The triceps brachii, or “musculus triceps brachii,” is a muscle that should always get love in, and outside the gym. When gym-goers are hitting the weights, and lifting hard, they almost always hit every other body part, except the triceps. This is normally the case for many “gym bros,” who typically work out only their shoulders, biceps, chest, and abdominals. The reason that this could be, is because if we look at the aforementioned body parts, since the triceps aren’t really noticed from the front, the focus on building the front-facing muscles is usually a priority. Nine times out of ten, they’re the muscles that make us look great, and give us a strong, fortuitous presence.

However, what most people don’t know, is that the triceps brachii muscle makes up 2/3rd of the upper arm. Yes, 2/3rds! When we look at the muscles of the upper arm, the triceps wrap around the majority of the bone. It’s no surprise that those who pump iron to grow their arms, are normally hitting their biceps with a never-ending intensity, so as to have as big of arms as possible, only to sit back and still question why their arms aren’t getting any bigger.

Anatomy

The triceps muscle is composed of three heads (yes, there are three (3) heads to your triceps)):

1. Lateral head (the head farthest away from the upper arm)
2. Medial head (the head in the middle of the upper arm)
3. Long head (the longest head of the triceps, closest in relation to the body)

Function

The triceps is an extensor muscle, and is primarily responsible for the extension of the elbow joint (when you straighten your arm). This muscle also helps to stabilize the shoulder joint at the top of the humerus (funny bone), as well as fixating the elbow joint when the forearm and hand are utilized for different actions, such as writing.

The long head may be used for sustaining force generation when required, or when there is a need for control of the shoulders. The lateral head is used for movements that may require high-intensity forces, while the medial head allows for more precise, low-force movements.

You want real shirt-splitting arms?! Arms that look massive in any direction!?!? Show your triceps as much love as you do your biceps!

(Image) A classic and popular picture of Lee Priest showing off his massive horseshoe triceps with Tom Platz from the Golden Era of Bodybuilding (circa 1970s)

At The Gym

Frequency:

Depending on your level of “gym experience,” you can get away with training your triceps once a week. Normally, the triceps get trashed and exhausted during chest days, and shoulder days. Many gym-goers also prefer to train their triceps right after their chest or shoulder days. While this is fine, the triceps require a bit more TLC to get them to grow.

Thus, you can work them two to three times a week! You can do them right after your chest and shoulder days if you’d like, keeping the volume and intensity low (ie 8-10 total sets with 8-12 reps each), and throw in an extra arm day, where you can smash your arms with full dedication and focus!

Sets/reps:

To give the triceps a proper workout, you want to make sure you are giving each of your heads enough love, that they’ll feel pumped up, and make you sing from how fantastic they feel.

Remember, you’ll need to exercise proper form, maintaining your shoulders down, scapulae retracted (shoulder blades),

• You can maintain your sets between 3 to 5 sets, and your reps can be anywhere between 8-12.
• If you’re starting out, focus on 3 sets of 8-12 reps with challenging weight
• Intermediates, 4-5 sets will suffice, 8-10 reps with challenging weight
• Advanced, 4-6 sets with reps consisting of 6-10, keeping the weight heavy, challenging, but never sacrificing form
• Drop sets will be super effective, normally done on your second to last sets, upon hitting failure, drop the weight and continue repping it out

Grip:

Not only is angle manipulation going to work favors for your triceps, but knowing how to also change your grip up, will give you the edge when beefing those arms up. Just one simple twist of the wrist, will change the workout entirely.

Below is an image of grip, neutral being 0 degrees:

Targeting long head:

In order to maximize stimulation, the long head must be lengthened/stretched.

By manipulating the angle, we can lengthen/stretch the long head, thus increasing the amount of stress put on it. Depending on your shoulder/back mobility, you should strive to keep your elbows in close together.

1. Skull crushers
   1. Lay flat on a bench, extend your arms in front of you, ie press an EZ bar curl or dumbbells, and then angle the bar or dumbbells directly over your forehead
      1. This angle will ensure you maximize the length at the top of the movement, and the stretch at the bottom
2. French press
   1. Similar to the skull crusher, except these are performed standing
   2. These can be performed using a barbell, ez curl bar, dumbbells, or on a pulley machine.
      1. Pro-tip: If you perform these on a cable/pulley machine, adjust the position of the rope attachment down to your lower back
      2. Pro-tip 2: Using a rope attachment will help tremendously – as it will be easier on your wrists (they won’t be in a fixed position), and at the top of the stretch, you can pull the rope apart to maximize the contraction.
3. Seated dumbbell overhead extension (one-handed or two-handed)
   1. Maintaining a strict upright position, carefully allow the weight to sink behind you, and feel the stretch of your long head (tricep in general*)
   2. Once you feel that deep stretch, contract your tricep and pull the weight back up
   3. These can be performed with one hand, or both
4. Dumbbell/cable kickbacks
   1. Using lightweight, bend forward at the hip, pin your elbow next to your body (making a 90 degree with your arm), and extend your arm behind you, contracting the tricep at the top of each rep

 

Targeting lateral head:

This is the head that will give you that awesome horseshoe look. When working the lateral head of the triceps, you will want to focus on having a pronated grip (turn your arm inward, with your arm extended in front of you, your palm will face your leg).

A movement that will allow you to extend your arms forward with a pronated grip, will hit your lateral head.

1. Tricep straight-bar press downs
   1. Lean slightly into the weight, pin your elbows to your sides, keep your shoulders down, and press the weight down
   2. Feel the contraction at the bottom of the rep, and the stretch as you let the weight come back up
2. EZ bar press down (close grip)
   1. Same process as the straight-bar press down
3. Rope triceps extension
   1. Although this involves a neutral grip at the beginning, at the bottom of the rep, pronate your grip by pulling the rope apart
4. Close-grip bench press
   1. Grip should be shoulder width, or slightly closer than shoulder width
   2. If you feel discomfort in your wrists, move your grip outward
5. Diamond pushups

 

Targeting medial head:

When hitting the medial head, you’ll want to use a supinated grip (turn your arms outward, with your arm extended in front of you, your palms should face forward and not you).

Really, any reverse presses/extension will stimulate your medial head (and your other heads) as well.

1. Reverse ez bar extension (wide grip)
2. One-arm reverse tricep extension (performed on a cable machine)
3. Reverse straight bar extension

My Sample Tricep Training

1. Close-grip bench press, 5×6-8
2. Skull crushers, 4×8-10
3. Straight-bar tricep press down, 4×10-12
4. Reverse-grip EZ curl extension, 3×10-12
5. One-handed rope tricep extension, 3×12-15 (think of this like a dumbbell concentration curl, but for your triceps!)

Before you go!

Triceps training has been one of those practices that not many people do, because unfortunately, it can get difficult to feel certain exercises, and it can get boring! You may not enjoy them as much as working your biceps, because you don’t see them in the mirror! You might not see that holy grail of a vein in your shoulders or biceps, thus, who cares? But realistically, training your triceps will provide you with:

• Arm balance and symmetry
• Strength and power for pressing movements
  • Bench press
  • Overhead press
• Shirt splitting pumps!

So remember to train your triceps at least twice a week, hit the big compound lifts (bench, close grip bench, etc) hard and heavy, don’t neglect your long head, and target the medial and lateral heads by grip rotation (pronation/supination).

 

Stay strong, and happy lifting!