Machine Lateral Raise
A seated machine lateral raise that isolates the side of the shoulder by lifting both arms against fixed pads.
How to do it
- Adjust the seat until your shoulders line up with the machine's pivot points.
- Sit upright with your feet flat on the floor and your back against the pad.
- Set your forearms against the pads or take the handles, keeping a slight bend in the elbows.
- Relax your grip and let your shoulders settle down away from your ears.
- Lift both arms out to the sides until they reach shoulder height, then pause.
- Lower slowly back to the start and repeat.
Key technique cue
Line the machine's pivot up with the shoulder joint; shoulders down, loose grip.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Sitting too high or too low, so the machine pivot no longer matches the shoulder joint.
- ✕ Shrugging into the lift, which lets the traps take over from the side of the deltoid.
- ✕ Squeezing the handles hard, which drags the forearms into a movement they should not drive.
- ✕ Dropping the arms at the end of the rep, which throws away the lowering phase.
Benefits
- ✓ The fixed path removes balance and swing, so the side of the deltoid does the work.
- ✓ Easy to load in small steps, which makes progression simple for beginners.
- ✓ Seated support means trunk fatigue does not end the set early.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here -
Step 2 -
Step 3
About the exercise
The lateral raise machine seats you upright with your shoulders lined up against the machine's pivot points and your forearms on pads or hands on handles. You lift both arms out to the sides until they reach shoulder height, pause, then lower under control. It is a shoulder isolation movement with no significant secondary muscles, simple enough for beginners, and the governing cue is to keep the shoulders down instead of shrugging into the lift. The abduction path is the same one the free-weight lateral raise follows. It removes balance and swing entirely.
Updated
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