Side lateralls for shoulders ---> to much weight?

[TheSecondName]

When I do side raises I feel them more in the trapezius instead the delts...
I do something wrong... I know, but what??

I've tried them with several techniques like elbows a little bit bend.. elbows straight, light weights, very heavy weights, dropsets and futher...

But always after finish a set of lateralls, I don't have the feeling in the delts.

I was thinking of dong some laterall raises with one arm lying on a bench.. one side each?? Anyone some advice about this exercise?

[RussAnderson]

When I do side raises I feel them more in the trapezius instead the delts...
I do something wrong... I know, but what??

I've tried them with several techniques like elbows a little bit bend.. elbows straight, light weights, very heavy weights, dropsets and futher...

But always after finish a set of lateralls, I don't have the feeling in the delts.

leave them near the end of your shoulder workout or certainly after the pressing and front raise movements till your delts are well fatigued .Then hit the side laterials with lighter weight for higher reps 12-15 trust me you will feel your delts better worked Good Luck.

[mslman71]

Trapezius serve to elevate (and support) the scapulae. Try concentrating on keeping your shoulder in a line parallel to the ground; that is, don't hunch up and elevate the shoulder blade. Don't lift the weight much past 90 degrees if at all. Lift the weight slowly and deliberately and recognize what muscle(s) is(are) being activated throughout the movement.

You may also have relatively weak trapezius and the weak link in the chain is showing up.

edit: If you are using too much weight and trying to sling it up from the start then there's a good change you're using your scapula and traps to initiate the swinging movement (I've seen people do this). Don't. Go light in the beginning and work your way up.

[hulkinout]

How high are you raising the bells? Generally, anything past parallel to the ground intiates more traps.

A tip that helped me was to keep my elbow soft (slightest of bends), and to lead with the elbow. Sounds like it shouldn't matter that much, but it touched off some nice new gains.

Doing them one side at a time also seems to make them more efficient. Especially when going heavier, some folks have a tendency to shrug when you're doing both sides simultaneously.

Also make sure you're standing up straight, shoulders back.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Liangtastic]

I personally have dropped lateral raises but I liked these.

[ManVsIron]

"to much weight?", you ask in the title. Done correctly, the traps should not really be involved, so no, weight is not your issue.

Unless you're pretending that you're Tom Platz, and using a DB that's way too heavy, exercising with 3" ROM.

You just need to figure out how to isolate that muscle. Practice, by looking in the mirror, with no weight at all.

[Bostongeorge617]

I prefer leaning forward onto a seat (or anything waist-high) and using the heaviest weight possible. Slight bend in the elbows and let it rip. Body english is ok to some degree, but be sure to pause at the top. Follow this exercise with dumbbell upright rows, spaced wide.

[DJAuto]

It's likely a mind-muscle control issue. Try visualizing the movement...and, although it sounds funny...feel the movement.

[sb8160]

i had this exact problem!

stop flexing your traps and relax them.

also, i like to work traps heavily before u do shoulder raises, so they are too tired to help much.

[Tyciol]

I feel even when not elevating the scapula that when you lift heavy weights the traps seem to come into play, maybe it helps spread the force out or something. Laterals don't get as heavy as deads/farmer walks but maybe the leverage forces get cushioned in the same way.

I think if we lift slowly, the chance of the traps jerking to create momentum to get the bell up is diminished since the momentum would disappate. Pausing at the top would also mean the delts must be doing the work of holding the bells up there.

[Pump Freak 86]

It's likely a mind-muscle control issue. Try visualizing the movement...and, although it sounds funny...feel the movement.

Thus. You can also work on your posing to help yourself learn to actually flex the muscle in a variety of positions. Laterals arent a movement that even require a whole lot of weight (relatively speaking) so it's likely an issue of muse control, or possibly weak traps. I NEVER feel laterals in my traps because I train them with much heavier weights.

I also like static contractions to build the connection as well. Grab a pair of dumbbells 10-15 lbs lighter than your normal repping weight, and do a set as normal. At the top if your last rep, hold the position for 30 seconds or as long as you can. If your traps are dominant in the movement, then they will give out first leaving your delts to get hammered all by their lonesome. If your delts are dominant, they will burn like hell and you would do well to stop once your feel your traps coming into play. While you're in that position, you'll also find your sweet spot or groove for the ROM. After a while, you'll just go right to that plane of motion and your delts will be much happier.

