Lateral raises have been the go - to exercise
for middle deltoid development for decades.
Not exact matches
The Resistance Band Lateral Raise is an excellent movement
for developing the
middle head of the
deltoid.
If that's the case
for you, focus on the
middle and posterior (rear)
deltoids when training the shoulders to minimize
deltoid imbalances that could lead to injury.
An excellent option
for training the posterior and
middle bundle of
deltoid muscles.
For example,
middle (but not anterior)
deltoid activation tends to be greater during free weight bench presses compared to Smith machine bench presses (Schick et al. 2010).
Langendefer et al. (2004) reported the physiological cross-sectional area to be 5.46 cm ², 7.39 cm ², and 4.69 cm ²
for the anterior,
middle and posterior
deltoids, respectively.
No one exercise is best
for the
deltoids, as multi-joint exercises either preferentially target the anterior or the posterior segments, while the
middle deltoid is always moderately active.
They reported the
deltoid segment cross-sectional areas to be 8.61 cm2, 5.15 cm2 and 15.45 cm2
for the anterior,
middle and posterior portions, respectively.