Rear Lateral Raise
Reviewed by Dylan Maurick, Physiotherapist
The Rear Lateral Raise targets the back of the shoulders to improve balance, posture, and controlled upper body strength.
Rear Lateral Raise
Muscles Worked: Rear Lateral Raise
The rear lateral raise mainly works your rear delts, which lift your arms out and slightly back so the back of your shoulders does most of the job. Your traps help keep your shoulder blades steady, and your side delts chip in as your arms move away from your body. Because the weight is light and your arms stay fairly fixed, this is more about clean tension than moving big loads. You should feel the back of your shoulders burning, not your neck or lower back, and steady breathing can help you stay braced during the set.
Technique and form
How to perform the Rear Lateral Raise
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing your body and arms hanging straight down.
- Maintain a slight bend in your knees and hinge forward at the hips until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor, keeping your back flat and core engaged.
- Allow your arms to hang perpendicular to the floor with a slight bend in the elbows that remains constant throughout the movement.
- Exhale as you raise both arms out to the sides, focusing on squeezing your shoulder blades together.
- Lift the weights until your arms are approximately parallel to the floor, ensuring your elbows remain slightly higher than your wrists at the top of the movement.
- Pause briefly at the top position, focusing on the contraction in your rear deltoids and maintaining a neutral neck position.
- Inhale as you slowly lower the weights back to the starting position with controlled movement, maintaining tension in your shoulder muscles.
- Keep your torso position stable throughout the entire exercise, avoiding any swinging or using momentum to lift the weights.
Important information
- Keep the weight light enough to maintain proper form – this is an isolation exercise where technique matters more than heavy weight.
- Make sure your wrists stay neutral (not flexed or extended) throughout the entire movement to prevent strain.
- If you experience shoulder pain, try rotating your hands slightly so your thumbs point up at the top of the movement.
- Avoid shrugging your shoulders toward your ears – think about pressing your shoulder blades down and back.
Is the Rear Lateral Raise good for muscle growth?
Yes. The rear lateral raise is a strong muscle-building exercise for the back of your shoulders because it keeps tension on a small area that many pressing lifts miss. It works best as a focused isolation move after heavier rows or presses, especially when you use clean reps and enough weekly volume.
- Direct rear-delt work — Rows can hit the rear delts, but they also spread effort across your upper back and arms. The rear lateral raise shifts the job toward the back of the shoulders, which helps bring up a muscle that often lags behind the front delts from pressing.
- Better shoulder balance — If you only do pressing and front raises, the front of your shoulders can outpace the back. Adding rear lateral raises helps build more even shoulder development, which can make your posture look better and make pressing feel smoother.
- Light weight, hard stimulus — This exercise does not need heavy dumbbells to work. In fact, lighter loads usually let you keep the right path, avoid swinging, and keep tension where you want it instead of dumping the work into your traps.
- Easy to pair with other delt work — It fits well next to dumbbell-lateral-raise or after a lever-seated-reverse-fly. That makes it useful for adding extra shoulder volume without beating up your joints or draining your whole body. Slow, steady breathing can also help you keep your torso still during higher-rep sets.
Programming for muscle growth
Do 3-4 sets of 12-20 reps with 45-75 seconds rest, 1-3 times per week. Higher reps usually work better here because the rear delts respond well to longer sets and stricter form. Use a weight you can control without swinging, stop each set when the back of your shoulders starts to lose tension, and try to add reps before adding load.
Rear Lateral Raise Variations
Alternative Exercises
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FAQ - Rear Lateral Raise
Rear Lateral Raises primarily target the posterior deltoids (rear shoulder muscles) while also engaging the middle deltoids, rhomboids, and trapezius as secondary muscles. This focused activation is what makes the exercise so effective for developing the often-neglected back portion of the shoulders.
Maintain a slight bend in your elbows throughout the movement, hinge forward at the hips (30-45 degrees), and lift the weights out to the sides rather than behind you. Focus on squeezing your rear delts at the top of the movement, and avoid using momentum or swinging the weights up.
Use lighter weights that allow you to perform 10-15 controlled repetitions with proper form. This is an isolation exercise where strict technique and muscle connection matter more than heavy weight—most lifters benefit from 5-15 pound dumbbells depending on experience level.
Incorporate Rear Lateral Raises 1-2 times weekly as part of your shoulder or upper body training days. Since rear delts are often underdeveloped and recover relatively quickly, some advanced lifters benefit from training them up to 3 times weekly with appropriate volume management.
For home workouts, try bent-over resistance band pulls, water bottle or household item raises, or seated rear raises using a bench or stability ball. You can also perform face pulls with bands as an effective alternative that targets similar muscle groups while requiring minimal equipment.
Workouts with Rear Lateral Raise
Rear Lateral Raise
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