10 best triceps exercises

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Without them, you will not pump up your arms.

Triceps is a muscle of the shoulder with three heads: long, medial and lateral. It works every time you extend a limb at the shoulder or elbow joint. But in order to pump up triceps, you need to unbend the arm under load.

Choose 1–2 exercises that are suitable for you in terms of difficulty. Incorporate these into your workouts and alternate each week. Different types of stress will prevent addiction and ensure continued growth.

Perform 3-5 sets of 8-12 times. Pick up the weight so that the last repetitions in the approach are difficult, but the technique does not suffer.

1. Diamond push-ups

In regular push-ups, most of the load falls on the pectoral muscles. In diamond, due to the narrow setting of the arms, the emphasis is shifted to the triceps.

Place your palms on the floor so that your thumbs connect to form a diamond. Tighten your abs and buttocks to maintain the correct body shape, lower your shoulders.

Do full range push-ups until your chest touches the floor.

2. Reverse push-ups on the bench

Another exercise without special equipment. Find a low support, turn your back to it and place your palms so that your fingers are looking out to the sides. Thanks to this unusual positioning of the hands, the shoulder joint will protrude less forward, which means that the chances of damage to it are reduced.

Straighten your legs, do not raise your shoulders. Lower yourself to the parallel of your shoulders with the floor, and then squeeze yourself up. Try to do the exercise smoothly, without jerking: this way you maximize the load on the triceps and do not injure the joint.

3. Dips on the uneven bars

This exercise can be done with or without extra weight if your muscles are not yet ready to be weighted.

Grasp the uneven bars, do not raise your shoulders, bring your shoulder blades together. Lower your shoulders to parallel with the floor. Keep the body straight, do not lean forward: this will maximize the load of the triceps. Squeeze yourself up and repeat the exercise.

If you're still struggling to do push-ups with your body weight, try doing it with an expander. Place a rubber band over the uneven bars, insert your legs into the loop, and do push-ups with support.

4. French bench press with a barbell

For this exercise, you can use different bars: straight, EZ or W. The curved bar allows you to grip the bar slightly at an angle - this is more comfortable.

Lie on a bench, press your feet to the floor. Raise the bar in front of you and extend your straight arms behind your head. If they are perpendicular to the body, the triceps will rest at the extreme point.

Now bend your elbows and lower the barbell behind your head. The shoulders do not change their position, only the forearms work. Return the barbell and repeat.

5. Press dumbbells from behind the head

In this exercise, the triceps are first stretched under load and then contracted to return the arms to their original position.

Grasp the dumbbell pancake with both hands, lift it and take it behind your head. Now bend your elbows, lower the dumbbell and lift it up again. Make sure that the shoulders do not move: only the forearms work.

6. Extension of arms with dumbbells in an incline

This exercise involves not only the triceps, but also the posterior bundle of the deltoid muscles. These are small and weak muscles, so don't carry a lot of weight.

Bend forward with a straight back, bend your arms with dumbbells at the elbows at a right angle and keep close to your body.

Extend your arms, and then return to the starting position. Do not change the angle of your back, do not move your shoulders - only your forearms work.

7. Extension of one arm with support on the bench

Unlike the previous exercise, here you are leaning on a bench and working with one hand. Therefore, you can take more weight and pump triceps better.

Put your left hand and knee on the bench, keep your back straight, lower your shoulders. Take a dumbbell in your right hand, bend your elbow at a right angle. Straighten it, holding it close to your body, and then bring it back.

8. Extension of arms on a block with a rope handle

Turning the arms outward allows more load on the lateral head of the triceps, that is, its outer side.

Hang the rope handle on the block, grab both ends. Take a stable position, straighten your back, lower your shoulders, keep your elbows close to your torso.

Pull the handle down until your arms are extended. At the same time, spread the ends of the handle, turning your arms with your elbows to the sides.

9. Extension of arms on the block with a reverse grip

This design allows you to better load the medial head of the triceps, located closer to the inner part of the arm.

Hang a regular handle on the block, grab it with a reverse grip. Extend your elbows until your arms are fully extended and bend back.

10. Extension on the block from behind the head

In the starting position, the triceps are stretched. This increases the load on the muscles and allows them to work better.

Stand with your back to the block, grab the rope handle and lift it over your head. Bend your elbows at a right angle, put your bent leg forward to take a stable position.

Now straighten and bend your arms.