Correct Form Lateral Raises

[Liberator]

Ive asked this before, but Ive got to ask it again as I am confused about something

The whole point of lateral raises is to put that nice rounded cap on your shoulders at the sides right and etch in the details?

So what is the perfect form for this, it seems to get abused more than anything

Here are the different methods:

1. Start with dumbells touching infront of you, lift to parallel

2. Start with dumbells resting on quads, lift to around ear/above

3. Start with dumbells touching infornt of you, raise above head almost

etc

Which is right?

If you go above parallel, surely you are hitting your traps????

Isnt this counterproductive to the whole point of the exercise?

Isnt PARALLEL the way to go and also I do it with the bells resting on my quads, cuz its harder and you MUST use stricter form

none of that pussy swinging your body to get the weight up shit

So which is it?

 

[punch]

This is a very important topic bro, Im glad you brought it up! Honestly, my side delts have never had a problem growing because I never went to heavy. I always do them seated with the dbls to my side but never completely relaxed. At the top of the movement I never go above shoulder level for 2 reasons 1) safety 2) takes emphasis off of the sides and more on traps like you had stated. One thing that I do is turn my pinkies up like I am pouring a pitcher of water at the top. This gives me a little extra squeeze at the top.

Lastly, I drop set on every set!!! This excersise is useless if your swinging too much. So, for example if I do 40's or 45's for 8 reps I will drop to the 25's or 30's to get a total of 15. Always 15 reps for me and 4-5 sets. LOL

 

[goahead]

Besides genetic muscle shape/fiber type it is all about neural pathways... Different people can get various results using the the mentioned techniques for lateral raises. In fact i know a guy who has huge ripped side delts from just doing millitary barbell presses to front (i really envy that!!!) . Also Kevin levrone mentioned he hardly trains rear delts as he claims to be able to hit all deltoids heads just using dumbell delt presses.

Apparantly these guys can recuit more fibers due to superior neural pathways.....

But i am not like that so i have to do some strict targetting exercises to bring out side delt. However when an exercise is too specific , weight/intensity usually becomes too low to match the growth induced by heavy basic exercises...

What works for me is to do:

4 heavy, somewhat sloppy sets of side laterals, starting dumbells in front of me, lifting till parallel
(7-5 reps)

followed up by 4 very strict sets, starting with dumbells next to quads. I must drop weight signicantly as i am not able to generate much momentum / acceleration, but i compensate that by lifting above parallel and really hold and squeeze the weight for 2 seconds here!

Doing both the heavy sloppy reps and the lighter more specific reps i feel that it synergistically works, as i am now able to lift much heavier dumbell in a strict manner than if i was to do without them sloppy reps

Just doing the heavy sloppy reps i could in time maybe go really heavy but then again the laterals would probably look more like power cleans and would not be specific enough to fry the side delts..

The newest generation pre-workout sport drinks contain so called cholinergines to improve neural pathway responses (as opposed to anti-cholinergines like nerve-gas which block the neural pathway, leaving your muscles (heart and repitory muscles too!) weak and unable to contract.

Optimized neural pathway may account for the incredible tricks these tiny buddhist monks can display.

Maybe we ought to do some Zen meditation before our next workout....

 

[goahead]

Also, because my side delts do not receive much stress from doing chest or back exercises i feel that i can train them more often than other muscle groups. I train side delts three times a week. I wouldn't do that for bis and tris as it would affect chest/back workouts too much and vice versa.....

(unless you are somebody who trains full body workouts, few sets 3 times a week)

Also the drop-set laterals mentioned by PUNCH I have used in the past with decent result. Remind me to include them again in my next workout which will probably look like this:

3 * 7 heavy and sloppy
3 * drop sets medium-light weight
3 * light weight, 8 reps, 2 seconds peak contraction above parrallel

 

[Liberator]

Good replies guys

I think that to get the best out of it you have to do it right otherwise its worthless

I see so many people doing it in different ways, all of them above the head almost like they are avbout to start a dumbell press

I notice that when you do this the strain is taken off your shoulders and onto your traps, so they in effect get a rest, isnt that what shrugs are for? so whats the point

Goahead, hehehe at the zen thing, very interesting about the sports drinks, remind me not to drink any of that lucozade stuff or gatorade, have you ever tried it? I felt thirstier than ever when I did and lathargic, guess this is because my stomach is trying to absorb it, taking energy away from my muscles?

I know Dorian Yates used to do an A and B workout for laterals, on the A workout he would do side laterals sitting on a bench like punch, with dbells hanging underneath him, only going to parallel, and workout B he would do them standing the way I do them. He too said any higher than parallel works your traps.

Just a point, but I think this exercise is big time abused and worthless to alot of people.

The same goes for leg raises, whats the point in going all the way up??? as far as you can go, I feel my abs relax if I go all the way to the top, so I dont do it. I'm no talking hanging leg raises here. Some people go real fast aswell, so you have to do loads of reps, if you do it slowly, VERY SLOWLY and controlled, it totally wipes you out!!!

 

[Phemomena]

personally, i like to do side raises one side at a time, holding on to a bar or something with the non working arm and leaning back a little allows me really concentrate on the motion... anyone else do this?

 

[punch]

Bro, thats one of my favorite excersises. Once a every 2 weeks I will go a little heavier and do one arm raises. I always drop set and it kills. Also I do incline one arm lateral raises. Arnold invented these. You lie on one side on a 45 degree incline and raise the opposing arm. This is the preacher curl of laterals. The isolation is great and is an excellent way to finish working the side delts.

 

[Phemomena]

Bro, thats one of my favorite excersises. Once a every 2 weeks I will go a little heavier and do one arm raises. I always drop set and it kills. Also I do incline one arm lateral raises. Arnold invented these. You lie on one side on a 45 degree incline and raise the opposing arm. This is the preacher curl of laterals. The isolation is great and is an excellent way to finish working the side delts.

i'll have to try that one out...

(don't call me bro again though, i'm female )

 

[Liberator]

Cant you do this with cable?

Isnt it better for isolating the muscles

Another interesting point maybe, do you agree that every exercise needs a barbell movement for maximum mass?

Like shoulder press for shoulders with bar, squat, bench and curls with a bar (not the damn ez curl bar which is a bunch of shit in my opinion, i hate that thing - maybe i shouldnt)

i see alot of people disregarding the bar altogether for shoulders and only concentrating on dumbells

these people dont have nothing special going on with there shoulders either

 

[Phemomena]

Cant you do this with cable?

personally i find cables put me in an unatural position... rotator cuff injuries are scary, i don't want one... tried cables, just don't feel right... but that's just me... if it feels safe to you, go for it...