Side Laterals to Front Raise

How to do it

1. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing your thighs.
2. Stand tall with your stomach braced and a small fixed bend at the elbows.
3. Raise both arms out to the sides until level with the shoulders.
4. Lower them back to your sides under control.
5. Raise both arms out in front of you until level with the shoulders.
6. Lower them back down. One lateral and one front raise together are one repetition.

Common mistakes

• Running the two halves into one sweeping arc. They are two separate raises with a return between them; blurring them means neither is done through its own range.
• Keeping your lateral raise weight. The front raise half is usually the weaker of the two, and it sets the load.
• Leaning back on the front half. The lower back arching is the trunk lifting the weight.
• Going above shoulder height on either. Past level the shoulder blade rotates and the traps take over, on both halves.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Shoulders

Secondary

• Traps