Four big tricep movements for size, power, and strength

If it’s bigger arms you’re looking for, then your focus should be firmly on your triceps, developing each of the three heads that make up the back up the arm, helping to give you thick, dense, and full arms.

Barbell curls and preacher curls will only take you so far when it comes to building great arms. Your Triceps are a bigger muscle group than the biceps, and have a greater impact on the overall look – and functioning, of your arm. By devoting your attention and passion to such workouts like this one shown below, you’ll soon start experiencing fuller arms that look totally balanced with your biceps when viewed from the side. Not to mention new new-found strength you’ll find you have when it comes to a range of other movements, including bench presses and shoulder presses

Push, Extend, Press, & Dip

There’s a lot of movements that the Triceps are involved in besides the standard go-to tricep push down. Amongst these different movements are an array of various training methods and shocking principles at your disposal. The workout below details 4 big tricep movements, each one loading and stressing the triceps from different angles and movement patterns. If you’re not currently performing at least 3 of these movements each week, then you either have extraordinary tricep development already, or you’re not putting in the level of commitment and focus needed to grow your arms.

There’s More Than One Way

The triceps is an extensor muscle of the elbow joint, which means it is directly responsible for straightening out the arm by extending the joint at the elbow. When we think of this action, we often think of a tricep push down – pushing a bar or rope down against resistance as we straighten the arm and contract the triceps. This is correct, but there are more than one way to extend you arm and work the triceps from a range of different positions and angles. Look at the routine below – there are 4 different movements that are all based around the tricep extending the elbow and straightening out the arm. Remember this next time you train triceps, and remain consciously aware of their involvement during each exercise, and every repetition.

Triceps Frequency

Just like with the biceps, it can be all too easy to find yourself over training them as you pursue your goal of growth and size. Your arms, and triceps in particular, are heavily involved as secondary muscles in practically all other push-type exercises. Every time you train chest and shoulders (overhead presses), you are actively working and stressing the triceps. Even if you train arms once a week, as well as a heavy chest session, followed by shoulders a few days later, thats still 3 times within the same week that you’ve worked your triceps.

I’m not saying only train them once every 10 days or so, but rather to just be aware of when you last trained them, and when you’ll next require them to be fresh and able to push them within your workout. I’ve found that muscles can take up to 72 hours (3 days) to fully recover, and come back that little bit stronger to allow you to continue to make progress in your training – no matter how small of a step forwards that might be.

To help allow for an optimal recovery time in my triceps, I’ll alternate each week with a workout dedicated just to my triceps, knowing that when I train chest, I’ll include some shoulder presses as well, so that I’m only really working my triceps hard twice a week. The following week I will combine triceps in with my biceps workout, which still pushes them hard, but not as much as when they’re trained on their own in one workout. This allows me to still commit to a solid chest workout, and separate shoulder workout the same week without feeling like I’m over training them.