Side delts: exercises and how to train them
The side delts give your shoulders width, and presses barely load them. Lateral raises build them — light weight, clean range and plenty of volume.
What these muscles do
The middle head of the deltoid lifts your arm out to the side up to horizontal. Raises use light weights, so the mistake is almost always the same — swinging the torso and letting the traps steal the work. The shoulder does the job: the elbow leads, the hand stays no higher than the elbow.
Exercises with technique breakdowns
7 more exercises in the catalog
- Cable Lateral Raise
- Seated Side Lateral Raise
- One-Arm Side Lateral Raise
- Dumbbell Upright Row
- Cable Upright Row
- Cable Seated Lateral Raise
- Dumbbell Scaption
They're all in the diary: find one by name in the bot or the app, and I'll remember the weight and reps.
How to train them
- Pick a weight you can raise for 12–20 clean reps without jerking your body.
- Cable raises keep tension at the bottom of the range — a good partner for dumbbells.
- A wide-grip upright row also hits the side delts, but keep your elbows no higher than your shoulders.
- Raise more often, not heavier: 2–3 sessions a week, 3–4 sets each.
Programs and sets for this group
| Program | Sets per cycle | Days per cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Full Body — 2 Days | 3 | 2 |
| Full Body — 3 Days | 3 | 3 |
| Push / Pull / Legs | 3 | 3 |
| 3-Day Split | 3 | 3 |
Sets for one pass through all of the program's days, by its own schemes. A deadlift set is split in half between back and hamstrings — the way the diary counts it.
Log your workouts — I'll show how many sets a week you give this group.