The Best Triceps Exercises You Need To Be Doing
In this article, we are going to talk about the best triceps exercises you need to be adding to your workout routine.
What is the first muscle group you think of when you want to build and tone your arms?
It’s probably your biceps, isn’t it?
What about your triceps?
Probably the forgotten, distant cousin, huh?
Well, I’m going to tell you why the triceps are a much more important muscle group to focus on when your goal is to build and/or tone your arms.
So when we take a step back and break down the names, “biceps” and “triceps”, bi- means two, tri- means three, and -ceps means heads.
And your biceps are named like so because it’s a muscle group that has “two heads” and your triceps are named so because it’s a muscle group that has “three heads.”
This means that if we think about your entire arm like a piece of real estate, your biceps only take up 2/5 of your arm while your triceps take up 3/5 of your arm.
Now, this isn’t to say that you should drop all your biceps training and just solely work on your triceps from here on out, but if you have been neglecting triceps or have been just blasting away at your biceps while doing minimal work for your triceps, then you may want to shift your focus a bit.
As always, we’re going to get into this by talking about:
- Your Triceps Musculature Anatomy
- Exercises and Movements To Target The Triceps Musculature
- What A Sample Workout Looks Like
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
The Anatomy Behind The Best Triceps Exercises
Sure it’s cool to just look up free workouts and be on your merry way, but it’s even better to understand why you’re doing the exercises you’re doing and to be able to spot the misinformation versus the truth in the vast sea of information in the fitness industry.
Now, let’s talk about the triceps.
So as discussed earlier, the triceps are named as so because there are three heads.
There’s the long head, the lateral head, and the medial head.
Their main functions are to perform elbow extension or this movement:
The triceps can also assist in shoulder extension, but we’re not going to talk about that because that isn’t its main function.
But it does explain why you may “feel” your triceps when you’re doing rows or lat pulldowns.
Speaking of which, if you want to learn more about training your back, you can do so by checking out my other article HERE.
Furthermore, when we’re talking about the triceps, there are two categories we can separate these into:
- Targeting the long head
- Targeting the medial and lateral head
Now, you might be thinking, “Why are the medial and lateral heads grouped into one while the long head is in its own separate category?”
Good question, here’s why.
I want you to notice where these muscle heads attach to on your body.
As we can see in the picture above, both the medial (green) and lateral (yellow) heads attach to the humerus (upper arm) while the long head attaches to the scapula (shoulder blade).
With that in mind, we can then theorize that the medial and lateral heads will perform similar functions while the long head needs extra care and attention (just like your significant other) rather than just your typical triceps exercises.
Now, for those of you who care about your significant other (which your gains can count as one in this case), you might be wondering, “Then how do I make sure my long head gets the extra care and attention it needs??”
Great question which actually transitions nicely into our next point.
The Best Triceps Exercises – Working The Long Head Versus The Medial And Lateral Heads
The Medial And Lateral Heads
First up, we’ll talk about the medial and lateral heads because it’s the less complicated of the two.
Again, because these two heads have similar attachment points on the body, they perform similar functions.
That said because these two heads only attach onto the humerus and ulna (the bony part of your elbow), they only perform elbow extension which means these two heads get worked doing any of the triceps exercises I will mention below.
The Long Head
Now, let’s talk about the long head.
No worries, it’s just a bit more complicated.
So according to the research done by N1 Education, because of how the long head is positioned on the body versus the other two heads, it requires a more abducted position (arms farther away from the body) when we’re doing our extension movements.
If you’re scratching your head right now, don’t worry, I’m about to clear this up with a visual.
This means that when we’re doing any sort of pushdown movements, we can benefit from making this simple change (Figure 1).
And here’s the main reason for this. Remember how we said that the long head attaches onto your scapula unlike the other two heads?
So by abducting (bringing the arms out) to the side more, we allow the long head to work better.
We can see this again in this other example (Figure 2).
Before someone says it, in both pictures, I promise I am flexing my triceps as hard as I can!
On the left, we can see that the muscle definition is there but not super clear, but on the right, the long head of my triceps is much more prominent because of the different positioning.
And we can see the same thing with overhead triceps extensions.
Now, you might be thinking…
Remember how the long head of the triceps attaches to the scapula unlike the other two heads?
It’s because of this fact that when your arm is closer to your body, it can’t get lined up properly to work harder than the other two heads. So by abducting your arm slightly, this allows the long head to properly contract.
Give it a try right now as you’re reading this and I guarantee you’ll feel an immediate difference just flexing.
