Key Takeaways
- Combining at least two side delt exercises per shoulder session one isolation movement and one compound is a reliable approach for adding measurable shoulder width over 8-12 weeks
- The side delt plays an important role in how your shoulders look and feel. Focusing on this area can really make a difference in your upper arm so you want to give it the best exercises that’ll promote growth and development
- The side delt (medial deltoid) is the primary muscle responsible for shoulder width targeting it directly with isolation and compound movements produces the fastest visual results
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises are the single most-performed side delt exercise among Fitbod users, logged by over 1 million users with an average working weight of 15.7 lbs for 10 reps
- The Arnold Press is one of the most effective multi-muscle shoulder movements, combining rotational loading across the anterior and medial deltoid through a full range of motion; it’s logged by over 577,000 Fitbod users
- Cable variations (Cable Lateral Raise, Behind-the-Back Cable Raise) maintain constant tension on the medial deltoid throughout the rep, unlike dumbbells which unload at the bottom making them a superior hypertrophy tool for intermediate and advanced lifters
So what are the best 9 side delt exercises?
Seated Dumbbell Military Press
Seated Behind-The-Neck Press
Incline W-Raise
By including these exercises in your training, you’ll get an upper arm workout that’ll challenge you and maximize results. Let’s dive into these exercises in more detail so you know how to perform them properly!
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What Is The Side Delt?
The deltoid muscle is the triangular-shaped part of your upper arm and shoulder muscle. Its purpose is to move the arm away from the body and to the side.
There are three parts to the deltoid muscle: the front, middle and rear. While each is important in the functioning of your upper arm and shoulder, this article will focus on the middle deltoid, also known as the side delt.
Related Article: 3 Awesome Resistance Band Shoulder Workouts
The 9 Best Side Delt Exercises
DUMBBELL SIDE LATERAL RAISES
How To Perform
Get a pair of dumbbells of equal weight. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, planted firmly in the ground. Hold one dumbbell in each hand in an overhand grip with your arms by your sides. This means that your palms should be facing your body.
Engage your core and keep your back straight as you raise your arms to the side. Keep raising them until they are parallel to the floor. Your arms shouldn’t be completely locked out straight either; your elbows should have a slight bend in them. Also, be careful not the “shrug” the weight up—you want your side delts to be doing all the work.
Lower the weights back down to your side in a slow and controlled motion. Don’t just let them drop down.
Notes: If you have to swing your body to get the weight up, then you’ve chosen dumbbells that are too heavy. Lower the weight until you find one that is challenging enough to work your side delts while still allowing you to execute it with good form. Remember, you’ll only be doing yourself a disservice if you have to swing it up as it’s not really isolate the delts so don’t worry about having to drop the weight.
In addition, don’t lift higher than shoulder level. This won’t work the side delts more. In fact, it’ll actually take the focus away from the side delts and onto your traps instead.
Related Article: The Best V-Taper Dumbbell Workout (Step By Step Guide)
SIDE PLANK WITH ARM RAISE
This exercise will not only challenge your side delts but also your core, particularly your obliques.
How To Perform
Lie on the floor on your side, resting on your left elbow.
Engage your core and lift your hips up, supporting yourself on the left elbow. You want to be as high in the air as possible while staying grounded. Ensure that your body is in a straight line with your right foot either on top or in front of your left foot (the side that’s bearing the weight).
Extend your right arm (the one that isn’t on the ground) in the air so that it makes a straight line with your other arm. By using your resting arm this way, you can work both side delts simultaneously.
Lower your hips back to the floor and lift it back up in position again. Repeat your reps on one side before switching to the next.
Notes: If it’s too challenging to include an arm raise with your side plank, then omit the arm raise until you’ve built enough strength and core work to include it. When you change sides, you’ll be working the other arm anyway, with or without the arm raise.
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BARBELL UPRIGHT ROW
How To Perform
Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width. Hold the barbell in front of you in an overhand grip, in this case, your palms should be facing your body. Make sure that your hands are slightly closer than shoulder-width apart.
Keep your back straight and engage your core. Slowly, bring the barbell up, bending your elbows out to the side. You want to keep the bar as close to your body as possible. Keep pulling the bar up until it reaches your chin.
Pause at the top before slowly lowering the bar, and repeat.
Notes: Likewise with the lateral raises, keep your body still. Using momentum to row the barbell up will only do you a disservice as you won’t be getting the most out of the exercise.
SEATED ARNOLD PRESS
How To Perform
For this exercise, you’ll need a pair of dumbbells of equal weight. Sit on an incline bench set at a 90-degree angle. Ensure that your back is flat against the surface. Plant your feet firmly on the ground.
Hold the dumbbells in one hand each as if you’re in the top position of a dumbbell bicep curl. Your elbows should be bent and your palms facing towards you with the dumbbells close to your body.
Now, you’re going to press the dumbbells like an overhead press until your arms are fully extended above you. However, what makes this different is that as you press up, your hands are going to rotate so that you twist the dumbbells until your palms end up facing away from you in the press position.
Bring the dumbbells back down slowly, once again, rotating your hands so that you end up back in the starting position with palms facing toward you.
Notes: The Arnold press can also be done standing up. The seated version assists in keeping your back flat throughout the movement, however, as long as you keep your back straight and core engaged, you can also execute this with proper form standing up.
