Build Massive Arms – The Triceps Workout

It’s not a secret that every bodybuilder wants a pair of powerful and well developed arms, and those who have them are proud of themselves. In fact who wouldn’t love to have a pair of powerful guns bursting through the sleeves of their shirt? But when it comes to training most amateurs will blast their biceps with countless sets of different types of curls and expect their arms to grow without even knowing the anatomy of the arms.

The truth is that the triceps takes two thirds of the upper arm. With this piece of information in mind it sounds reasonable that you should pay more attention to the triceps instead of neglecting it, if you want bigger arms.

As a general rule it’s a good thing to be progressive with your weights, but when it comes to DIRECT triceps training I think it’s wise to slow things down and watch out with the progression. Sometimes the triceps gets enough stimulus from compound movements (all the push movements), so stimulating it too much with direct work can lead to overtraining.

Let’s take a closer look at the triceps before we start the workout. The triceps consists of three muscles or heads that work together to extend the elbow: the medial head, which runs down the middle of the rear arm, the lateral head on the outside posterior arm; and the long head running along the inside posterior arm. These three heads form the well known “horseshoe” which is a brand of a well developed triceps.

The exercises:

1. Close grip bench press.

It’s always good to start your workout with a compound exercise because this is when you are fresh and can use bigger weights. Lie down on a flat bench press and grab the bar with a grip that is a little narrower than your shoulders width.

Grab too close and you’ll limit the weight you can lift and you also place your wrists in a injury prone position. Do a couple of warm up sets and then do 2 sets of 6-8 reps. You can alternate this exercise with parallel bar dips.

2. Lying triceps extensions

This is a good exercise to work and stretch the long head of the triceps. Lie on a flat bench with an EZ bar in your hands. Again the grip should be a little narrower than shoulders width.Extend your arms straight up above your chest.

Keeping your elbows fixed in place and not pointing out, lower the bar to your forehead. Pause and slowly extend your arms back to the starting position without locking the elbows.Do 2 sets of 10-12 reps.

3. Dumbbell kick back

This exercise will work all three heads of the triceps and give you incredible muscle pump. Bend over a flat bench with one arm placed on the bench to support yourself and one knee also placed on the bench.Grab a dumbbell in your other arm.Keep your upper arm along the side of your torso during the entire exercise. Move your forearm in an arc motion until your arm is straight.
Slowly return the dumbbell to the starting position. Do one set to failure.