[BruceBruce325]

side lat raises kill me... i lift heavy everywhere else but side lats i can't do crap.

i figure if you're struggling to get the weight above your shoulder then it's too much.

[JanesLastResort]

Keep your back straight and pull with your delts. That's the most simple advice. Start your warm ups with pink dumbbels if you have to, but light dumbbels will help you feel what you need to do once you go heavier.

[RussAnderson]

lean slightly forward and bend your head down to put more stress on the delts less on the traps .

[vincerich]

Do you have a video? My first thought was that you're probably jerking the weight up. Lower the weight (or don't use any weight at all) and see if you can concentrate on engaging your delts.

[AirForceV]

Grab light ass weights and rep them out with max concentration and NO movement of the body. Keep your shoulders back and feel your delts doing all the work. You may have to do one at a time before you can try two at a time. If you have to sit down to keep your body from moving involuntarily, sit your ass down and get your back up against the seat.

However I love to incorporate my traps in my rear delt flyes and laterals. It just feels too good some times. Delts are the greatest ****ing muscle group, the pump is like no other.

[Dominik]

When I do side raises I feel them more in the trapezius instead the delts...
I do something wrong... I know, but what??

I've tried them with several techniques like elbows a little bit bend.. elbows straight, light weights, very heavy weights, dropsets and futher...

But always after finish a set of lateralls, I don't have the feeling in the delts.

Keep the traps out of the movement and do them with less weight and strict form, otherwise they're practically useless IMO.

I prefer to do them with a cable, one arm at a time. A cable provides consistent tension as opposed to dumbbells which don't offer much resistance in the bottom half of the movement which is why some people swing them up.

[George Costanza]

Keep the traps out of the movement and do them with less weight and strict form, otherwise they're practically useless IMO.

I prefer to do them with a cable, one arm at a time. A cable provides consistent tension as opposed to dumbbells which don't offer much resistance in the bottom half of the movement which is why some people swing them up.

A general rule of thumb I like to tell people is to do them with the cable cross machine literally set to 10 pounds and SQUEEZE HARD at the top to see what the MMC should feel like. I used to have the same trap problem. I noticed on the cable cross machine that I could really contract at the top due to the uniform tension throughout the movement and eventually moved on to dumbbells when I knew what it was supposed to feel like when done perfectly.

[ygbodybuilder10]

I personally have dropped lateral raises ]

explain why

[Liangtastic]

explain why

I hurt my left shoulder...it hurt to raise my arm over my head for a week. Now the pain is just about completely gone (healed on its own). But the last time I tried laterals, I kept getting a significant click...so I've halted them for the time being.

[miamibodybuilder]

in my opinion, you'll always feel side raises in your lats just cause they're attached to your shoulders. although, if you feel them way to much in your traps and not your medial head, then there is something wrong. either you're going way too heavy, form isnt good enough, or you're going way to high on your rep. drop the weight and do them correctly because this is an exercise and a muscle that needs proper execution to hit it correctly. i dont go any higher than my shoulders, actually just below my shoulder just so that my trap stays out of the motion completely, also once i'm reacher the top i try to point my pinky to the ceiling, like pouring something out. give that a try man.

[__Iceman__]

What kind of rep range are you working with OP? On laterals I normally work with about 12-15 reps per set (closer to 15 usually). Slow down your descent and hold the weight at the peak of each rep even if for just half a second. Avoid going too fast on the ascent as well. Working with higher rep ranges on laterals gives you a better opportunity to put this focus on each rep. Though of course the last few reps of later sets may start to show a greater amount of technique deterioration. So try lowering the weight, increasing the rep range a bit. You could then later switch back to your previous rep range with a bit more weight and will hopefully have adapted to putting on a shoulder focus with each rep (even on those slight cheat reps).

[TheSecondName]

Thanks for every reponse. I appericiate it well!

Tried several repranges in the past with 30LBS, 20LBS 10LBS and even 5LBS... 20reps, 15reps, 12 reps 6-8reps... dropsets , supersets, and any of these methods havn't burned my delts completely... only my trap is burning out.

My shoulders are also my weakest point compared to my chest, back and legs.

I was thinking of dong some laterall raises with one arm lying on a bench.. one side each?? Anyone some advice about this exercise?