Lateral Raises for Baseball

The lateral raise targets the sides of the shoulder muscles, which are also called the lateral deltoids. These muscles help flex the arms, rotate the shoulders and throw, which are all necessary when playing baseball. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist before doing lateral raises, especially if you suffer from a prior shoulder injury or chronic medical condition.

  1. Baseball Benefits

    • Because the lateral raise exercise helps build up the shoulder muscles, it can help improve throwing because your muscles are better equipped to handle the force of it. Doing lateral raises regularly can also help boost physical endurance, increase muscular balance, improve throwing speed, enhance shoulder range of motion and increase explosive power. In addition, conditioning the muscles in the shoulders helps reduce the risk of injuries like torn ligaments and shoulder dislocations.

    Lateral Raise Know How

    • Stand up straight with a pair of dumbbells in each hand. Rest your arms at your sides with your palms facing your thighs. Lift the dumbbells out to your sides until they are at shoulder height. Hold the contraction at the top for a few seconds and then slowly lower your arms back to the starting position. Don’t let the dumbbells touch your legs -- keep the tension in your shoulder muscles by immediately lifting the weights again for the next repetition.

    Workout Basics

    • Although it can be tempting to lift as much weight as possible, you should perform lateral raises with lighter dumbbells and aim for more repetitions. For example, hold 5-pound dumbbells and do three sets with 10 repetitions in a set. Rest for a minute in between sets. To really target the shoulders, squeeze your lateral deltoids as you slowly lift and lower the weights. For best results, do lateral raises every other day. Your deltoids need time to recover and grow in between workouts.

    Technique Tips

    • As you lift the weights, never allow your wrists to go above your elbows, which puts more emphasis on your front deltoids rather than the side deltoids. To help prevent this, tilt your torso forward slightly and turn your dumbbells down as you lift the weights up as if you were pouring a pitcher of water . Keep your movements slow and controlled. Never swing your weights up, which decreases the intensity of the exercise by relying on momentum. This can cause injury.