Dumbbell Lateral Raise
The dumbbell lateral raise is an isolation exercise where you lift your arms out to the sides until they're level with your shoulders. It targets the side delts, the muscle that makes your shoulders look wider. It's the go-to pick for shoulder width, since pressing trains the side delts far less.
Muscles worked
The dumbbell lateral raise trains the shoulders.
Primary
Weekly sets for shoulders
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for shoulders, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the dumbbell lateral raise
- 01Stand tall with light dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in and a slight bend in your elbows.
- 02Lean your torso forward a few degrees and keep your shoulders down away from your ears.
- 03Raise your arms out to the sides, leading with your elbows, until they reach shoulder height.
- 04Pause briefly at the top, then lower slowly back to your sides without resting.
Coaching cues
- Push the dumbbells out to the walls
- Elbows lead, hands follow
- Shoulders stay down
Common mistakes
- Shrugging the weight up hands the work to your traps, so keep your shoulders depressed and use lighter dumbbells.
- Swinging your torso to start each rep cheats the side delts, so stand still and slow the first few centimetres.
- Raising far above shoulder height adds little, so stop when your arms are about parallel with the floor.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Dumbbell Lateral Raise alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
- Arm Blaster3 days a week, biceps, triceps, shoulders
- Beach Emergency3 days a week, chest, shoulders, biceps
- Pull Domination3 days a week, back, biceps
- Push Pull Legs3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders, quadriceps
- Upper Antagonist3 days a week, chest, back
- Upper Body Classic3 days a week, chest, back, shoulders
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your dumbbell lateral raise free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.