the cable angle so that the cable is heavier toward the bottom - where we’re stronger - and lighter toward the top.

In solution #1, I looped the handle around my arm, but most times, I prefer to loop the handle around the top of my hand instead, like this:

Note how the handle is pushed to the side of the strap and how the loop of the handle goes over the top of my hand.

This strategy will make it easier to manage wrist, forearm, and elbow forces so that all of your focus can just be directed toward the shoulder.

These 3 strategies have helped me tremendously over the last couple of years and are the only adjustments that have allowed me to comfortably perform raises with a high degree of effort and volume.

Give some of these strategies a try if you haven’t - I think you’ll really like them.

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