What you'll gain

• Leaning away increases the loaded range at the bottom compared with a standing raise.

• Working one arm at a time makes left-right differences visible.

• Constant cable tension holds the side of the deltoid under load through the whole arc.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Set a cable pulley to its lowest position and attach a single handle.

2. 2

   Stand side-on to the stack and grip the machine upright with your near hand.

3. 3

   Take the handle in your outside hand with a neutral grip across your body.

4. 4

   Straighten the supporting arm and lean away from the stack until your torso is angled out.

5. 5

   Raise the working arm out to the side with a slight elbow bend until it reaches shoulder height.

6. 6

   Lower slowly back across your body, then finish the set and switch sides.

Common Mistakes

• Leaning so far that the supporting arm hauls you upright, which turns the raise into a row.

• Shrugging at the top, which passes the load from the side of the deltoid to the upper traps.

• Bending and straightening the elbow through the rep, which quietly shortens the working lever.

• Dropping the handle back fast, which skips the lengthened position the lean was set up to create.

About This Exercise

This is the single-arm cable lateral raise with the torso angled out. You grip the machine upright with the near hand, straighten that arm and lean away from the stack, then raise the outside arm out to the side until it reaches shoulder height. The joint action is the same shoulder abduction as the upright single-arm version, and the cable keeps constant tension through the arc, so arching the back or swinging into the rep only takes load off the deltoid. For a library the value is the body angle: hard to convey in a photograph and obvious in a loop. Use it as the advanced entry in the lateral raise family, in cable equipment filters, and in content about how position changes a resistance curve.

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