Triceps Training

Where are the triceps?

Click here.

Why train your triceps?

• Help protect your elbows.
• Allow your chest and shoulder muscles to work to their full capacity.
• The triceps usually fail before the shoulder or chest muscles in their respective exercises.
• The triceps make up two-thirds of your upper arm, which gives you tremendous shaping abilities to work with.

Do:

• Warm up the elbow joint before training.
• Keep your elbows in during all triceps exercises.
• Remember it has 3 heads (lateral, long, and medial), and all require attention from your training program.
• Keep your abs tight to stabilize and balance your body.
• Add variety by occasionally using super-sets, as the arms respond well to them.

Don't:

• Lean too far forward on pushdowns or dips.
• Cheat by swinging the weights.

Tips for the advanced:

• Any exercise in which your palms face your head in the starting position will emphasize the lower area of your triceps.
• For pure muscle recruitment, EMG studies show that the lying tricep extension, aka "headbangers", ranks among the best.
• When performing a lying tricep extension, try aiming slightly behind your head as you extend the bar overhead. This keeps tension on the triceps throughout the entire movement. Also, try them on an incline and decline bench for added variety!
• When performing a close-grip bench press, don't let your grip wander any closer than 8 inches.
• For variety, use cables as well as dumbbells in overhead extensions. Try doing one arm at a time in addition to the two arm variety. An EZ-curl bar also works well for those of you who don't have any lower back problems.
• Dips are a great exercise for the triceps... as long as you keep your torso upright and don't lean forward. Dips become a chest exercise when leaning your torso forward, which is fine if you are targeting your chest. Also, try to keep your elbows tucked in to your sides and pointed to the rear, not flaring out to your sides.