Note: Click the link below to watch a video covering the same topic.
A lot of people, when they want to build thicker arms, they spend a lot of time on their biceps. This would be a huge mistake. Well, okay, maybe not that big a mistake, as working on your biceps will give your arms a nice shape. But in terms of building up the overall mass of your arms, there's something much more effective you could do. If you want to build big arms, you should be focusing more on your triceps. As the name implies, the triceps have three heads, while the biceps only have two. I mean, just look at it. This here is the biceps. This here is all the triceps. So today I'm going to be sharing the five best tricep exercises for building up your arms.
The first exercise we're going to do is the dumbbell skullcrusher, and we're going to need a bench. You'll also need dumbbells or a similar piece of equipment. Maybe you're like me and you use powerblocks. This exercise is performed lying down on the bench with the dumbbells just near your head. You extend your triceps and push the dumbells up and then lower them back down to the sides of your head.
The name of the exercise is "Skullcrusher," and if you drop those dumbbells, they will crush your skull. Stay safe, and when you're performing it for the first time, always choose a lighter weight. Another important thing about this exercise is to make sure that you are engaging only your triceps. As your triceps start to wear out, there will be some temptation to move the dumbbells further away from your body and engage your shoulders. This defeats the purpose of the exercise, so don't do this. Keep those dumbbells in close and just engage the triceps. Okay, let's do some dumbbell skullcrushers.
For the next exercise, we'll be doing the cable tricep pushdown with the rope attachment. "Wait, with what cable machine?" you ask. With this cable machine. This was probably my proudest home gym purchase. With the low ceiling on our first floor, I couldn't get a power rack that comes with a cable machine attachment, so I had to find something very basic, very compact that allowed me to reuse my plates. So I was very happy when I came across this product. All you need to do is attach this pulley system to a power rack or to a pullup bar that's been bolted into the wall. It really is that easy. If you don't believe me, then watch this. Using the rope attachment allows you to twist your arm, achieving an even wider range of motion and putting even more load on your triceps. If you don't believe me, first try with a bar attachment, then try with the rope attachment. The difference in how much it activates the triceps is astounding. All right, let's do some tricep push downs with the rope attachment.
For the next exercise, no changes are needed because once again, we're going to be using the cable machine with the rope attachment. Again, rope attachment, larger range of motion, more stimulus on the triceps. For this exercise, we're going to be doing the cable overhead tricep extension with the rope attachment. If you've been paying attention, with the skullcrushers, you would have noticed we did a horizontal push motion. With the tricep pushdown, we did a, you guessed it, a push down motion. And with the overhead extension, we're going to be pushing the resistance parallel to our spine. If this was being done not with a cable machine but with dumbbells, instead the movement would actually be vertical. But by doing it with a cable machine, it actually looks a little bit more horizontal. These are the three different types of stimulus you can apply to the triceps. By applying different types of stimulus, we can achieve much more effective muscle growth. Okay, enough talking. Let's do some cable overhead tricep extensions with the rope attachment.
For the next exercise, we'll be doing the close-grip barbell bench press. Now, a lot of people, having just heard the words "bench press" will be saying "Yes!" and will already be setting up their rack. But before you jump into it, there are some very important points. This is not your typical bench press. It shifts most of the load onto your triceps. So the amount of weight you can actually do will be much less than what you think.
The second point: hearing the words "close grip," a lot of people will bring their hands in very close to the body, but this is extremely dangerous. This is probably the fastest way to breaking your wrist. So let's go look at the barbell and see where exactly we need to place our hands.
For me, the standard bench press grip is just here. If I lower my elbows, my forearm should make a 90 degree angle with my upper arm. The close grip is here. So my middle finger is just on the start of the knurling on the barbell. Obviously, depending on your barbell, this could be different, but compared to the standard grip, so just here, it moves in here. That's just over an inch. Maybe three, four centimeters. And that's the close grip.
Now that all the safety warnings are out the way, let's go do a close-grip barbell bench press.
The last exercise we'll be doing is the tricep dip. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Bodyweight exercise. Yuck!". No, the tricep dip is very effective. Plus, also, you can add resistance with one of these. This is a dip belt. As the name implies, it's designed for use with tricep dips. But there's an even better reason to have a dip belt than for tricep dips, and that's for weighted pullups.
If you work out in a commercial gym, hopefully you have access to a dip deck. If you work out in a home gym, hopefully you have a power rack like mine which has dip bars on it. But if you don't have any of those things, you can still do tricep dips with a bench or a chair. Now obviously, if you're doing this exercise with just a bench or a chair, you can't use a dip belt to add resistance, but you can put a dumbbell in your lap to add some resistance.
When you put the dip belt on, the belt actually goes at the back like this, not the front. You're probably wondering how it stays up. Well, the way it's designed, it catches on the hips and stops there. So remember: not the front, always on the back.
Okay, let's do some weighted tricep dips.
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