One-Arm Side Cable Laterals
- Set the pin of the pulley to the lowest setting.
- Secure a single-hand attachment to the cable machine.
- Stand an arms length away, position the body directly to the side of the weight stack (the feet should be perpendicular to the weight stack).
- Grab the attachment with an overhand (pronated grip), stand up straight while keeping the knees slightly bent and the feet shoulder with apart.
- With the attachment held at your side and a slight bend in the elbow, raise the attachment up and away until it becomes level with your head, inhaling as you pull it up.
- Slowly lower the attachment down, exhaling throughout the motion.
- Rotate the body 180 degrees to work the other side and repeat steps 5-6.
The use of cable machines are great for isolation exercises and one-arm side cable laterals are no an exception. The cable machine enforces a strict lifting motion by minimizing the use of momentum to perform the lift.
Be sure to maintain a stance that keeps the shoulders positioned perpendicular from the machine while lifting. This forces the lateral deltoids remain the focus of the exercise. The feet should remained inline with each other to keep the shoulders even.
At the peak lifting point, the outer aspect of the trapezius is called into play as well as the teres major aiding along the way. If one pauses for a moment with attachment inline with the head, the trapezius will be in use more-so than at any other period during the exercise.
Due to the intensity of one-arm side cable laterals, they should not be executed with a large amount of weight. The lifting motion involves a portion of the rotator cuff muscles (teres minor). A substantial amount of weight with the shoulder in a raised position may lead to injury and this is why you should not lift the attachment over head level.