The Scapular Plane
I meant to say this in a spooky voice, but there is no way to do that over text so I italicized it and described it to you here so you can read it in your own spooky voice.
Now, you’ll probably see me mention the Scapular Plane a few times in this article and my other articles specifically in regards to training your shoulders.
I’ll save you the spiel, but simply put, the reason why this plane of movement is important is that it’s the plane of movement where your humerus and scapular get the most amount of natural movement without placing too much stress on the surrounding soft tissues and structures.
This means that, for most movements, working in the scapular plane will lead to more gains and fewer pains.
Here’s a more in-depth video on how to find the scapular plane on yourself.
Alright, now that we have all that covered, let’s talk about…
The Best Triceps Exercises – Pushdown Variations
Now, just a heads up, for these exercises, I’m not going to separate them into long head vs medial and lateral head because again, the medial and lateral heads get worked in all triceps exercises so really, as long as we’re paying attention to target the long head, everything else is covered as well.
Triceps Rope Pushdowns
Points of Performance
- Use long rope or attach a second rope so that the ropes are longer for each arm
- Stick elbows farther out
- Keep shoulders stable and extend elbows
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 10-15
The tried and true rope pushdowns are up first. The only thing is to make sure the ropes are long enough to get enough abduction to target the long head. If your gym only has short ropes available, you can get a second rope and attach it like in the example below. Now you can have longer ropes to work with!
Dual Rope Triceps Pushdowns
Points of Performance
- Flare elbows out slightly (about 30-45 degrees)
- Pull shoulders back slightly and set them into place
- Make sure to fully extend elbow while keeping wrists in line and neutral
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 10-15
But if you have crossover cables, I wouldn’t even bother with this setup because this next one is going to be soooo much better.
Cable Crossover Triceps Pushdowns
Points of Performance
- Arms out and slightly externally rotated
- Pull shoulder blades back slightly
- Make sure to keep shoulders stable while extending tricep
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 10-15
One of my favorite machines tbh. You can adjust it any which way to fit your structure, line things up properly, and also change the way the movement feels.
Now, of course, another way to hit the triceps with a different resistance profile is through overhead extension movements.
The Best Triceps Exercises – Overhead Variations
PJR Pullovers
Points of Performance
- Set up so that your hips and lower than your chest
- Start with the dumbbell directly over your face
- Simultaneously lower at the shoulders AND elbows
- Pull back with your elbows for the most part, but a natural amount of shoulder motion should occur
These are one of the best exercises you can do to really nail the triceps their most lengthened (stretched) position. You’ll definitely feel these for days!
However, I will say they are more of an advanced exercise because of the shoulder mobility requirements.
So if you aren’t able to set these up properly, then I would suggest giving the overhead rope extension variations below a shot.
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 8-12
Overhead Rope Extensions
Points of Performance
- Shoulder should be in scapular plane
- Keep shoulder stabilized while extending elbow with tricep
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 10-15
Our first scapular plane exercise. You can also do these with both arms at a time, but again, make sure the rope is long enough or attach a second rope.
Dual Rope Overhead Triceps Extensions
Points of Performance
- Bring shoulders all the way overhead
- Set your shoulders into the scapular plane
- Step away far enough so that the ropes and cable don’t run into your body
- Fully extend elbow while keeping wrists neutral
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 10-15
Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
Points of Performance
- Set incline so that arm is perpendicular with floor
- Hold dumbbell so that your hand is closer to bottom end plate
- Keep shoulder stable and extend at the elbow
These are much better than your typical standing ones because this allows the force from the dumbbell to line up better with the triceps. These are a good option if a bench and dumbbells are the only things you have access to.
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 8-12
Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Points of Performance
- Sets shoulders in line with scapular plane and lock them into place
- Extend only at the elbows
I like these waaaaay more than the barbell or EZ bar variation because these allow more freedom of movement which means you can get into the scapular plane and stay there, and you’re not restricted and fixing your joints to a straight bar (which can lead to joint issues down the road).
Reps: 2-4
Sets: 10-15
Katana Triceps Extensions
Points of Performance
- Make sure arms are in scapular plane
- Set up cables so that it lines up with your humerus (upper arm)
- Keep shoulder stable and extend at elbow
I first saw these from Eugene Teo and man are these freaking awesome. Super joint-friendly and absolutely nails that long head.
Sets: 2-4
Reps: 8-15
The Best Triceps Exercises – Integrated Movements
Lastly, we have integrated movements for the triceps.
