15-Second Tip: Hands-Free Cable Lateral Raise

Doing the cable lateral raise hands-free by attaching an ankle-strap attachment to your upper arm helps place more focus on the deltoid middle head, which gives your shoulders more width and roundness. By placing the strap above the elbow on your upper arm, it removes both the elbow joint and the wrist joint from the movement. This not only helps place better focus on the middle deltoid head, but also allows you to use a much heavier weight because the lever arm is shorter than when you're holding a cable attachment in your hand. This helps place more overload on the deltoid for greater muscle growth. Plus, the change-up allows you to target slightly different muscle fibers in the deltoid for best results. This version of the lateral raise is also great for those with an injury of the wrist or elbow joint, or an injury of the biceps or forearm muscles.

To do this exercise, adjust the ankle strap on your upper arm just above the elbow. The attachment to the cable pulley should be positioned on the inner part of your arm. If the cable pulley is adjustable, set it to a position just below hip height. If the pulley position isn't adjustable, use the pulley from the floor position. With the ankle strap attached to your right arm, stand so that your left side is facing the weight stack and the pulley is just in front of your body. To start, bend your arm at the elbow with your upper arm straight down at your side. Use your deltoid to lift your upper arm until it is just above parallel with the floor. Then slowly lower your upper arm back to the start position and repeat for reps. When all reps are done on one arm, repeat on the other arm.

Try doing 2-3 sets in this fashion,

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