Home / Exercise guides / Lateral Raise form check

Lateral Raise Form Check

Is your lateral raise actually good? Prop your phone up and find out — GoodReps watches your shoulder angle (hip → shoulder → wrist) live and scores every rep as you train your shoulders. Free, in your browser, processed entirely on your device.

▶  Check My Form Free
GOODREPSLIVE
VISION ▾FORM
DOWN
LATERAL RAISES7/ 10
The live screen, in miniature — the moving skeleton is the app’s real lateral raise demo pose (front view), with the rep counter, form bar, and phase dot exactly as they run in a session. All processed on-device.
Straight From The App

HOW TO DO A PROPER LATERAL RAISE

Setup  Stand facing the camera, weights at your sides, a slight bend in your elbows.

  1. Raise both arms out to the sides up to shoulder height.
  2. Lead with your elbows, palms down.
  3. Lower slowly — no swinging.
Form cue: Raise to shoulder height

This is the same instruction sheet you’ll find on the ⓘ panel inside the app — with an animated demo next to it.

How The Check Works

THREE STEPS TO A SCORED LATERAL RAISE

1

Prop your phone and get in frame

Set your phone at roughly torso height and stand facing the camera. The built-in camera test confirms your lighting, distance, and angle with live green checks before you start.

2

The AI locks a 17-point skeleton on you

GoodReps measures your shoulder angle (hip → shoulder → wrist) in real time, entirely on your device. No wearables, no sensors. Light dumbbells go a surprisingly long way here — log the weight, track PRs.

3

Move — and watch the form bar

The bar fills as you travel from ~18° toward ~65° at the bottom. Stop short and it tells you; a rep only counts through the full range of motion.

Under The Hood

WHAT THE CAMERA WATCHES

Fix These First

COMMON LATERAL RAISE MISTAKES

Going too heavy

The fastest way to turn a shoulder exercise into a trap-and-momentum exercise. Drop the weight until the raise is smooth and quiet.

Shrugging into the raise

If your shoulders climb toward your ears, your traps are stealing the rep. Keep them pulled down and let the delts lift.

Swinging from the hips

A little body-English on the way up means the weight is doing the falling and you're doing the cheating. Slight elbow bend, strict tempo.

Raising past shoulder height

Higher isn't better — above parallel the load shifts off the side delts. Stop at shoulder height, pause a beat, lower slow.

Your Data

PRIVATE BY DESIGN

Rep counting runs entirely on your device — your camera feed is never uploaded.

Pose detection runs in your browser via TensorFlow.js. Camera frames are analyzed in real time and immediately discarded — nothing is recorded, nothing leaves your phone, and we never see them. Sign-in is optional; skip it and everything stays local.

FAQ

QUESTIONS, ANSWERED

What weight should I use for lateral raises?

Lighter than you think — most people do their cleanest raises with 5–15 lb dumbbells. Log whatever you use and the app tracks your PRs as you progress.

Does it work in a home gym or low light?

Run the built-in camera test first — it checks your lighting, distance, and angle with live green checks before you start. If a rep still slips through, manual counting is always one tap away.

Is my camera feed uploaded anywhere?

No. Pose detection runs entirely on your phone, in your browser. Frames are analyzed in real time and immediately discarded — nothing is recorded, nothing is uploaded.

Keep Going

RELATED GUIDES

▶  Try GOODREPS Free In Your Browser

Free forever — camera counting for all 60 exercises, no account needed. Pro (voice coaching, programs, depth-camera form checks) is $7/mo, $49/yr, or $99 once. No ads, ever.