Welcome to Performance Science International instructional exercise videos. Today we're going to go over dumbbell lateral raises, probably the most screwed-up exercise of all. Almost everybody does these wrong.

Dumbbell lateral raises are called lateral raises because they're for the side delts. They’re not for the front delts; they’re for the side delts. Every time you do a pressing movement—bench press, incline press, shoulder presses, anything like that—you are also working the front delts, which is why on most people, the front delt is so much bigger than the other two. Because they do all front delt work, even their lateral raises are front delt work.

I’m going to demonstrate this in a second. If your trainer is telling you to do them standing up straight, he’s wrong. I once messaged a pro now-Wellness competitor who was doing them like this and told her she was wrong. She said her trainer told them they were for front and side delts, which is a joke, because why would you do three exercises for front delts and then add a fourth for front delts? You’re trying to build the side delt so that you have wider shoulders and a better cap. That’s what you’re trying to get.

Now, one way to find out if you’re doing this wrong is to grab a set of light dumbbells and do a rep. If you’re standing up like this, do a rep and have somebody put their finger on the top muscle here, which right now for me would be this muscle. When I lower my hands down, guess where my finger is? Right on the front muscle. So I am working primarily the front delt. Why does everybody want to do that? Because they strengthen the front delt with every other pressing movement, and it’s stronger, so your body wants to use the stronger muscles. This one's weaker; your body doesn’t want to use that because it’s easier to lift with the stronger muscles. And guess what? You get to feed your ego by lifting heavier weights and doing it wrong. We’re not here to feed ego; we’re here to build muscle properly.

The way to hit the side delt is you have to slouch a little bit. Yes, everybody’s going to tell you that’s wrong. I even had people come up to me and ask if I’m training the rear delt. Obviously not. When you slouch a little bit, what you’re doing is you’re putting this muscle on top. Slouch, raise up—yes, it’s going to be much, much harder because this muscle is weaker, because you’ve never been working it. Raise up. If I do this, what’s the top muscle? Oh, that one there. Look where I’m at.

You have to slouch a little bit. You’re not going way down; you’re just adjusting your chest and your shoulder girdle so that this muscle can do the pulling. You have to set your body up to access the proper muscle. Now, the other instructions people give you are pretty much right. You don’t want to turn your shoulders this way, because by doing that, guess what you’re doing? You’re putting this muscle on top. You want to make sure you do it this way.

Basically, when you’re doing this, your hand is a hook for the weight. You’re lifting your elbow and keeping your elbow turned up, so you’re doing this. Now I’m going to demonstrate it. Nice light dumbbells to start. Get a nice base. You don’t want to be off balance or anything—nice solid base, because that’s where you work from. Slouch a little bit, push out, push out, push out. If you’re lifting up, you’re going to do this. I see this all day; that’s so much easier. Push out, push out.

If you notice, I also start from my side. A lot of people like to start from here. By doing this, what you’re doing is you’re getting a little extra momentum. By doing that, you take some of the stress off the muscle. Take the momentum out and lift the weight. Yes, it’s going to be lighter. Yes, it’s going to be harder. Yes, you’re going to build more muscle. The guy that taught me said if you’re trying to make it harder, you’re on the right path.

So that’s dumbbell lateral raises. Make sure you’re hitting the right muscle. If you need a friend to do this, do it. Have them put their finger where it looks like you’re lifting. It’s very easy to learn. It’s very easy to do. This exercise is hard to do because you’re always going to fight it. Even after 40 years of me working out, I still fight standing up when I do it.

Let’s do this right, and then you’ll see some real advancements on your shoulder. Once again, if you’re watching this on YouTube, please like and subscribe. It helps us make more of these and make them better so that I can keep teaching for free. Thank you.