Thread: help me blast my triceps

whats your diet look like? getting in enough/excess cals? Whens the last time you changed up your routine? That could be an issue maybe some body adaptation going on. If they are growing but just not as fast as you like maybe some new exercises could help a bit, work them a little harder with free weights ie: ditch the cable machine and do CG bench, go from heavy low mid range reps to light and high reps for a couple weeks then back to heavy. If things stall out you gotta change it up and get in some variety.

Originally Posted by thebeastijwc

i feel my triceps are just not up to speed with the rest of my body there not small just i would like them larger atm i do

incline skullkrusher 1 warm up 3x10 working sets
pushdowns 4x10
kickbacks 4x10
overhead cable tricep extensions 4x10
and to finish i do 1 set to failer low weight seated dips

here is one:
first don't do any press like bench or shoulder the day after you do triceps, give the triceps time to recuperate.
1- close grip bench press is like a squat to the triceps...so
superset close grip bench(heavy) / triceps pull down 3-4 sets
2- skull crushers 3sets (heavy) (8 reps)
3- overhead reverse grip triceps cable pulls 2 sets (light 12 reps) or dips
4- rope pull down 3 sets (light 12 reps)

all must not take you more than 25 mns do not rest more than 45 sec between sets

This is what I normally do on cycle and it straight blows them up:

Overhead DB Press 120lb DB 3 sets of 10
Close Grip Bench Pyramid 135,225,245 then 275 to failure
Rope Pulldown (focus on using your tris)
Reverse Pulldown superset with Kickbacks.

All good suggestions guys. Id also like to add that close grip benches on the smith machine will work wonders bro. You can really load the extra weight on safely and focus on the contraction without worrying about the balancing act.

Originally Posted by jadean

All good suggestions guys. Id also like to add that close grip benches on the smith machine will work wonders bro. You can really load the extra weight on safely and focus on the contraction without worrying about the balancing act.

It doesn't feel as natural to me as normal CG on the bench.

thanks guys all of you gave great ideas, so im def going to take out push downs and throw close grip bench in and im going to take out over the head extension and throw in overhead DB press. im pretty sure i just need a good switch up on my tris

Originally Posted by thebeastijwc

thanks guys all of you gave great ideas, so im def going to take out push downs and throw close grip bench in and im going to take out over the head extension and throw in overhead DB press. im pretty sure i just need a good switch up on my tris

thats the best key when stalling out VARIETY, change it up.

CG bench destroys my shoulders... A real shame as its hindering my tri dev as well

CG bench, reverse grip Smith bench, overhead db extensions, overhead rope extensions, pressdowns are all staples for me.

Triceps are like the big brother with a blue-collar job, toiling in anonymity, carrying their own workload and assisting others (chest and shoulders). All the while, they're overshadowed by their little brother--biceps--the star athlete who grabs more attention without working as hard (assisting only back). The key to this analogy is that tri's are the bigger muscles, despite their lagging reputation. I will tackle the five most common triceps blunders and lay out a course for raising your tri's to star status.

MISTAKE #1

Not stressing all three heads

The Tri have three heads: long (upper inside), medial (lower inside) and lateral (outside). The heads always work together, so it's impossible to isolate one from the others. However, the angle of your arms changes the emphasis, stressing the heads differently. Too many bodybuilders are unaware of how various exercises hit their tri's, and thus they typically overemphasize their lateral heads and underemphasize the long and medial heads.

SOLUTIONS

* When your arms are straight by your sides with an overhand or a parallel grip (palms facing each other, also known as a neutral grip), the lateral heads are worked most, as during conventional pushdowns.

* When your arms are straight by your sides with an underhand grip, the medial heads are hit most. Regardless of hand position, the medial heads also assist more on all triceps lifts as the arms reach full extension. To give your medial heads their due, consider adding reverse-grip pushdowns to your routine, and always squeeze out full contractions on triceps exercises.

* When your elbows are moved in front of your body or overhead, the long heads are targeted. Overhead extensions are best for "going long," so always include some form of overhead tri extension in your routine.

