Lateral pulley lifts while seated on a bench are a variation of seated dumbbell lifts. They target, mainly the deltoid muscles and especially the middle fascicles that give that famous shoulder width. The exercise also solicits to a lesser extent trapezoids and slightly the biceps and forearms.
How do you do the exercise?
Place a flat bench between two low pulleys. Sit down by grasping the pulleys and crossing them on either side. The bench should be positioned slightly in front of the pulleys. Lean your torso slightly forward and perform a lateral raise. Elbows should be bent very slightly until your arms are parallel to the floor. Your hands should be at shoulder height at the end of the movement before returning to the starting position.
CAUTION: Do not swing your chest to give you momentum when you perform the movement. Don't put too much weight on your body as this could strain your trapezius muscles or even injure you. It is an exercise of isolation above all.
Tips
- The seated pulley lateral raises allow a different work angle than the classic raises with a better amplitude without affecting the supraspinatus. This exercise allows a constant resistance with a better time under tension on the whole movement.
- The disadvantage is that it is sometimes difficult to adjust the pulleys correctly on some machines so that they can cross each other without touching.
Variants
- Lateral seated lifts with low pulleys can be done with the machine or with dumbbells which allow a more natural and free movement with the possibility of using a small momentum to finish a series. However, they involve the supraspinatus and the resistance of the movement is not constant.
- Other variations of the pulley side raises can be done standing with dumbbells or with the pulley on one side.
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