Lu Raises vs Lateral Raises (biomechanical analysis)

Question

let's consider the so called "Lu Raises", frequently performed by Lu Xiao Jun.

I'm curious to understand if they could be a nice alternative to the common Lateral Raises for lateral delts hypetrophy.

What I can see in the following picture is that:

• the athlete starts with two bumpers in a similar position compared to that of Lateral Raises. The bumpers are inclined and the arms are slightly externally rotated, with elbows pointing back and down.

• the athlete performs the movement until he gets to the overhead position, with the bumpers and elbows pointing slightly outwards like in the overhead press.

So my questions are:

1. Could the greater ROM of such an exercises (the LU raises end at the Overhead Position, while the Lateral Raises to the shoulder height) be better for hypetrophy purposes?

2. What's the mechanical effect of using two bumpers rather than two dumbbells?

Answer 1

According to an interview (according to this guy), Lü Xiaojun originally started doing these as an accessory exercise after training. In the Olympic snatch and jerk your arms have to be locked out overhead, so this exercise was a way to build up strength of the shoulder (particularly the deltoids) and stability specific for that position during the lift.

Shoulder abduction past 90 degrees emphasizes the deltoid, but limits space for the rotator cuff. That might increase risk on rotator cuff injuries with not a lot of added hypertrophy past 90-100 degrees, so it doesn't seem like a great trade-off.