Exercise Profile
  • Target Muscle Group
  • Exercise TypeStrength
  • Equipment RequiredDumbbell
  • MechanicsIsolation
  • Force TypePull
  • Experience LevelBeginner
  • Secondary Muscles
    None
Target Muscle Group

Shoulders

Shoulders Muscle Anatomy Diagram

One-Arm Dumbbell Lateral Raise Overview

The one-arm seated dumbbell lateral raise exercise is a variation of the dumbbell lateral raise used to isolate the muscles of the shoulder.

Performing unilateral movements can help improve weaknesses, balance your strength and aesthetic physique, and work towards reducing injuries by addressing imbalances in the body.

One-Arm Dumbbell Lateral Raise Instructions

  1. Grab a dumbbell and stand up while holding the dumbbell down at your sides with a neutral grip. This is the starting position for the exercise.  
  2. Slowly raise the dumbbell to around shoulder height.
  3. Pause and slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for desired reps and then repeat with your other arm.

One-Arm Dumbbell Lateral Raise Tips

  • Focus on keeping the reps slow and controlled. Because this is an isolation exercise, the focus should be on correctly working the muscle - not moving as much weight as possible.
  • Don't bring your arms up too high - up to shoulder height is far enough.
  • If you encounter pain in the shoulder while performing the movement, consider implementing one of the following tweaks:
    • Tilt your pinkies slightly higher than your thumbs. Imagine you’re pouring out a cup of water.
    • Turn your palms forward so that your thumbs are pointing away from your body. This will put the shoulder in a more externally rotated position and potentially open up the shoulder joint to allow for a bit more movement.
2 Comments
Joseph Hall
Posted on: Sat, 09/28/2019 - 00:18

He is demonstrating it using one of the most common ways people mess exercise that I thought. In the video, he is raising the weight above his shoulder height.

asanka mendis
Posted on: Sat, 03/02/2019 - 02:48

goog workout