If you want strong and toned triceps, here are some great exercises that will work all three heads of your triceps. Prepare your dumbbells and bars.
Tips to Enlarge the Triceps
Bigger arms are the goal for many the first time they participate in a weight training program. But it’s the triceps muscle, and not the bicep muscle, that is the key to increasing the number on the tape measure and getting more dimension in your arms.
The triceps makes up about 2/3 the size of the arm and is responsible for the elbow extension. So, every movement that we are ‘pushing’ requires action by this muscle, rather than pulling movements that recruit the biceps.
Triceps Muscles
- The long head that begins at the back of the scapula near the glenoid cavity.
- The middle head that starts at the back of the humerus.
- The lateral head originates from the dorsal surface of the humerus.
They all insert around the area that can be called the back of the elbow (the olecranon process of the ulna to be more exact). The long head is the largest portion of your triceps while the lateral head is the smallest, and the middle portion is partially covered by the long and lateral heads.
Knowing the location of the three parts of the triceps muscle is important in terms of selecting the right exercises for your workout. For example, the middle head is best activated by movements that work the inside of your triceps or by causing fatigue to the anterior long head.
The other important thing to know is the composition of the muscle fibers in each portion of the triceps. The side of the head contains a large portion of type II muscle fibers, suggesting that it has very low muscular endurance and a good propensity for hypertrophy and higher speed lifting movements.
The long head of the triceps has a more balanced muscle fiber and the middle head is predominantly muscle fiber type I demonstrating that it has the least potential for hypertrophy and can respond to slower movements.
Before we get into exercise and the best routines, let’s first go over some of the most effective movements and the appropriate form for each.
The Best Triceps Exercises
Some triceps exercises are more effective than others, something we know from the American Council on Exercise.
In a study commissioned by ACE, researchers took athletes through eight of the most common triceps exercises and recorded muscle activity by placing EMG electrodes on their triceps.
With this information, they were able to rank the eight best triceps exercises. The first four movements:
- Diamond Pushups: This exercise emphasizes the three heads of the triceps muscle and, as shown below, is the most effective movement for that.
- Kickbacks or Kicks: This move also targets all three heads of the triceps, but not as much as the diamond pushup. This exercise is also easier, so it can be easier to use than push-ups.
- Triceps Extensions: Including this exercise means you have a movement that emphasizes the long head of the triceps muscle, a good complement to the other exercises.
- Triceps Curls: This move emphasizes the lateral head of your triceps, again a nice complement to the other exercises.
Some Triceps Exercises Explained
High Pulley Triceps Extension
The standard way to perform this exercise is to keep your back straight, chest up, while bringing the bar to 90 degrees and pushing it down. This especially works the long head of the triceps. The most advanced way to do this move for our purposes is to use a straight bar, bend down a bit and push down with your elbows pointing away from your body slightly.
Keep your body behind the bar so that the bar is in front of you and your shoulders are directly over the bar.
Inverted Triceps
The inverted triceps puts stress on the lateral head of the triceps as well. Standing with your torso straight and with a slight forward bend, grasp the bar with your palms facing up (supine grip). Lower the bar by using your lats until your arms are fully extended to your sides. Elbows should be at your sides and feet should be shoulder width apart
Aerial Extensions
For these movements the eccentric phase will be the focal point. Both are responsible for working the long head of the triceps, and if they execute correctly, they will work the middle head as well.
For these movements you can allow your elbows to point outward, slightly.
Focus on the weight that your body allows and in a controlled way with proper technique (especially since the EZ bar extensions and dumbbells will put pressure on your shoulder) to take advantage of the increasing IGF-1 (similar growth factor to insulin, has been shown to have a direct relationship with muscle growth and protein synthesis, while testosterone and growth hormone have an acute response) and (myostatin responsible for limiting the effects of muscle growth) eccentric phase during exercise.
An advanced version of the aerial extensions to take additional advantage of the eccentric phase would be to do them on a decline bench with a bar.
The advantage of this is that gravity will put stress on the muscle throughout the entire range of motion.
Routine for The Triceps
As with any exercise routine, the workouts you want to get done first are the ones with free weights or the strongest movements. So parallel dips or diamond push-ups will go first.
Second, your workouts will target the middle head of the triceps since the long head has accompanied your previous heavy movements. You will use slow eccentric movements that not only effectively target the mid head of the triceps, but will also induce the changes necessary for the growth of the enzyme (IGF-1).
As long as there is pre-exhaustion hypertrophy training is not recommended, you should view each part of your triceps as a separate entity, as they all originate from different origins around the shoulder joint. These movements include the movement of the aerial extensions and the arm extensions (with single arm dumbbells or EZ bar with both arms).
Your final move will be one that uses cables and targets the smallest of the 3 parts of the triceps … the lateral head. It is important to aggravate the long and medium lengths to do the first ones well, since they take over the extension movements used to orient the lateral head if they are not fatigued.
The high pulley triceps and inverted triceps will be most effective at this point in the routine. Let’s take a look at an example of the two sample routines:
Routine 1 For the Triceps
- Flat Bar Triceps Press (Close Grip) (12, 10, 8, 6)
- Bench Flat Bar Triceps Extension (4 x 10)
- High pulley triceps (4 x 12)
- Kickbacks or Kicks (4 x 12)
Routine 2 For the Triceps
- Parallel backgrounds (10, 8, 6, 6)
- Incline Bench Z-Bar Triceps Extension (4 x 8)
- Inverted triceps on high pulley (4 x 12)
- Diamond push-ups (4 x 10)
To maximize the growth in your triceps, you will have to go through a period in which the training volume is increased followed by an active rest period in which the volume is significantly reduced to give the muscles time to recover and grow. Rotation will be discussed later, but first let’s take a look at the active rest / variation routine for the triceps.
Triceps Routine Variation
Bench Medicine Ball Throws / Smith Machine Triceps Press (5 X 8)
You can help yourself with a partner for more safety, on a flat bench, take a medicine ball and throw it at high speed. Ideally, your partner will go catch it while standing on the other side of the bench.
The most conventional method of performing this exercise is to use the Smith machine with a weight that is 60% of your maximum and push it with sufficient speed; however, it should be light enough so that it can be slowed down on the way down.
Your grip should be shoulder width, just inside. These exercises are intended to stimulate the nervous system to increase speed during extension and to train the type II muscle fibers in the lateral heads of the triceps.
Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (One Arm) (4 X 8)
Use this exercise to assess the balance of forces between the left and right triceps.
A slight imbalance is acceptable as it is a natural phenomenon, but nothing more than a 1-2 rep difference in strength between either arm can warrant correction. Use this exercise in your regular routine until the problem is solved and focus on your weaker side during the rest of the exercises.
Training Rotation
During your rotation you should keep track of your arm size (before training), and the numbers as you go. Also make sure your bicep workout is set at the same volume and frequency.
For 5 weeks you will start to increase your training volume by performing two exercises in the same week (essentially triceps training twice a week). Perform the routine for a 4-month cycle. It should look like this:
- Triceps Routine # 1: Weeks 1 & 2
- Triceps Routine # 2: week 3 and 4
- Triceps Routine # 1 and 2: Weeks 5 and 6
- Triceps Routine Variation: week 7 and 8
- Weeks 9-16 of repetition.
