Our previous Dumbbell Lateral Rise article showed you how to do a lateral raise, but how can you get the most out of this exercise?

How to Get Bigger Delts

The key to growing any muscle, otherwise known as muscular hypertrophy, is to train close to failure. Don’t mistake this for training to failure. This will allow you to make gains, without getting too much muscle soreness or DOMS.

So, the key to growing your delts is by training close to failure (but not at failure). There are many ways to do this, for example, slowing the time under tension or increasing the weight used.

Best Lateral Raise Variations

1 - Paused Dumbbell Lateral Raise

• Stand tall, with your shoulders back and down, and a Urethane Dumbbell in each hand.

• Create a small kink in your elbow.

• Drive your elbows to the sky, until they are in line with your shoulders.

• Pause for 2 seconds, then slowly lower back down, keeping the same kink and constant angle between your forearm and upper arm throughout.

Why Should I Pause in a Lateral Raise?

The pause at the end range of motion increasing the time under tension and intensity of the lift, without needing heavy weights. This means you can work at a high intensity, even if you’re a beginner and not ready for heavy loads.

2 - Resistance Band Lateral Raise

• Stand tall with your shoulders back and down and a single light Resistance Band in your hands, wrapped under your feet.

• Create a small kink in you elbow.

• Drive your elbows to the sky, until they are in line with your shoulders.

• Slowly lower back down, keeping the same kink and constant angle between your forearm and upper arm throughout.

Why Should I Do Banded Lateral Raises?

The resistance bands resistance increases as its elongation increases. At the bottom of the movement, there will be very little resistance. Adding bands to your lateral raises can be used to stop someone from throwing the weight out of the bottom position… because that is where it is easy. But it will still work them hard at the top of the movement.

Are Dumbbell Lateral Raises Enough?

The Dumbbell Lateral Raise targets the middle portion of the delts. To get the most out of our delt training, we also need to target the front side and the back side of our shoulders.

What Other Shoulder Exercises Should You Do for Your Delts?

1 - Barbell Military Press

The barbell military press targets the front side of your delts.

• Hands just outside shoulder width on the Barbell with the barbell up against your collar bones.

• Step away from the rack.

• Press the bar overhead, dipping your head out of the way and then back through the bar like a pigeon.

• Think about touching the sky with the bar to fully extend your arms.

• Reverse the movement to lower it back down to the start position.

What Not To Do

A common issue is for the bar to deviate from the midline, making the movement more difficult and often causing them to over-compensate by throwing the weight back behind them at the top, making the movement less stable.

Instead, make sure to push the bar straight up and down, keeping the focus on moving your head of the way of it to create the vertical bar path we want, with your core stacked. Practice with an empty bar to start until you’re comfortable going heavier.

2 - Dumbbell Reverse Flye

The Dumbbell Reverse Flye targets the much-neglected rear side of your deltoids.

• From a standing position, hinge at the hips face down, with light dumbbells in each hand and your arms straight, with a slight kink.

• Pull the weight up by pinching your shoulder blades together until your hands are in line with shoulders.

• Lower the weight back down slowly.

What Not To Do

A common issue is for people to lift from the hands instead of from the shoulder blades. Instead, keep your hands and elbows in the same position throughout and just pinch your shoulder blades together to complete the movement.

Use these lateral raise variations alongside the dumbbell reverse flye and barbell military press to target your ENTIRE deltoid, for all round growth. Remember to train within a couple of reps from failure, multiple times per week, for maximal gains! Work your delts more with our full shoulder workout.

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond.

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Workout