Side Delt Exercises: 5 Best Moves for Wider Shoulders

Side delt exercises are the fastest way to make your frame look wider. Your shoulder bones don't change after your teens, but the muscle sitting on the outside of them can add a couple of centimetres per side, and that's exactly where width shows up in a T-shirt or a photo from the front.

Most beginners think overhead pressing builds the whole shoulder. It mostly builds the front of it. The side delt, the part that caps the outside of your arm, only does a fraction of the work in a press, and the lateral raises people do to cover it are usually too heavy, too fast and swung up with the traps. The fix is boring: lighter weights, more sets, and a few variations that load the muscle at different points of the rep. Done twice a week, most people see their shoulders look broader in photos within 8 to 12 weeks.

Before

After

The work, step by step

1. What the side delt does, and why pressing isn't enough. The deltoid has three parts: front, side and rear. The side (lateral) delt sits on the outside of your shoulder and lifts your arm out to the side, away from your body. That's its main job, and it's the one most training plans barely cover. In an overhead press your arms travel up in front of you, so the front delts and triceps carry most of the load. In rows and pulldowns the rear delts and back take over. So the best side delt exercises all have one thing in common: your upper arm moves out and up in the plane of your body, roughly in line with your torso or slightly in front of it. Keep that picture in mind and you can judge any new exercise in a few seconds.
2. Dumbbell lateral raise: 4 sets of 12 to 20. The classic, and still the best side delt exercise for most people, if you do it properly. Stand tall with light dumbbells at your sides, lean forward a few degrees, and raise your arms out to the sides with a slight bend in the elbows until they're level with your shoulders. Think about pushing the dumbbells out to the walls, not up to the ceiling. Your hands should stay at or a little below elbow height the whole way. Pause for a second at the top and lower over 2 to 3 seconds. Most beginners should start with 4 to 8 kg per hand. If you're shrugging, swinging your hips or the weight is flying up, it's too heavy. Going higher than shoulder level is fine if it feels good, but it brings in more trap.
3. Cable lateral raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15 per arm. Dumbbells are easy at the bottom of the rep, because gravity barely pulls against you when your arm hangs straight down. A cable fixes that. Set a pulley at the lowest point, stand side-on to the machine and take the handle in the hand furthest from it, so the cable crosses in front of your body. Raise your arm out to shoulder height, pause, and lower slowly until your hand is just past your hip. You'll be weaker than you expect: 2.5 to 5 kg is a normal start. Working one arm at a time also lets you hold the frame with your free hand, which keeps your torso still. Rotate this in after a few weeks of dumbbell raises, or use it as your second side delt exercise of the day.
4. Lean-away and seated lateral raises. Lean-away lateral raise: 3 sets of 10 to 15 per arm. Hold a pole or the side of a rack with one hand, lean your body away so you're at about 15 to 20 degrees, and raise a dumbbell with the other arm. The lean puts more tension on the side delt at the start of the rep, much like a cable does, and makes it almost impossible to cheat with your hips. Seated lateral raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15. Sit on the end of a bench with your feet flat and do a normal raise. Taking your legs out of it removes the swing most people don't realise they use. If you train at home with only dumbbells, these two are the best side delt exercises to cycle between, since both copy part of what a cable does.
5. Wide-grip upright row or machine lateral raise. Pick one as your heavier option. Wide-grip upright row: 3 sets of 8 to 12. Grab an EZ bar or two dumbbells with your hands about 1.5 times shoulder width and pull up until your elbows reach shoulder height, not higher. The wide grip and the elbow limit keep it shoulder friendly, and leading with the elbows puts the side delts in charge. Start around 15 to 25 kg on a bar. If you feel a pinch at the front of your shoulder, stop a few centimetres lower or skip it. Machine lateral raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15. Line the pads up with the outside of your upper arms, keep your shoulders down and press out with your elbows. It's the easiest way to take a set close to failure safely, because the machine holds the path.
6. Put it into your week: 10 to 14 sets, twice a week. Day A (on push or shoulder day): dumbbell lateral raise 4x12-20, wide-grip upright row 3x8-12. Day B (on pull or upper day): cable lateral raise 3x12-15 per arm, lean-away or seated lateral raise 3x10-15. That's 13 hard sets a week, and each block takes 12 to 15 minutes. Side delts recover fast and handle volume well, so if they're clearly behind after a couple of months, add a third short session or a fourth set. Progress by reps first: when every set hits the top of the range with a pause and a slow lowering, go up the smallest step you can, often just 1 kg. Expect slow, steady change rather than a jump. Eat around 1.6 g of protein per kg of bodyweight, and if you're slim, a 200 to 300 calorie surplus. Pair this with rear delt work so the shoulder grows round from every angle, not just from the front.

Common pitfalls

• Swinging heavy dumbbells. If your torso rocks and your traps shrug up, the side delts are barely working. Halve the weight and pause at the top.
• Lifting with your hands instead of your elbows. Leading with the hands turns your arms forward and shifts the work to the front delts.
• Only doing side delt exercises at the end of a long session, when you're tired and rushing. If width is the goal, train them early twice a week for a few months.
• Pulling upright rows to your chin with a close grip. That's the version that irritates shoulders. Keep the grip wide and stop at shoulder height.

Pro tip: Film one set from the front with your phone on a shelf. If your shoulders rise toward your ears or your hands get higher than your elbows, you'll see it straight away, and it's usually the reason people say they never feel their side delts working.

How Muscle Editor fits in

If you want to see what broader shoulders would do for your frame, run a front or back photo through Muscle Editor's Shoulders editor at Fit. That's close to what a few months of consistent side delt work can add, and seeing your own outline wider at the top makes the light, repetitive raise sets easier to keep doing. Treat it as a goal picture, not proof of progress.

Frequently asked questions

Filed under Workouts. Tagged: shoulders, side delts, delts, v-taper, workout, beginners.