I do like partials with some exercises, but the way some people prescribe them, isn’t really ideal. Any knowledgeable physical therapist can tell you that for the first 15 or even 30° of the range of movement the primary muscle engaged is the supraspinatus
and not even the medial head of the deltoid which you are trying to engage.
In targeting your delts, If you need to extend a set, for any reason, you’d be better suited dropping the weight and focusing on the middle 2/3 ROM imo.
S
This is really important info, and a lot of people don’t know it. As Stu said, the first 20-30 deg of ABduction is essentially all supraspinatus. So if one wants to hit the medial delt via partials, you have to make sure to ABduct further than this.
Likewise, once your arms are roughly parallel to the floor, further ABduction of the humerus is accomplished via scapular rotation, not contraction of the medial delt. So from a medial-delt-work perspective, there’s no point in raising your arms up to your ears.
tl;dr Both the bottom and the (extreme) top of a lateral raise does not involve the medial delt to a significant degree.
So many actually educated folks on here 
S
haha, I love Rusin too. Not a very popular dude on the forum though.
Yeah I’m with you about the rear laterals, but was wondering about your take on side laterals for injury prevention?
excellent point. Other common mistakes involve not leaning forward slightly or letting your hand turn to a thumbs up position at the top.
Laterals are a surprisingly nuanced movement.
I think they’re helpful too.
I wonder why Jon Rusin isn’t popular here.
Probably because of all his calf articles when he clearly has none
If that’s the reason, then we should ignore most of the authors that constitute the fitness writing community.
(I actually already do, but that’s besides the point -lol)
S
What about doing laterals while externally rotating the hand? I’ve done it from time to time, ending with my thumb pointing behind me at the end of the movement, felt like it worked the rear delt/scapula on the last portion of the motion
I think its a combination of things:
He isnt HYOOOGE, so obviously he’s a hack
For a while there it seemed like T-Nation was releasing an article or Tip by him every day, creating a “new guru” kind of feeling
Many of his articles are titled with things that give off a “YOU ARE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG, HERES HOW TO FIX IT!” and “WHY ARE YOU LIFTING INSTEAD OF DOING CORRECTIVE EXERCISES!?” vibe
A lot of his advice sounds like someone trying very hard to be smart or come up with something new. I’m sure he is very smart and knowledgeable, and Im sure he is a great coach, but for many people looking for “lift heavy shit” kind of articles, coming out with an aritcle on the Single-Leg Adductor Rock Back with T-Spine Rotation or the Half-Kneeling Banded Face Pull to Y-Press or how to do Crocodile Breathing just doesn’t have the “relentless pursuit of muscle” ring to it.
Combine that with the aforementioned volume of articles (and tips T-Nation was pulling from those articles) and it created an “Oh God, not this guy again… Let me guess, I’m pressing wrong and need to do 4 corrective exercises before I can lift” atmosphere among alot of the readers here.
I’m not necessarily knocking the guy, I think there is a time and place for these types of articles (and he does have other articles on just lifting), I just think it was the type and amount that were presented that gave him a bad rap around here among some of the more “hardcore” guys.
Good points. I think there’s a down side in trying to adhere to putting out new articles with such frequency. You can only say so much before it’s either redundant or you’re really reaching.
S
Couldn’t have said it better👌