SEATED DUMBBELL MILITARY PRESS
How To Perform
Sit down on an incline bench set at a 90-degree angle. Make sure that your shoulders and back are as straight as possible.
Lift two dumbbells (one in each hand) of equal weight to shoulder height. Your palms are facing away from you in an overhand grip.
Engage your core and press up until your arms are fully extended above you.
Hold the position at the top for a second before slowly lowering the dumbbells back down in a controlled manner.
Notes: This was the military press variation that uses dumbbells but you can also perform this exercise using a barbell. It’ll require the same basic movement and overhand grip. When using a barbell, rest the barbell on your collarbone before pressing up.
Not only that, but the military press can also be done standing up so try out these variations to see which one you prefer.
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ONE-ARM CABLE RAISE
How To Perform
Stand beside a cable-pulley machine at the gym. Adjust the height of the cable to the lowest setting or whatever feels comfortable according to your height.
Your feet should be firmly planted in the ground, knees slightly bent. Grab the handle with your outside hand, that is, the side that is farthest away from the machine. You will have to reach across your body to do so.
Hold the handle in front of you, with your arm loosely hanging down. If you need extra support, grab the cable machine with your inside arm.
Engage your core and pull the cable out to the side and up to shoulder height. Ensure that there is a slight bend in your elbow as you do so.
Hold the position at the top.
Slowly bring the cable back down to the starting position. Complete all the reps on one side of your body before switching over to the other.
BEHIND-THE-BACK CABLE RAISE
This exercise is fairly similar in set up as the one-arm cable raise. However, instead of the working arm being at the front of your body, you’re going to be pulling the cable behind your back.
How To Perform
Stand next to a cable-pulley machine with your feet planted firmly in the ground with a slight bend in the knees, toes facing forward.
Ensure that the cable is set at the shortest height, before grabbing the handle with your outside arm. This time though, reach behind your back to grab it. Use your resting arm to hold onto the cable machine for support.
Raise the handle up and to the side behind you. Keep going until you reach shoulder height.
Pause at the top for a moment.
Bring the weight back down slowly and carefully. Repeat all the reps on the one side before switching to the other.
SEATED BEHIND-THE-NECK PRESS
How To Perform
Unrack the barbell and place the bar across your traps, behind your neck.
Hold the bar in an overhand position. Your grip should be wider than your shoulders. However, experiment and find a grip width that makes it comfortable for you to press the bar.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and activate your core. Keep your back straight and press the bar up until it’s completely overhead and your arms are fully extended.
Make sure that you keep your shoulders activated.
Pause at the top.
Slowly bring the barbell back down, resting it on your traps. Repeat.
Notes: This exercise can also be done standing.
INCLINE W-RAISE
How To Perform
Grab two dumbbells of equal weight and an incline bench set at a 30-degree angle. Lie facing down on the bench with your feet behind you, a dumbbell in each hand.
Bend your elbows so that the dumbbells are slightly in front of you, palms facing down. Keep those elbows tucked in close to your body.
In one smooth motion, lift the dumbbells up and out to either side. Your elbows should remain bent so that your arms form a W-shape.
Maintain the top position for a moment.
Bring the weights back down.
Final Notes
Building visible shoulder width requires consistent, progressive work targeting the medial deltoid across multiple movement patterns and loading angles. The nine exercises covered here span the full spectrum of effective side delt training from the foundational Dumbbell Lateral Raise, which over a million Fitbod users rely on as a staple, to specialized cable and incline variations that target the muscle at different points in its force-length curve.
The evidence is clear on what drives medial deltoid growth: sufficient weekly volume (10–20 sets), mechanical tension through a full range of motion, progressive overload over time, and strategic variation to prevent adaptive accommodation. Lateral raise variations are your highest-yield isolation tool because they produce peak medial deltoid EMG activation that compound pressing movements simply can’t replicate (Botton et al., 2013). Cable variations extend that stimulus by adding constant tension at the bottom of the movement where dumbbells go slack. Compound movements like the Arnold Press and military press build the overhead strength base that makes every subsequent isolation exercise more productive.
One consistently overlooked variable is load selection. The most common error Fitbod data reveals is overloading lateral raises users who swing the weight up or cut the range of motion short are almost always using dumbbells that are too heavy. Effective side delt training almost always looks lighter than you expect, because strict form at 15 lbs outperforms sloppy form at 25 lbs for both safety and hypertrophy stimulus.
If you’re building a side delt-focused program, start with two lateral raise variations per session (one dumbbell, one cable), add one overhead press for compound strength, and track your weights. In 8–12 weeks of consistent progressive overload, shoulder width improvements are reliably visible and measurable.
If you’re looking to grow your side delts, give these 9 side delt exercises a go. It uses a variety of equipment and positions such as standing or seated, dumbbells, barbells and even the cable machine, to ensure that your shoulders are constantly challenged and encouraged to grow stronger and get bigger. If you’re looking for more ideas on how to attack those side delts, then check out the FitBod app as well.
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- 13 Best Rear Delt Exercises (Dumbbells, Cables, Bands)
- Boulder Shoulder Workout: Must-Do Exercises + Sample Program
About The Author
Emily Trinh
As a health and fitness writer, Emily combines her two passions—powerlifting and writing. With a creative writing degree under her belt, she spends her mornings lifting weights, her nights putting pen to paper, and eating too many snacks in between.
