How to Stop Feeling Lateral Raises in Your Neck (and Finally Grow Your Shoulders)

One of the most common exercises I see clients struggle to get right as a beginner are lateral raises.

It’s meant to target the lateral delt, the side of your shoulder muscle, but most people end up feeling it in their traps (the supportive neck muscles).

If you can relate, you’re not alone. This is hands-down one of the most common mistakes I see in the gym.

Here’s the issue: the lateral raise is one of the best moves for building round, defined shoulders. But when your traps take over, you miss the entire point of the exercise.

And this matters, especially for women who want to create an hourglass frame. Adding muscle to your shoulders isn’t just about strength—it shapes your physique:

• Defined shoulders add curve and shape to your upper body

• They balance out your hips for an hourglass look

• Strong shoulders naturally make your waist appear smaller

Why Do Lateral Raises Hurt Your Neck?

If you ever finish a set of lateral raises and feel it more in your neck than your shoulders, that means your upper traps are taking over.

Now, here’s the thing: your traps are always going to help a little bit. They’re a supportive muscle group, and you cannot turn them off completely. But they should not be the main muscle working.

So why do your traps keep stealing the show? A few common reasons:

• Poor posture: If your shoulders round forward and your head juts out, the tension shifts upward into your neck instead of staying in your shoulders.

• Leading with the wrists: Thinking about pulling the dumbbells up with your hands can bring your forearms and traps into the movement instead of letting the delts do the work.

• Exploding out of the bottom: When you jerk the dumbbells up from the starting position, momentum takes over. Your traps then have to jump in.

• Using too much weight: If the dumbbells are too heavy, your body will compensate by recruiting stronger muscles (like your traps) to help.

Think of it like this: if your neck is doing the heavy lifting, your shoulders are missing out on the benefits. And that’s exactly why so many people struggle to actually grow their delts with this exercise.

The good news? With the right setup and cues, you can fix this quickly. Let’s break down exactly how to tweak your lateral raises so your delts do the work, and not your traps.

Step-by-Step Fix for Lateral Raises

1. Set Your Posture First

Good form begins before you even lift the dumbbells. If you want to keep the tension in your shoulders (and not your traps), you need to get your setup right.

A simple cue: think tall and open, not shrugged and tense. We don’t want shrugging or “turtlenecking.”

• Pull your shoulders slightly back and your shoulder blades down

• Keep your neck long, as if someone is gently pulling the crown of your head toward the ceiling

• Keep your ribcage pressed down and stacked over your pelvis. This prevents flaring your chest and keeps your torso neutral

The goal is to feel tall, but relaxed in your upper body—not scrunched and tight.

2. Get Into the Right Setup

• Hinge slightly forward at the hips to lean just a bit

• Use either a staggered stance or a wider foot base for stability

• Rotate the dumbbells forward about 30 degrees, placing them at the outer corners of your thighs

This puts your arms in the scapular plane—the most natural angle for your shoulder joint and the best way to line up with your lateral delt fibers.

3. Focus on Elbows, Not Wrists

• Keep a soft bend in the elbows

• Lift up and out, in a wide “V” shape

• Think: push your elbows out and up

4. Control Your Tempo

• Start slow at the bottom

• Gradually accelerate through the lift

• Pause at about shoulder height (arms ~parallel to the floor)

This is the hardest part of the lift because your shoulders are under the most tension at the top. Don’t rush it here. If you shrug or swing, the load shifts away from your delts and into your traps.

5. Own the Eccentric

Don’t let gravity win and quickly drop the weight back to the starting position. Control the dumbbells on the way down.

Think: resist gravity on the way back down.

This not only keeps tension in your delts but also reduces swinging and keeps your next rep clean.

Common Mistakes in Lateral Raises

Even with the right cues, it’s easy to slip into bad habits. Watch out for these:

❌ Using too much weight. If you’re swinging the dumbbells up with momentum, it’s too heavy.

✅ Decrease the weight and focus on slow, controlled reps.

❌ Shrugging your shoulders. This turns the move into a trap exercise instead of a delt builder.

✅ Keep shoulders low and neck long throughout.

The Bottom Line

Lateral raises are simple in theory, but easy to get wrong in practice. If your traps are taking over, your shoulders are missing out on the stimulus they need to grow.

When you fix your form by setting your posture, controlling your tempo, and driving through the elbows, you shift the tension back into your lateral delts where it belongs.

And the payoff is huge. For women, building stronger, rounder shoulders does more than just improve strength in the gym. It adds shape, balances your frame, and naturally makes your waist look smaller, helping you create that hourglass silhouette.

So the next time you pick up dumbbells for lateral raises, remember: it is not about swinging the most amount of weight up or shrugging through your neck. It is about precision in execution, control, and consistency over time.

That’s the power of smart training. One small tweak in form today can completely change how your body looks in a years time.

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