Lateral/Side Delt Exercises For Ultimate Growth (2023)

FAQs

What exercises target the lateral deltoid? ›

Exercises to isolate and strengthen the lateral deltoid include barbell overhead presses, barbell upright rows, and dumbbell lateral raises, among others.

The lateral raise machine is one of the best ways to train your shoulders, especially the side delts. Most of the benefits from using the lateral raise machine are machine-specific benefits. You're effectively tied down to one motion throughout the entire exercise using the machine.

The last reason has to do with how often you're training your side delts. Most people aren't training them enough - often just once weekly. But the side delts recover quickly. And with the right programming, they can be trained 2 to 3 times a week to stimulate more growth.

Perform the lateral raise for 3-4 sets of 10-12, 12-15, or 20+ repetitions three or even four times per week. Overall soreness and slower recovery of strength are good indicators of when to pull back or if you can continue with relatively high frequency.

The overhead press will absolutely build big shoulders, specifically big front (anterior) delts. I recommend that for a full 3d or 'capped' delt look, you also train your side delts and rear delts separately using movements like dumbbell lateral raises, upright rows and face pulls.

Lateral (Medial)

Medial delts are the biggest of all three deltoid heads, and can be activated with a variety of different shoulder workouts and exercises, yet are targeted most effectively with side or lateral raises.

For the medial deltoid, two exercises came out on top: the 45-degree incline row and the bent-arm lateral raise. Finally, for the posterior deltoid, researchers found that the seated rear lateral raise and the 45-degree incline row both provided the greatest muscle activation for the back of the shoulder.

Don't swing the weight: A common mistake made when performing the side lateral raise is swinging the arms out from the sides. To get the most out of this exercise, your shoulder and arm muscles should do all the work.

The most weight lifted by lateral raises in one minute whilst standing on a Swiss ball is 621 kg (1 369 lb1.

How do you grow the lateral head of your shoulder? ›

It is beneficial to keep your side delt exercise sets between 8 and 20 reps. Any weight that is too heavy to lift for more than 8 reps may put your shoulder joint at risk of injury. Sets of 20 or more may indicate that the weight is not heavy enough to stimulate hypertrophy.

Chest Muscles are by Far the most easiest muscle groups to Train and grow in human body. Because most of the movements are compound and generally require less form complexities as compared to other muscle groups .

You can do a standard side lat raise with some trusty dumbbells. Go for a weight of 2 to 10 pounds each, depending on your fitness level.

The average Dumbbell Lateral Raise weight for a female lifter is 20 lb (1RM). This makes you Intermediate on Strength Level and is a very impressive lift.

Lateral raises help to beef up your shoulders, but can also destroy them if you don't do the exercise properly. Unfortunately, the simple move is also one of the most common exercises to screw up, whether you're an experienced gym rat or a novice.

In particular, the Arnold press is a comprehensive exercise to build shoulder muscles. Unlike other upper body exercises like the lateral raise, military press, and overhead press, the movement of an Arnold press activates all three of the deltoid muscles in your shoulder—the posterior, lateral, and anterior deltoids.

Upright rows use a heavier weight than lateral raises, so fewer reps are needed. Aim to do between 8 and 15 reps per set. Starting position. Grab the weights you're using and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

How often should you train lateral delts? ›

You should directly train the side delts at least twice a week. Being that the side delts are often difficult to grow for many people, it's important to target them with enough direct volume in your workout routine. You can choose 2-5 side delt exercises at least twice a week with sets ranging from 3-5 each session.

The overhead press is an essential compound movement when it comes to shoulder training. This is due to the ability to easily overload it with weight and target all deltoid heads.

The hypertrophy and growth of the middle delt is what makes your shoulders look wider and more muscular and is easily targeted when you know the right angle to lift your arm during the exercise.”

The Rear Delts are one of the most important muscles in the upper body. However most people neglect them, train them incorrectly and don't give them the attention they deserve. We take a look at just why they are so important, and why they should be a focus of most of your training sessions.

Lateral deltoids: Side delts that help move your arm out to the side, as well as up and down. They connect to your acromion, a bony nob on your shoulder blade. You use your side delts if you do jumping jacks. Posterior deltoids: Rear delts that help move your arm backward.

Delts generally respond better to high reps, though the front portion can respond well to lower reps. This is why delt-dominant bench pressers tend to have large front delts. But when training to get that rounded-shoulders look, higher reps of isolation work is best.

The lateral raise is among the few bodybuilding exercises targeting the middle or side head of the deltoid.

Other than benefits to your appearance, lateral raises will help increase your shoulder mobility, range of motion, and stability. This helps you become better at activities like lifts and presses. Another benefit is that you can work each side of your shoulders independently.

How? Both by directly developing the delts and by improving your capacity to recruit them so they're better stimulated when you do heavy pressing work. When used to develop a solid mind-muscle connection, lateral raises can be done pretty much every day.

Why is it so hard to target rear delts? ›

You're Going Too Heavy

There's a reason your rear delts are underdeveloped and weak – it's because you're using too much weight to get the job done and other muscle groups are actually completing the rep. Since the rear delts aren't easy to hit, we need to respect that it won't take much weight to hit them hard.

The delts, for many, are an extremely stubborn muscle group to develop. That said, because of all the pressing we do, most of us have no problem developing our front delts. It's the side delts where we struggle.

Working in the 8- to 12-rep range is generally the best way to add muscle mass to most body parts (the one exception being legs, which respond better to slightly higher reps).

The lateral deltoid has about the same amount of fast twitch muscle fibers as it does slow twitch muscle fibers (to be precise, it is slightly slow-twitch dominant). As such, it is likely best-suited for moderate to lighter weight with a moderate to higher rep range (i.e. 6-15).

Make Delts Your Training Priority

In this workout—as in other "blueprint" workouts I've created—I've set 10 weeks as the amount of time you'll need to see some noticeable gains in your shoulders. During these 10 weeks, you'll work shoulders twice a week and every other muscle group once.

The deltoid has three functionally and anatomically distinct parts. The acromial part, sometimes also known as the middle or central, is the largest and the strongest. It is a multipennate muscle.

Perhaps around 6 sets per week are needed to maintain side delt size for experienced trainers. We recommend 2 weekly sessions for maintenance, so that's 3 sets per session, and can do up to 3 sessions at 2 sets each as well.

Yes, trained correctly, you can do these shoulder wideners daily.

The rear lateral raise, also called the bent-over lateral raise, is an exercise that increases strength and hypertrophy (growth in size) of your rear deltoids. These are the small muscles found on the backs of your shoulders.

Do lateral raises work all heads? ›

As you lift your arms out to the sides in a lateral raise, your delts flex (or contract), working against gravity to move your arms up. This movement works all three heads of the deltoid, which are the front (anterior), side (lateral), and rear (posterior) - but it hits the lateral head the hardest.

Heavy weights increase the power and strength of your muscles without significantly adding bulk or size, especially for women. This means that everyday physical tasks get easier, and consistent training will increase the amount of weight you can lift. You'll look stronger, too.