Exercise:

Machine Lateral Raise

Target Muscle:

Shoulders (Lateral Head)

Lateral Raise Machine

Sit down on a lateral raise machine and adjust the height of the seat so that your shoulder joints are in line with the rotating cams on the machine.

Place your upper arms against the pads and grab onto the handles. Raise the handles out to your sides until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Lower the handles back down, and repeat.

- Always favor moderate weights and strict form on this exercise. Loading up too much weight and heaving it around 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.

- 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.