Did you know that your triceps are made up of three muscles? As the name implies, the triceps brachii has three muscles as part of the structure of its muscle group. The triceps sit at the back of the arm. They start at the back, lower part of the shoulder and end at the elbow. They are key muscles when creating nice sculpted arms. However, a lot of people neglect the triceps and focus more on the biceps. Even if the look of your arms is more important to you than the function, the biceps and triceps should be trained equally.
When working the triceps effectively you need exercises that emphasize each one of the triceps muscles’ heads. Additionally, you are going to get the most mass out of triceps exercises that emphasize the lateral head. Exercises that emphasize the lateral head are exercises that have your arms at your side with an overhand grip.
It is important to pay attention to the other two heads too with your triceps exercises. Exercises that have your arms overhead emphasize the long head, and exercises that have your arms at your side with an underhand grip emphasize the medial head.
Here are 3 exercises to add to your next arm workout that effectively target all three muscle heads of the triceps –
Cross Grip Bench Press
Focus on the lateral head of the triceps.
If you were to do just one triceps exercise, a great one to pick is the close-grip bench press. The exercise emphasizes the lateral heads of the triceps and also gives a little boost to your chest development. You are killing two birds with one stone.
Skullcrushers
Focus on the long head of the triceps.
The lying triceps extension is a movement that emphasizes the medial head of the triceps. It has been a bodybuilding staple for decades now because it’s simple and effective. Plus, it is kind of fun to perform since you feel a bit dangerous lowering weight down towards your forehead as if you are going to smash it. (Does the name make more sense now? Ha)
Overhead Triceps Extensions
Focus on the medial head of the triceps.
The medial head is what is usually targeted the most when it comes to triceps exercises so naturally an oldie but a goodie exercise will target that head just right.
What are your favorite triceps exercises?
