As anyone who strength trains will know, there’s no upper body exercise that will humble you quite so swiftly as a lateral raise. No matter how much work you put into building strength across the upper body, making progress on your lateral raises can feel like an impossible task; even the smallest increase in weight can leave your muscles screaming.

There are reasons why this is the case, as we previously explored here at Strong Women. Not only do lateral raises require a lot of force, but they’re also an isolation exercise – meaning they are predominantly powered by one muscle. In this case, that’s the lateral deltoids in the shoulder.

But just because lateral raises are difficult, doesn’t mean it’s impossible to see improvement – you just need to go about it in the right way. So, to help you see the progress you crave, we asked the experts to share their top tips for improving your lateral raise abilities and the benefits you can expect from working on this exercise.  

Lateral raises are known for their ability to ‘sculpt’ the shoulder muscles – but there are far more benefits to this exercise beyond the purely aesthetic.

For one thing, they’re great for building overall shoulder strength and stability, which can make it easier for you to perform other upper body exercises that involve the shoulder muscles and reduce your risk of shoulder injuries in general.

“Strong lateral deltoids are also essential for everyday tasks involving lifting and carrying objects away from the body,” says Aaron Breckell, a fitness trainer and ambassador at Innermost Nutrition.

Doing lateral raises on a regular basis can also help your posture, adds Veronique Ellis, a pilates and yoga instructor and founder of Evolve Wellness. “Building the muscles around the shoulder girdle promotes proper alignment and reduces rounded shoulders.” 

1. Focus on building shoulder strength

While including lateral raises in your workout routine on a regular basis is essential when you’re trying to improve, there are other upper body exercises you can do to build strength in the shoulder muscles. In turn, this should make lateral raises feel easier and help you increase the amount of weight you can lift.

“To enhance lateral raises, incorporating exercises that strengthen the shoulder muscles is crucial,” says Ali Malik, a personal trainer and founder of Fit Labs Kensington. “Some effective exercises include shoulder presses, upright rows, bent-over lateral raises and face pulls.”

2. Refine your technique

“To enhance performance in lateral raises, it’s crucial to both strengthen the muscles involved and refine technique,” Breckell says.

In particular, you want to make sure you’re not swinging the weights up and down – both the upward and downward motions should be slow and controlled. 

You also need to keep your back straight and brace your core so that your shoulder muscles can work in isolation. Otherwise, you might find yourself pushing upwards from your core muscles to help with the lifting portion of the move, which leads to that swinging motion.

3. Make time for stability work

Because a good lateral raise is slow and controlled, you’ll need stability as well as strength to perform the exercise to the best of your ability.

Adding some external rotation exercises into your routine is a great place to start, Breckell says: “Incorporating external rotation exercises strengthens the rotator cuff, promoting shoulder stability and reducing injury risk.”

Some examples of external rotation exercises include Cuban rotations (both seated and standing) and banded rows with external rotation.  

While not strictly involved in lateral raises, strengthening muscles like the anterior deltoids – which are located at the front of your shoulders – can also make a difference to your ability to do this exercise.

A great move to work on your anterior deltoids are front raises, Ellis explains. “This move can help to balance the strength in your shoulders and improve overall shoulder stability.” 

Images: Getty