Exercise Library / Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Build wider shoulders — light weight, strict form, big payoff.
Muscles worked
Primary Shoulders
Secondary
Tap a muscle to explore it on the interactive muscle map.
How to do it
- Stand tall with a slight lean forward, dumbbells at your sides.
- Raise your arms out wide with soft elbows — lead with the elbows, not the hands.
- Stop at shoulder height; no higher.
- Pause a beat, then lower with control.
- Go lighter than you think — this move rewards strictness, not load.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the weights up. A hip bump starts the raise with momentum, and the delts get a fraction of the work.
- Shrugging into the raise. When the traps take over, the shoulders rise instead of the arms — keep the shoulders pressed down.
- Letting the weights crash down. The slow lower is half the exercise; dropping it throws that half away.
What the camera coach watches
These are the exact checks FitFormBuddy runs on every rep of dumbbell lateral raise — and what it says when you drift:
- Torso staying still“keep your torso still, no swinging”
- Lowering speed“lower with control”
Get real-time form cues on this exercise
FitFormBuddy watches through your camera and coaches you mid-set — reps counted, mistakes called out as they happen.
