Is there a good alternative to lateral raises?

[DerickVonD]

Even at low weight when I try to do lateral raises my shoulders feel really tight. I can do overhead press without pain, bench press without pain, rear delt raises without pain but I can't do lateral raises even at light weight. I've tried them standing, seated, one arm, two arms at a time and still same issue. Is there any other exercise I can use with free weights that'll isolate my lateral delts? I only have access to free weights since I have to workout at home. Should I just switch to scaptions?

[blaykeryan]

So it hurts when you do side laterals or just feels tight? If it's tight and burns a ill, then that's good...it means your getting good bloodflow and muscle tearing in your side dealts...if it hurts your form may be off....bend your elbows a little, don't keep your arms straight as you do the movement...you prolly just have weak side dealts ...hmm the only other db exercises I can think of is a shoulder width db row, just go shoulder height not all the way to your chin

[beastybean]

Try a more strict form. Squeeze your shoulder blades together bringing your shoulders back, then perform the movements with you elbows slightly bent. Some pain is normal for me too, I work through it but keep the weight fairly light until I'm good and warmed up.

[Rodja]

Could be a tight supraspinatus that is the culprit here.

[DerickVonD]

Try a more strict form. Squeeze your shoulder blades together bringing your shoulders back, then perform the movements with you elbows slightly bent. Some pain is normal for me too, I work through it but keep the weight fairly light until I'm good and warmed up.

Tried that and it hurts even worse, also with bent elbows it makes not difference. In fact when I bend my elbows it feels like my body wants me to straighten my arms to get the weight up if that makes any sense. The tightness is in the tendons. I can feel a strong sort of pull in my shoulders that shoot down to my biceps, which indicates to me it's irritating my tendons. At 10 or 15 pounds the weight is way easier to move and I can get a lot of reps in at that low weight, but it still feels awkward and working at that low weight isn't doing any good if I can never progress. Once I goto 20 pounds I can do the reps but thats when I start feeling that sort of pulling on the tendons I mentioned.

[MSUPT39]

Sounds like it could be possibly some impingement. Could be a couple of different issues or a combination. Could be weak supraspinatus relative to your deltoid and as you go up in weight you're supraspinatus isn't able to stabilize the head of your humerus and the deltoid is over powering your supraspinatus causing a superior migration of your humeral head causing your tendon to impinge on your acromion. Best solution to this problem would be to do scaptions as you said buy in a neutral position with your forearm to help hit the supraspinatus. Second possible issue is a lack of upward rotation of your scapula due to weakness or lack of motor control of your serratus and low traps. If you say it makes it worse when u retract your shoulders while doing the movement this makes me think this may be playing a role as well. A good exercise for improved motor control for upward rotation is the dynamic hug which I'm sure you could find on YouTube. Key is to feel the shoulder blade stay flush on the rib cage while doing the movement. Third possible scenario, which I think is less likely would be a tight inferior/posterior inferior capsule which would require manual work to improve. Sorry if I got too wordy and hope this helps. If you need any clarification don't hesitate to ask

[tnubs]

Try this. Instead of holding the dumbbell in your hands, hold it inside your elbow and angle your elbows at 90 degrees or so. Do lateral raises like that and when u bring the weight down, go in front of your body. Hope that makes sense. Takes your arms out of the lateral raise and feels so much better on my shoulder. Maybe it will work for you.

[beastybean]

Do you stretch? How long do you warm up for?

[Resolve]

Try this. Instead of holding the dumbbell in your hands, hold it inside your elbow and angle your elbows at 90 degrees or so. Do lateral raises like that and when u bring the weight down, go in front of your body. Hope that makes sense. Takes your arms out of the lateral raise and feels so much better on my shoulder. Maybe it will work for you.

Hmm, I like this idea. I have no trouble with laterals, but this is a good trick to keep up your sleeve. Taking your forearms/hands out of the equation and shortening the lever should really change the dynamics of the movement.

[asooneyeonig]

You could do EA overhead presses. Do a db press up then lower the weight like it was a lateral raise, bring the weight back in, rinse and repeat.