Machine Lateral Raise
side deltoid
What moves the load, and what it costs
3.5MET
बाजूचा deltoid is the prime mover, with the trapezius assisting. The pads load the upper arm directly, so grip and elbow angle stop mattering. Excellent for high-rep work to failure.
Cue: Set the seat so the pads sit against the outside of the upper arms, not the forearms.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·FILED UNDER WEIGHTS, 8–15 REPS·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files machine lateral raise under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 3.5, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so machine lateral raise is filed under Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance.
- Take the category's MET value — 3.5. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 3.5 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Machine Lateral Raise: 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal/min
स्रोत·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| बाजूचा deltoidLateral deltoid | Prime mover | Raises the arm out to the side (shoulder abduction) from roughly 15 degrees upward. It is the head that gives the shoulder its width. |
| Trapeziusट्रॅपेझियस (वरचा, मधला, खालचा) | Synergist / stabiliser | वरचे तंतू खांद्याचे पाते (स्कॅपुला) वर उचलतात, मधले तंतू ते मागे खेचतात आणि खालचे तंतू ते खाली दाबून वरच्या दिशेने फिरवतात. डोक्यावर हात नेण्याची स्थिती निरोगी राहण्यासाठी तिन्ही महत्त्वाचे आहेत. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Machine. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
PATTERN · ISOLATION
- Stand tall holding the handles at your sides, with a small fixed bend in the elbows.
- Lead with the elbows and raise the arms out to the sides, thinking about pushing away rather than lifting up.
- Set the seat so the pads sit against the outside of the upper arms, not the forearms.
- Stop at about shoulder height. Higher than that hands the work to the traps.
- Lower slowly — three seconds down is not excessive on this movement.
- Keep the torso still; if it starts swinging, the weight has won.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Swinging the weight up with the whole body.
The side deltoid is small and the lever is long, so the honest weight is embarrassingly light. Use it anyway.
Shrugging at the top.
If the shoulders rise towards the ears, the traps have taken over. Keep them down and stop at shoulder height.
Dropping the weight back down.
Half the available work is on the way down. Lower it slowly.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Nothing on this site regresses it further: this is already near the entry point of its pattern. Take load off, shorten the range, or slow the tempo — in that order.
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a single-joint movement does its best work in moderate to high reps — very low reps load the joint before the muscle.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–4 | 6–10 | 2 मिनिटे | Single-joint work responds poorly to very low reps — the joint gets the load before the muscle does. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 10–15 | 60–90 sec | This is where isolation work earns its place: cheap volume for one muscle, little systemic fatigue. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–3 | 15–25 | 30–45 sec | High reps here are genuinely useful — the load is small enough that form survives the fatigue. |
| First month | 2 | 12–15 | 60 sec | Light. Isolation work is for adding volume later, not for building a base. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: Resistance training (weight lifting), multiple exercises, 8–15 repetitions at varied resistance — 3.5 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 3.5 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 4.29 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the machine lateral raise work?
Machine Lateral Raise is a single-joint isolation movement in which the side deltoid is the prime mover, assisted by the trapezius. Raises the arm out to the side (shoulder abduction) from roughly 15 degrees upward. It is the head that gives the shoulder its width.
Is the machine lateral raise good for beginners?
होय. तांत्रिक अवघडपणासाठी या साइटवर याला 5 पैकी 1 गुण आहेत — प्रशिक्षकाशिवाय एकाच सत्रात शिकता येण्यासारखे. सर्वात कमी योग्य वजनाने आणि 12–15 च्या दोन किंवा तीन सेटने सुरुवात करा.
What can I do instead of the machine lateral raise at home?
The dumbbell lateral raise is the nearest home-friendly version. Where a bodyweight substitute does not exist, progress by slowing the tempo and using single-limb versions instead of adding load.
How many sets and reps of the machine lateral raise should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 10–15 with 60–90 sec rest. For strength, 3–4 sets of 6–10 with 2 min rest. In your first month, 2 sets of 12–15, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the machine lateral raise burn fat from the side deltoid?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the side deltoid builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
स्रोत·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
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