Tips for building great triceps

The tricep is the muscle on the back of your arm.  The primary function of the triceps is to extend the elbow.  The tricep is much bigger than the bicep so you need big triceps if you want big arms.  One of the best ways to ensure you get big triceps is to perform the following exercises once a week.

Pulley pushdown

This exercise where you push the bar down attached to the pulley whilst keeping your elbows in works the whole tricep.  Depending on how your hands are placed determines whether you work more of the long head or short head of the triceps.  Hands on a bar horizontally will work the short head more and holding a rope with hands placed vertically will work the long head more of the tricep.  For huge triceps perform this exercise for 6 reps for 3 sets with a heavy weight you can just push down the sixth rep for.

Lying barbell tricep extensions

Lying on your back on a bench with a barbell elevated over your head, hold the bar with a close grip and bring the bar down to meet your forehead whilst ensuring your elbows are waist width apart.  This exercise puts intense stress on the triceps across the medial and outer head of the tricep.  Perform 6 reps for 3 sets with a heavy weight that you can just raise the bar with for the final rep of each set.

Press ups with your hands closer together and elbows tucked in next to your body

Press ups performed in this way hits the triceps much more than the chest and are great to follow an intense tricep workout with to tire out the triceps to the max.  Do a couple of sets with whatever reps you can manage at the end of your workout.  Close grip bench press with your elbows tucked in will equally get the desired effect.

Remember to always think about the triceps when working it out so your mind isolates it and you get a better tricep workout.

For advice on building great triceps have a personal training session at Personal training studioswhere one of our bodybuilding experts will ensure you get a great triceps workout and teach you the fundamentals of triceps training to benefit your future triceps workouts.