Tricep Workouts

Tricep workouts are fantastic for adding overall size to your upper arms. The triceps comprise two-thirds of your upper arms’ volume, so adding mass to them goes a long way toward visually impressive “guns.”

As their name implies, the triceps are composed of three heads: lateral, medial, and long. One study found that the majority of the work is done by the medial head of the triceps, regardless of the exercise or the angle at which it is performed. The take-home application of this knowledge is this: you must work the triceps with heavy weight in order to force it to use all three heads if you want the entire triceps to grow.

Best Triceps Exercises

Parallel Bar Dip

A favorite mass builder, this exercise is fantastic for building size and mass into your upper arms. There is a warning to heed though: always protect your shoulders! This exercise can take an extreme toll to the shoulders, so please always pay attention to the shoulders for any signs of tearing or discomfort when performing these dips.

Also, you can get a great workout for the triceps while minimizing shoulder risk by limiting the range of motion to triceps parallel with the floor and no lower. You may even want to limit the range of motion a little more just to be safe.

A few other performance tips to keep in mind while performing this movement: keep your body upright throughout the movement, squeeze the handles tightly, tuck your elbows at your sides, and pretend to be ripping the bars apart as you move down.

Close Grip Bench Press

Because you can use a relatively high load with this exercise, it’s fantastic for building mass. For those of you who haven’t done this exercise before, it can seem very awkward at first since it’s so similar to the bench press but so different because of the grip position. Have a spotter watching you closely as you learn this movement.

The grip should be closer than shoulder width but no closer than when your index fingers only are resting on the smooth, inner portion of a standard barbell. Your shoulder blades should be pinned together, forming a flat surface for you to lie on. Your back should have a normal arch, elbows tucked at about a 45 degree angle, and your feet should be firmly rooted to the floor. Touch your chest lightly with the loaded bar, then lift it up while attempting to rip the bar apart throughout the entire motion. The act of attempting to pull the bar apart ensures that your shoulder blades are squeezed back and your shoulder are protected.

Rack Lockout

A rack lockout is a normal bench press performed in a power rack instead of a normal rack. Set the pins on the rack so that the bar can go no lower than 50-75% of the way down. Position yourself under the bar with a normal bench pressing grip, back arched, shoulders pinned back, and feet firmly planted on the ground. Lower the weight with complete control, allow it to rest for a moment on the pins, and then lift up. By limiting the range of motion to this upper part, the use of the chest is minimized or completely removed so that the triceps are doing all the work of lifting the weight.

Dedicate yourself to a sensible weight training routine which includes well-designed bicep and tricep workouts, and you’ll soon have triceps that’ll be busting out of your favorite shirts. And you’ll be thanking the exercises in these tricep workouts for them.