Exercise:

Incline Bench Lateral Raise

Target Muscle:

Shoulders (Lateral Head)

Incline Bench, Dumbbells

Set an adjustable bench at a 60-70 degree angle and grab onto a pair of dumbbells, standing with your body leaning forward against the bench for support.

Hold the dumbbells at around upper thigh height, and with a slight bend in your elbows, raise them out to your sides in a circular motion until your upper arms are parallel to the floor with your palms facing down.

Lower the dumbbells back down following the same path and repeat.

- Always favor moderate weights and strict form on this exercise. Trying to heave around very heavy dumbbells using a lot of body momentum places the shoulder joints under a lot of stress and can easily lead to injury.

- Flex your abs hard and lock down your ribcage throughout the exercise, as this will shift tension off of the upper traps and more onto the shoulders.

- Always keep your hands and elbows in line with eachother as you raise the weight up, as bringing the hands higher than the elbows causes the rotator cuff muscles to take over.

- Do not raise your upper arms any higher than parallel to the floor. Once you go past parallel, the tension is taken off of the lateral deltoid and the upper traps begin performing the bulk of the work.