Tri tips - six exercises for triceps

Men's Fitness, July, 1998 by Mike Falcon

Six exercise that will transform turkey's-neck triceps into the horse-shoes you want.

You may have come this far in life, even done a year or two of weight training, without paying much attention to your triceps. Why bother now? Because there's only one muscle (well, it's not really a muscle) that'll provoke more gasps than well-developed triceps. And crazy as you may be, you're sure as hell not going to attach that to a stack of cable weights.

In 99 percent of daily life, your arms are at your sides, casually presenting the triceps. Unless you plan to parade around the office posed like Godzilla, your biceps in semi-permanent contraction, it's the triceps that swell your sleeves. You have eyes only for your biceps, but everyone else beholds your total arms, and the fact is, your triceps are more than twice the size of your biceps, making up two-thirds of your upper arm.

"Even if you've ignored them, the triceps usually respond to area-specific exercises well," observes former competitive bodybuilder Ken Smith, now a coach and personal trainer in Newport Beach, California. That's because virtually every bench press and overhead press you've ever done has worked your triceps and laid a foundation for developing them further.

The muscles that make up your triceps have three heads: medial, lateral and long. Almost all triceps exercises work the medial head and at least one other. While some guys emphasize size by performing mass-building exercises, isolation movements will help balance the development of all three heads.

For an ideal triceps workout, select one of these three mass movements and two of the three cable isolation exercises that follow to help you develop that much-desired horseshoe.

Mass-builders

The lying dumbbell French press, with medial- and lateral-head emphasis, produces a lot of bulge for the buck, demanding the mirror-image balance of two dumbbells moving through a careful arc. It's a classic mass-builder - but even classic movements can be improved, notes Smith. "The triceps seem to get bored easily," he says, "so try to vary the routine and the way each exercise within the routine is done. Often." Smith says even small changes in the angle of a bench can alter the range of the French press, preventing your muscles from growing accustomed to a particular approach. A decline French press, quite difficult to perform, attacks your triceps in a way incline and flat versions can't. Regardless of variation, however, remember to keep your upper arms perpendicular to the floor at all times.

"Try rotating the dumbbells forward (palms facing your feet) as you conclude the French press, further pumping the outside head," Smith suggests. "You can vary the point where rotation begins, but the earliest point would be a third of the way through the extension."

The seated single-dumbbell triceps extension is another terrific mass-builder that's particularly effective at hitting the hard-to-reach long head. The seated position minimizes the tendency to cheat the weight up with your legs. Be careful in selecting a weight: If you have to move your elbows outward or change their spacing as you press upward, the dumbbell's too heavy and your delts are picking up some of the work. Also, vary which hand is topmost from set to set so you don't favor one side.

While most triceps exercises are done solo, the (behind-the-back) bench dip may require a training partner. This mass-builder hits all three heads, and to increase resistance you should have your partner place and remove a weight from your lap. He can also vary the resistance by pressing down on your shoulders. "This is a great exercise," says Smith. "It activates stabilizers [the muscles that keep you evenly oriented as your body moves up and down], recruiting more muscle and activating more fibers for better results."

Don't have a training partner? Try placing a higher bench under your feet to transfer more weight to the triceps. Or tie a weight around your waist. If you have trouble knocking out the requisite number of repetitions, lessen the load by placing your feet on the floor.

Variations? Raise up three-quarters of the way instead of fully extending your-arms for a continuous tension effect and a serious burn.

Isolation exercises

Pressdowns produce intense, continuous pressure over the entire triceps area, and the rope pressdown can fry your tris better than most other variations. At the start of the movement, turn your palms inward and position them on a plane in front of your sternum. As you press down, simultaneously do two things: Pronate your hands until your palms face the floor, and slowly move your hands apart until your thumbs are approximately 12 inches apart. Called a flareout, this movement throws a truly nasty pump on the lateral head.

The dumbbell triceps kickback can provide a remarkably flail extension, which will allow you to generate an intense triceps contraction. The cable kickback, however, keeps tension on the working muscle, regardless of the arm's position during the range of motion. And that's a plus. To focus more intensely on the inner (or long) head, try switching your grip from palms-in to palms-up at the end of the movement.