Let’s talk about Triceps

Do we even know the real reason why we do the triceps training exercises? Other than the fact that we don’t want flabby arms, what use is the tricep muscle? Whenever you have any type of movement involving the elbow, you use the tricep muscle.  The triceps are a pushing muscle; we use them for pushing items off a high shelf, or holding a door open for a woman.  Even more important, how about using those muscles for freeing someone from a car wreck or pushing something off that fell on top of a friend.

 

Now that you know the use of the tricep muscle, let’s work on how to strengthen it and keep is as fit as your biceps.

This muscle often gets neglected by fitness gurus that only focus on the biceps.  To get that all around sculptured look, you need to work each individual muscle. If your goal is bigger arms, then you need to take some time to work your triceps.

Here are the top 5 Tricep Training Exercises

 

Tricep Dip

This exercise is great because you can do it anywhere; at home with a chair, at the gym with the equipment or even while hiking on a trail.
Put your hands behind your back and support yourself onto the bench/chair with the palms of your hands on the bench and your legs extended in front of you. Lower and raise your body up and down. The emphasis is upon the triceps muscle.  For the ladies or beginners who cannot lower themselves all the way to the floor, you can put an object, like a roll of paper towel, to give you a stopping point.  This will help you strengthen your muscles without straining your muscles.  As you get stronger you will no longer need the object.

Lying Tricep Extension with Dumbbells
Lie on a flat bench with feet on the ground and head hanging just off the top of the bench,
take the barbell with an over hand grip, (palms facing away from the body) and hold it over your head so your arms are doing the work.  Bend the arms at the elbow, lowering and lifting the weight, isolating the tricep muscle to control the movement. 

Tricep kick backs

 

Close Grip Push Up
This exercise is the core tricep exercise for your workout.  Using the same position as a standard pushup, you place your hands closer together so they are about 5 – 7 inches apart. Slowly lowering yourself down, you will continue the same as a regular push up.
The difference is that with you hands closer together, it isolates the tricep muscles. 

Tricep Pushdown

For this exercise you need a weight machine that has a cable and rope attachment that will allow you to have a pull down motion. There are different ways to perform this exercise but I prefer the rope attachment because it allows the hands to work individually. Facing the machine, elbows tucked in, take hold of the grip, pulling down and bring your hands to your sides and squeeze. With constant tension, slowly raise your forearms back to their original position.  Remember to bend your knees slightly to take pressure from your back

To avoid injury, you should do tricep exercises slowly and start out with 3 sets of 8 or 10 repetitions for each one.  If you are finding that these exercises are a little too easy, you have a choice of increasing the weights or increasing the repetitions. Remember when working your tricep muscles, you want to isolate the triceps so form is very important.

For more information on Tricep Training Exercises and other great arm exercises, you can check our Chris.s’ blog at www.NoBSFitnessForLife.com.

Chris Sine
Fitness Trainer
E: Chris@NoBSFitnessforLife.com
W: www.NoBSFitnessforLife.com