How to safely and effectively train your lateral deltoids
In this blog post I am going to address the lateral-raise exercise as it is another one of those exercises that is often performed incorrectly. After reading this please watch the accompanying video (which you will find below) in which I demonstrate and explain in-detail the best way to train your lateral deltoids safely.
To start things off lets look at the anatomy of the deltoid muscle. The deltoid muscle is broken down into three parts which are: the anterior (front) deltoid, the lateral (side) deltoid and the posterior (rear) deltoid.
Since this blog post is regarding the lateral deltoid that is what I am going to focus on. In order to train the lateral deltoid it is necessary is to perform some variation of a lateral-raise. The lateral-raise exercise is commonly performed with dumbbells, bands or cables.
In a gym you will commonly see the lateral-raise being performed with the thumbs turned downwards (as if pouring a glass of water from a pitcher). The lateral-raise is commonly performed this way because of the belief that it will optimally target the lateral deltoid. Many old-school bodybuilders still swear by this method and unfortunately many new gym-goers fall victim to their advice. Or should I say “advices”? If you know which popular bodybuilding movie that quote is from please leave a comment with the answer!
Whether there is actually greater activation with the thumbs turned downwards is debatable as a recently published study by Coratella et al. showed that with internal shoulder rotation the EMG activation was 52% vs 55% with a neutral position (thumbs pointing forwards). You can see that study HERE.
If you were to base your lateral-raise technique on this one study you would actually not want your thumbs pointing downwards but rather forwards.
What is the issue with internally rotating your arm so that your thumb is pointing downwards when performing a lateral-raise?
The main issue is that you increase your risk of a shoulder impingement injury because you are decreasing the space between the humerus (upper arm bone) and the acromion (the part of your shoulder blade that connects with your clavicle) of the scapula. (In THIS study they measured the difference in space between the humerus and acromion with varying arm positions.) Since the tendon of your supraspinatus (one of your rotator cuff muscles) runs between this space you are increasing the likelihood of damaging it by internally rotating your arm. So what should you do?
My Recommendation
Always perform lateral-raises from a neutral position (thumb pointing forwards or slightly upwards) and bend forwards slightly at the hips. Please watch the video below in which I go into much greater detail on the correct technique.
Conclusion
As you can see training the lateral deltoid requires a bit of thought in order to train it safely. Simply following the advice of old-school lifters isn’t always the best option. My aim is to provide you with a science-based approach that is logical. If you found this post useful please share it with others that would benefit. Additionally, feel free to leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions!