Lateral Raise Machine

Execution

1. Sit tall with your shoulders relaxed, arms resting against the pads close to your body at the start.
2. Exhale and raise your arms out to the sides by pushing against the pads, up to shoulder height.
3. Don't raise past shoulder height; hold for a beat there before lowering.
4. Inhale and lower the arms slowly back to the start, without letting the stack touch down hard.
5. If you run out of strength mid-set, stop pushing into the pads and let your arms ride them down under control until the stack rests; at the end of a set, park the weight first, then slide your arms out of the pads and stand up, never letting go while the pads are still held up.

Quick cues

• Raise with the shoulder, don't shrug the neck.
• Stop at shoulder height, no higher.
• Lower slowly, keep tension in the side delt.
• Sit tall, don't lean back.

Common faults

• Fault: Raising the arms above shoulder height, dragging the shoulders up with them

  Fix: Stop exactly at shoulder height and drop the weight if shrugging is the only way to get there.

• Fault: Leaning the torso back to help swing the arms up

  Fix: Sit tall against the backrest and let the power come entirely from the side delt.

• Fault: Raising and lowering too fast, losing control at the bottom

  Fix: Slow down both directions, easing into the bottom before the next rep.

• Fault: Only raising through half the range

  Fix: Start with the arms close to the body and raise fully to shoulder height every rep.