Exercise Profile
  • Target Muscle Group
  • Exercise TypeStrength
  • Equipment RequiredDumbbell
  • MechanicsIsolation
  • Force TypePull
  • Experience LevelBeginner
  • Secondary Muscles
    None
Target Muscle Group

Shoulders

Shoulders Muscle Anatomy Diagram

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise Overview

Seated dumbbell lateral raises are a variation of dumbbell lateral raises and are used to isolate the muscles of the shoulder.

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise Instructions

  1. Grab a pair of dumbbells with a neutral grip and sit on the edge of a flat bench with your feet around shoulder width apart. This is the starting position for the exercise.  
  2. Slowly raise the dumbbells to around shoulder height.
  3. Pause and slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for desired reps.

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise Tips

  • Focus on keeping the reps slow and controlled. Because this is an isolation exercise, the focus should be on correctly working the muscle - not moving as much weight as possible.
  • Don't bring your arms up too high - up to shoulder height is far enough.
  • If you encounter pain in the shoulder while performing the movement, consider implementing one of the following tweaks:
    • Tilt your pinkies slightly higher than your thumbs. Imagine you’re pouring out a cup of water.
    • Turn your palms forward so that your thumbs are pointing away from your body. This will put the shoulder in a more externally rotated position and potentially open up the shoulder joint to allow for a bit more movement.
6 Comments
Aaron
Posted on: Sat, 02/28/2015 - 09:58

Why is this included in a "push" day if it is a "pull" exercise?

JR
Posted on: Sun, 09/18/2016 - 20:58

Its not a pull excercise. When you raise a dumbbell you are pushing it away from your body raising it up. Generally speaking, pushing (or raising) weight away from your body is a push, pulling weight towrds yo is a pull.

mukesh
Posted on: Tue, 10/25/2022 - 04:32

thank you

JohnR
Posted on: Sun, 10/21/2012 - 21:00

The video of this exercise is actually showing the wrong way to perform the seated dumbbell lateral raise. It clearly says not to have your hands higher than your elbows and that's what's being done here. So when you go to execute this exercise make sure you read the tips on sepcifically what to do.

Matias
Posted on: Wed, 09/05/2012 - 10:54

Is there any big difference from doing thesee seated towards doing them standing? Don't want to take up all the benches if the gym is close to full.

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Steven
Posted on: Thu, 09/06/2012 - 13:47

If you concentrate on reducing momentum while standing, not really.