MISTAKE #2

Inefficient exercise order

EXPLANATION

No exercise order is incorrect, but some are less efficient. Changing the order can shock your tri's, and at times you may want to pre-exhaust by doing, say, pushdowns before close-grip benches. However, begin most workouts with the exercises in which you can overload your tri's with the greatest resistance. Do those first in your routine because that's when you're strongest.

SOLUTIONS

* Do compound lifts, such as dips or close-grip bench presses, first.
* Do two-arm, free-weight extensions next.
* Finish with unilateral (one-arm) or cable exercises.
* You can change the preceding order on occasion, but stick to it for most tri workouts.

MISTAKE #3

ocusing too much on machines and cables

EXPLANATION

Many trainers rely too heavily on various pushdowns and cable extensions. For example, it's not uncommon for bodybuilders to include four sets of both V-bar and rope pushdowns in the same workout, but these similar exercises stress the triceps in nearly identical ways, emphasizing the lateral heads.

SOLUTIONS

* Do a compound exercise (one that also involves the chest and shoulders) in each tri workout. Examples include close-grip bench presses, upright dips and bench dips with your hands behind your back.
* Do at least one EZ-curl bar or dumbbell extension in each tri workout. Examples include lying EZ-curl bar triceps extensions, two-arm dumbbell overhead extensions and one-arm dumbbell overhead extensions.
* If you do two pushdown exercises, one should be done with an overhand or parallel grip (to emphasize the lateral heads) and the other
should be underhand (to emphasize the medial heads).

MISTAKE #4

Improper form

EXPLANATION

To focus the stress on your triceps, you need to keep your elbows locked in place. The moment you start moving your elbows forward, backward or outward, you shift some emphasis to your shoulders. Doing so allows you to use more weight or crank out more reps, but if you turn tri exercises into partial pullovers, you're making it easier on your triceps when you should be making it harder.

SOLUTIONS

* Lock your elbows in place for all reps until you reach failure. For pushdowns this is easy to do by pressing your elbows against your sides and not allowing them to deviate from that position.
* After reaching failure with strict reps, you can then loosen your form to eke out a few more reps. Do this by moving your elbows forward during the negative half of the rep and backward during the positive half. Cheat as little as you must to keep the set going.

MISTAKE #5

Overtraining

EXPLANATION

Out of all your bodyparts, triceps are the most prone to overtraining. This is in part because most bodybuilders know the tri's are larger than the bi's, and in their quest for higher-caliber guns, they assume that if they do 12 sets for bi's they should crank out 18 for tri's. Also--unlike your bi's, which help only during back workouts--your tri's help when you train chest (pressing movements or dips) and shoulders (pressing movements). If you train chest, shoulders and triceps on different days, they're getting a triple whammy, likely without enough time to recuperate between workouts.

SOLUTIONS

* Triceps are relatively small muscles. Generally, 12 sets will suffice. If you do chest or shoulder pressing exercises earlier in the same workout, consider doing even fewer sets because your tri's get some work locking out presses.
* Rest a minimum of 48 hours and ideally at least 72 hours between training chest or shoulders and training triceps. Arrange your workout split accordingly.

LESSONS LEARNED

* Do exercises in each triceps workout that emphasize the long, lateral and medial heads.
* Generally, do compound lifts first, two-hand free-weight lifts next and finish with one-arm or cable exercises.
* Include free-weight exercises in each tri workout.
* Lock your elbows in place until you reach strict-rep failure.
* Typically, do no more than 12 sets per triceps workout, and always rest at least two days between training chest or shoulders and training tri's.

Close grip, and skull crushers are my basics. Then I change between different exercises. Lately I have been putting the rope and metal handles on the pulldown cable. I start with the rope with a good contraction, then when I reach failure I switch to the metal handle. Try it the pump is crazy!

Just make sure that you are not overworking triceps. Mine grew the most when I ceased a lot of direct triceps work and focused more on getting stronger in pressing moves. You'll never see a guy who is super strong pressing with small triceps.