Bodyweight Lateral Raise

Muscles worked by the Bodyweight Lateral Raise

Primary

Side DeltsLateral Deltoid

Secondary

Front DeltsAnterior DeltoidTrapsTrapezius

Also called: side deltoid, lateral delt, side delt, medial deltoid, lateral deltoid.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Bodyweight Lateral Raise

1. Stand upright with arms hanging at your sides.
2. Raise both arms out to the sides with a slight elbow bend until parallel with the floor.
3. Pause briefly at the top.
4. Lower slowly back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for the desired reps.

Form tips

• Lead with your elbows, not your hands.
• Avoid shrugging your shoulders at the top.
• Control the descent to maximize time under tension.

At a glance

Bodyweight Lateral Raise in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Arnold Press
• Barbell Overhead Press
• Barbell Upright Row
• Behind the Neck Press
• Cable Lateral Raise
• Cable Upright Row
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "bodyweight-lateral-raise",
  "name_en": "Bodyweight Lateral Raise",
  "name_de": "Körpergewicht Seitheben",
  "name_es": "Elevación Lateral con Peso Corporal",
  "description_en": "A shoulder isolation movement performed without equipment to develop lateral deltoid width.",
  "description_de": "Eine Schulter-Isolationsübung ohne Gewichte zur Entwicklung der seitlichen Deltabreite.",
  "description_es": "Un movimiento de aislamiento de hombros sin equipamiento para desarrollar el ancho del deltoides lateral.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "push",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "shoulders",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "lateral_deltoid"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "anterior_deltoid",
    "trapezius"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "shoulder_focus",
    "push_day"
  ],
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Stand upright with arms hanging at your sides.",
    "Raise both arms out to the sides with a slight elbow bend until parallel with the floor.",
    "Pause briefly at the top.",
    "Lower slowly back to the starting position.",
    "Repeat for the desired reps."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Stehe aufrecht, die Arme hängen seitlich am Körper.",
    "Hebe beide Arme mit leicht gebeugten Ellbogen seitlich bis auf Schulterhöhe.",
    "Halte kurz oben an.",
    "Senke die Arme langsam zurück in die Ausgangsposition.",
    "Wiederhole die gewünschte Anzahl an Wiederholungen."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Párate erguido con los brazos colgando a los lados.",
    "Levanta ambos brazos hacia los lados con un ligero codo doblado hasta la altura de los hombros.",
    "Haz una pausa breve arriba.",
    "Baja lentamente a la posición inicial.",
    "Repite el número de repeticiones deseado."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Lead with your elbows, not your hands.",
    "Avoid shrugging your shoulders at the top.",
    "Control the descent to maximize time under tension."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Führe die Bewegung mit den Ellbogen, nicht mit den Händen.",
    "Vermeide es, die Schultern oben anzuheben.",
    "Kontrolliere die Absenkbewegung für maximale Spannung."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Lidera el movimiento con los codos, no con las manos.",
    "Evita encoger los hombros en la parte superior.",
    "Controla el descenso para maximizar el tiempo bajo tensión."
  ],
  "met": 3.5,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/bodyweight-lateral-raise-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/bodyweight-lateral-raise-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "bodyweight-lateral-raise");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.