Seated Cable Lateral Raise
Trains the Lateral Deltoid.
- Equipment
- A cable station and either a flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set a low pulley on each side of a bench, or one pulley and work a side at a time.
- Sit on the bench between them and take the handle in the hand furthest from the pulley, so the cable crosses in front of your shins.
- Sit tall with a small fixed bend at the elbow.
- Raise the arm out to the side until the hand is level with the shoulder.
- Stop level rather than continuing upward.
- Lower under control against the cable's pull rather than letting it drop.
Common mistakes
- Shrugging as the arm rises. Once the shoulder lifts toward the ear the upper trapezius has taken over, and that is the same failure as on a dumbbell lateral raise — the cable just makes it easier to miss because the resistance is smooth.
- Going above shoulder height. Past level the shoulder blade has to rotate for the arm to keep travelling, so the movement stops being a lateral raise whatever it looks like.
- Sitting hunched over the cable. Sitting tall is what keeps the arm's path out to the side; leaning forward turns it into a rear delt raise.
- Letting the cable snap the arm back down. The lowering half is where a cable earns its place over a dumbbell — it keeps pulling at the bottom, where a dumbbell has already gone slack.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Lateral DeltoidShoulders