Purpose of One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
The one arm cable lateral raise is great exercise for isolating the medial deltoid (the side of the shoulders), one arm at a time.
One-arm cable lateral raises are a great exercise for tightening, toning, and strengthening the medial deltoid.
Equipment Needed to Perform One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
One-arm cable lateral raises are performed on the low cable pulley system with a single handle attachment. This can be found in nearly all gyms, even most condominium gyms.
Difficulty Level of One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
From a scale of 1 to 5, one arm cable lateral raises are a 3 (intermediate level).
How to Perform One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
To perform one-arm cable lateral raises, start by grabbing a handle from a lower pulley and turn your body to the side.Keeping your shoulders back and your chest forward, maintain a slight bend in your knees.
With your palms facing your body, raise the weight outward and up to the side. Be sure to lift the weight out and to the side and not towards the front while keeping a slight bend in your elbows.
Keep your elbows higher than your wrists as you lift the weight, lifting up to about shoulder height. Avoid going any higher than this.
Lower the weight slowly keeping the tension in shoulders until your arm comes back to your side. Allow the weight come to a complete stop before starting the next repetition.Be sure to exhale on the way up, and to inhale on the way down.
One Arm Cable Lateral Raise Key Points:
- Lift weight out to the side
- Keep your elbows higher than your wrists
- Use a weight you can lift without swinging
- Lower the weight slowly and in full control
Number of Reps
Perform anywhere from 10-15 reps each set when doing one arm cable lateral raises. Going less than 10 reps probably means you are going to heavy and are using muscles other than the shoulders, including the traps, to lift the weight.
Pick a weight you can lift in a controlled manner using only your shoulders.
Common Mistakes Performing a One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
Common mistakes when performing one-arm cable lateral raises include the following:
1) Using too much weight – one-arm cable raises are not an exercise that requires heavy weights. They are a fine tuning and toning exercise so it is important to use a weight that is not very heavy and you can lift in full control.
2) Lifting with momentum – this is one of the most common mistakes we see with the one-arm cable lateral raises, lifting with momentum by swinging. By swinging up you are just involving other muscles in the move as well so the shoulders really are not working much harder. Use a weight you can move without swinging.
3) Lifting with a fully extended arm – make sure there is a slight bend in your elbow when performing one arm cable lateral raises. If the arm if fully extended a lot of the tension is transferred from the shoulders to the forearms. Keep a slight bend in your elbows.
Modifications to One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
There are a couple of modifications you can make when performing one arm cable lateral raises.
First has to do with how you finish each rep, as you lift your arm up and to the side. One modification you can when performing one arm cable lateral raises is turning your wrist and pointing your thumb down to the ground, as if you are pouring water out of a pitcher, as you lift the weight.
Doing this really maximizes the contraction you get from this shoulder exercise.
The second modification you can make when performing one arm cable lateral raises is how you position your arm at the start of the exercise. You can start by having your arm in front or behind your body.
What you choose is mostly a matter of preference. Perform both to see which feels better and stick to that.
When to Perform One-Arm Cable Raise:
One-arm cable lateral raises should be performed towards the end of a shoulder workout as a finishing move as they are a great exercise to finish off the shoulder by pumping them full of blood.
Alternative Exercises to One Arm Cable Lateral Raise
Other exercises similar to one arm cable lateral raises include dumbbell lateral raises and one arm dumbbell lateral raises.
Note: Avoid this exercise if you suffer from any rotator cuff injury or experience any pain when abducting your arm (lifting it out and to the side).
Difference Between One Arm Cable Lateral Raise and Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Although the one arm cable lateral raise and dumbbell lateral raise are very similar exercises, both targeting the medial deltoid (side of the shoulder), they have subtle differences.
The first major obvious difference is that dumbbell lateral raises are a free weight exercise whereas the one arm cable lateral raises use the cable pulley system.
The other difference is that while you can probably lift more weight with the dumbbell lateral raises, with one arm cable lateral raises you have an increased range of motion.
When performing this exercise with cables you can start by having your arm either in front or behind your body. As your arm is pulled across your body (either to the front or to the back), the range of motion your arm has to go through to lift the weight is greater than what it would be if you started with your arm at your side, as the case with dumbbell lateral raise.