1Shrugging
What you see: The shoulders climb to the ears and the neck takes the load.
The fix: "Drop the traps." Use a lighter weight and think of reaching the weights out, not up.
Form guides · Upper body
The lateral raise: light, slow, to shoulder height.
A small move with a lot of ways to cheat. Here is the honest version.
What good looks like.
Lateral raises train the side of your shoulders. The weight is light and the arms are long, so the body quickly finds ways to help: shrugging, swinging and lifting too high. Brad's cue for arms is to stop at parallel, "not above parallel".
- Stand tall, "abs tight", a soft bend in the elbows.
- Lift the weights out to the sides, leading with the elbows.
- Stop with your arms parallel to the floor, "not above parallel".
- Shoulders stay down: "drop the traps".
- Lower slowly. "Keep the tension constant".
- Chin in
- Shoulders down: "drop the traps"
- Arms to parallel, not above
- Trunk still: "don't swing"
The faults a trainer sees most
What goes wrong, and the cue that fixes it.
The cues in quotes are the words Brad Glaser uses with his own clients.
2Lifting too high
What you see: The hands go above the shoulders.
The fix: "Arms parallel, not above parallel."
3Swinging
What you see: The hips and knees kick to throw the weights up.
The fix: "Don't swing, keep the tension constant." Slow down and drop the weight.
4Shoulders round forward
What you see: The shoulders roll in and the chest caves.
The fix: "Chest out, shoulders back."
Make it easier, make it harder.
Easier
- One arm at a time.
- A resistance band under your feet.
- Seated, so you cannot swing.
Harder
- A slow three-second lower.
- A pause at the top.
- Cable lateral raise.
Move within a range that feels comfortable, and stop any exercise that hurts. Have a health condition, or been inactive a while? Ask your doctor what is right for you first. VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio.
Let your phone check it.
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Free: your reps counted out loud, and the common standing faults shown right on screen, with the fix in your set report. Go Premium and it speaks the fix while you move: "Knees out." "Chest up."
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More form guides
Built by Brad Glaser · NASM Master Trainer · NASM-CPT, CES, PES · 20+ years · has certified 100+ personal trainers.
He owns a personal-training studio in Southern California. The same method he uses standing next to a client, built into the app.
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