These movements are known as compound movements which are movements that utilize multiple muscle groups that work together to perform a movement.
However, this doesn’t mean that these better or worse for your triceps. If set up properly, you can still nail the triceps pretty hard with these movements.
Body Weight Dips
Points of Performance
- Feet can be in front or behind
- Initiate movement by pushing elbows back
- Don’t go so far down that shoulders start to roll forward
- Keep elbow in line with shoulder, don’t internally rotate
- Using assisted machine is fine to get into prescribed rep range
Sets: 1-3
Reps: As Many As You Can Do With BW (8-15 if assisted)
A few more notes on dips because a lot of people tend to avoid this exercise because it irritates their joints or they think that it’s dangerous.
One thing I will say is that no exercise is inherently dangerous (except maybe balancing on a freaking bosu ball *eye roll*), only exercises perform incorrectly are dangerous.
So with that said, make sure to not make these dips mistakes.
Get Rid Of Bench Dips
I usually don’t say this about many exercises because most exercises do have a time and place, but bench dips absolutely do not have a time and place.
Everything about this exercise screams red flags.
It’s because the risks far outweigh the potential benefits.
You put your joints into a more compromised position meanwhile not being able to load or perform the exercise to an adequate degree.
Going Too Low
This is another one of those cases where “more ROM” isn’t always better.
We don’t want to go so low that our shoulders start to hunch and round forward like the picture above.
In fancy, scientific terms, this is called “anterior humeral glide.”
What this means for you is that your humerus ends up pushing forward from the exercise and this places a lot of excessive stress onto your shoulder joint and can lead to impingement.
Overall, dips are a completely safe exercise and great for building your chest and triceps.
Just follow the points I’ve outlined in this article and you’ll be good to go.
Assisted Dip Machine
Points of Performance
- Hold handles with a neutral grip (palms facing in)
- Initiate movement by driving elbows back
- Don’t go so deep that shoulders roll forward
If you aren’t able to do body weight dips quite yet, then I highly recommend using an assisted dip machine. You can either use one like the one above or you can use one of these below.
I will also add that I do personally prefer the one where you are standing because you get more core activation which will help transfer over to doing actual bodyweight dips, but this is one of those things where the saying, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees” applies.
Having access to and utilizing one of these machines is better than nothing, but if you do have a choice, I would choose the one on the right.
Putting The Best Triceps Exercises Together – Sample Workouts
Now that we’ve compiled all of the best triceps exercises, let’s put it all together into what a sample workout looks like.
Personally, I’m not a fan of arm days where you only focus on biceps and triceps because I think it is an utter waste of time to be carving time out of your day just to go to the gym to train arms.
Also, there are literally zero benefits compared to just doing them at the end of your other workouts as usual.
For the most part, I like to program triceps along with “pushing” muscles like shoulders and chest, but you can literally pair any muscle groups together if you wish, there are no hard rules against this (as discussed in my other article How Often Should I Be Working Out?).
Lastly, I won’t be talking too much about which specific chest and shoulders exercises and will be using a placeholder for them because I’ve already extensively discussed the best chest and shoulders exercises and workouts in my other articles.
Sample Workout A
Chest Movement 1
Chest Movement 2
Cable Crossover Triceps Extensions – 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Bodyweight (BW) Dips – 1 set of max BW reps
Sample Workout B
Shoulder Movement 1
Shoulder Movement 2
Rope Pushdowns – 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Overhead Rope Extensions – 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Sample Workout C
Chest Movement 1
Shoulder Movement 1
Chest Movement 2
Shoulder Movement 2
Katana Triceps Extensions – 3 sets of 8-15 reps
Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions – 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Final Thoughts On The Best Triceps Exercises
Aaaand that’s about it. That covers the best triceps exercises.
Now, you might be thinking, “But wait, I thought you said that there is no ‘best’ anything when it comes to fitness?”
Yes, this is true, there is no single best approach, but there is a group of best practices or exercises that the large majority of people can follow and get really good results.
And that is exactly what I have gathered here for you today in this article.
Of course, I could go so much deeper into this, but I tried to keep this as simple and digestible as possible for you.
So if you have any follow-up questions or need clarification on anything at all, please do not hesitate to reach out and email me.
But if you are thinking, “Man, this is a lot of work and I don’t really want to figure this out for myself. Just tell me exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it!”
Then it sounds like you might be a good fit for my online coaching program.
Otherwise, thanks so much for reading.
Until next time,
-Aus
