Seated Rear Lateral Raise Overview
The seated rear lateral raise is a move for the back of your shoulders. It works your rear shoulders, the muscles on the back of your delts. It also works your middle back. You sit on a bench and hold a dumbbell in each hand. You raise the weights out to your sides in a wide arc. Sitting down helps you stay still and strict. The seated rear lateral raise builds full, round shoulders. Many people have weak rear delts. This move fixes that weak spot. Strong rear shoulders also help your posture. This is a good beginner move. Do it after your big pressing lifts. It fits well on a shoulder or back day.
What Is The Point of the Seated Rear Lateral Raise?
The seated rear lateral raise targets your rear deltoids and builds stronger, more balanced shoulders. It fixes forward shoulder posture and creates better shoulder stability.
How To Do The Seated Rear Lateral Raise
- Sit on the end of a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your feet planted flat on the floor. Sitting removes leg drive and cheating, so the rear delts have to do the honest work.
- Hinge forward from the hips until your chest is close to your thighs. Keep your back flat, not rounded, and let the dumbbells hang down beneath your chest with a slight bend in your elbows.
- Take a breath and brace your core lightly to keep your torso locked in this bent position. That fixed angle is what keeps the rear delts on tension instead of letting your body sway.
- Set a soft bend in your elbows and hold it there. You will keep this angle the whole rep, since bending and straightening the arms turns the move into something else.
- Raise the dumbbells out to your sides in a wide arc, leading with your pinkies so your thumbs point slightly down. Think about spreading your arms like wings driven by the back of your shoulders.
- Lift until your arms are roughly parallel to the floor and your shoulder blades draw together. Do not swing higher with momentum, since going past this just brings the traps in.
- Squeeze the rear delts at the top and hold for a full second. You should feel the back of your shoulders and mid-back working, not your neck or lower back.
- Lower the weights slowly back to the start under control, taking about two seconds down. Keep light tension and repeat for 12 to 20 reps, since these small muscles love higher rep work.
Seated Rear Lateral Raise Form Tips
- Lean your chest forward and hold it there. This aims the work at your rear delts.
- Keep your back flat, not rounded. Bend at your hips, not your spine.
- Keep a soft bend in your elbows. Lock that bend for the whole set.
- Lead the lift with your pinkies. This turns the work to the back of your shoulders.
- Raise the weights in a wide arc out to your sides.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top. Hold for a beat.
- Move slow both ways. Fast reps use swing, not muscle.
- Keep your shoulders down, away from your ears. Do not shrug.
- Breathe out as you raise. Breathe in as you lower.
- Keep your neck long and eyes down at the floor.
Common Mistakes to Avoid for the Seated Rear Lateral Raise
- Sitting too upright instead of hinging forward. If your torso is vertical, the dumbbells hang the wrong way and the rear delts barely load. Bend forward until your chest is near your thighs so the arc actually hits the back of the shoulder.
- Using dumbbells that are too heavy. The rear delts are small, so a big weight forces you to swing, jerk, and shrug rather than isolate them. Go lighter than your ego wants and earn every clean, controlled rep.
- Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears. When the upper traps take over, the rear delts get sidelined and your neck gets tense. Keep the shoulders pulled down and think about leading the lift with your elbows and pinkies.
- Bending and straightening the elbows through the rep. Flexing the arms turns a raise into a row and changes which muscles work. Lock in a soft elbow bend at the start and hold that exact angle the whole way up and down.
- Swinging the torso to fling the weights up. Rocking your body is momentum, not muscle, and it hides how weak the rear delts really are. Keep your chest still against your legs and let only the arms move.
- Lifting past parallel with the floor. Heaving the dumbbells higher than shoulder level pulls the traps in and takes tension off the target. Stop the arc at about parallel where the rear delts do the work.
- Leading with the thumbs up. Turning the thumbs toward the ceiling rotates the front delt into the movement. Lead with your pinkies and point your thumbs slightly down so the rear delt stays in charge.
- Rushing the lowering phase. Dropping the dumbbells fast wastes the eccentric, which is prime muscle-building time. Take about two seconds down and control the weight all the way back to the start.
- Rounding the lower back in the hinge. Letting the spine curl under the bent-over load stresses the discs and can tweak your back. Set a flat back before you start and keep a light brace through the set.
- Cutting the range short. Small partial raises never fully shorten the rear delts, so you miss the peak contraction. Lift to a real parallel position and squeeze the shoulder blades at the top of each rep.
- Holding your breath the whole set. Bearing down on a light isolation move just adds neck tension for no benefit. Exhale as you lift the weights and keep your breathing smooth and steady.
Seated Rear Lateral Raise Workout Tips
- Hinge forward until your chest nearly touches your thighs. This angle points the dumbbells straight down so the arc loads the rear delts perfectly, and it is the biggest factor in feeling the right muscle.
- Lead with your pinkies, thumbs slightly down. This subtle rotation keeps the rear delt in charge and stops the front delt from stealing the lift, so you actually train the back of the shoulder.
- Keep the load light and the reps moderate to high. The rear delts are small and respond best to 12 to 20 clean reps, so leave the heavy weights for your big compound pressing and pulling.
- Add a one second squeeze at the top. Pausing at peak contraction with the shoulder blades drawn together kills momentum and teaches you to feel these stubborn muscles work.
- Chase the mind-muscle connection hard here. The rear delts are notoriously hard to feel, so think about the back of your shoulder driving the arc, since feeling the target is one of the best ways to grow it.
- Use a slow two second lowering. Owning the eccentric keeps tension on the rear delts and gives you more stimulus from a light weight without any need to load heavier.
- Program this on shoulder or pull days as an accessory. Rear delts get neglected because so much of our training is pressing, so a few sets here balances the shoulder and improves posture.
- Try a brief pause at the bottom to kill momentum. Stopping in the stretched position resets each rep from a dead start and stops you from bouncing the weights up with body swing.
- Keep the shoulders packed down away from your ears. This stops the traps from hijacking the lift and keeps the smaller rear delt on tension where you want it.
- Match reps and effort between arms. Even with both hands loaded, one side can quietly do more, so stay honest and let the weaker shoulder set the pace to even things out.
- Support your chest on an incline bench for a stricter version. Lying face down on a low incline locks the torso in place and removes any temptation to swing.
- Warm up the shoulders before loading them. A couple of very light sets wake up the rear delts and rotator cuff so your working sets feel strong and the joint stays happy.
- Do not train to failure every set. Leaving a rep in the tank on these small muscles keeps your form clean and lets you rack up quality volume across the week.
- Progress with tiny jumps in weight. Only nudge the dumbbells up once your current reps are smooth and controlled, since steady overload beats swinging a heavier pair.
- Pair it with face pulls and rear delt work. Hitting the area from a few angles builds a fuller, rounder shoulder and helps balance out all the front delt work from pressing.
- Film a set from the side occasionally. A quick video shows torso swing and shoulder shrug far better than feel, and it keeps you honest about isolating the target.
Questions & Comments
Be the first to ask a question about this exercise.