Triceps Exercises
The triceps brachii covers the back of your upper arm and has three heads. All three straighten the elbow. The long head also crosses the shoulder, so it helps to pull the arm down and back, and it gets a stretch when your arm is overhead. Two patterns train the triceps. Presses, such as close-grip push-ups, dips, bench presses and overhead presses, load them together with the chest or shoulders. Extensions, such as pushdowns, skull crushers and overhead extensions, isolate them. An overhead extension trains the long head in a stretched position, which a pushdown does not.
9 exercises with male and female illustrations.
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Beginner picks: easy to learn and easy to load.
Horizontal push
Vertical push
Arm isolation
Questions
Are overhead extensions better than pushdowns?
For growth, the overhead position may have an edge. In a 12-week study, each person trained one arm with overhead cable extensions and the other arm in a neutral position, and the overhead arm grew more triceps muscle. Pushdowns still train all three heads, so you can use both.
Do push-ups work the triceps?
Yes, the triceps straighten your elbows in every push-up. A close-grip or diamond push-up, with your hands closer together, gives the triceps a larger share of the work.
How can I train my triceps at home?
Use close-grip knee push-ups, diamond push-ups and chair dips, or a band pushdown from a door anchor. If chair dips hurt the front of your shoulder, stop and use close-grip push-ups instead.