Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateral

How to do it

1. Set a low pulley and take the handle in the hand furthest from it, so the cable crosses in front of your legs.
2. Hinge forward from the hips with a flat back until your torso is close to parallel with the floor.
3. Let the working arm hang down with a small fixed bend at the elbow.
4. Raise the arm out to the side until it is level with your body.
5. Lead with the elbow, keeping it travelling outward rather than backward.
6. Lower under control against the cable, then finish the side before swapping.

Common mistakes

• Pulling the elbow back toward the hip. Back is a row; out to the side is a raise, and only the second reaches the rear of the shoulder.
• Standing up as the set goes on. The hinge is set before the first repetition; rising turns it into an upright lateral raise.
• Squeezing the shoulder blades together to lift the handle. That is a straight-arm row done by the rhomboids and middle trapezius; the blades stay still while the arm travels.
• Rounding the back to hold the hinge. If a flat back will not reach parallel, take a higher torso angle or brace a hand on a bench.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Posterior DeltoidShoulders

Secondary

• Spinal Erectors
• Rhomboids
• Middle TrapeziusTraps
• Traps