Triceps..what's the magic formula?

[jj23]

I have to say this is the most stubborn muscle I ever trained. My arms look totally disproportioned because my bis are fine yet my tris are flat and small.

I train them once a week, usually with chest and do the usual exercises.. pushdowns bar, then rope, seated pushdowns (dont know the exact name) and also hit them with dips.

I just started a cycle so I want to make sure this muscle gets a lot of attention because it needs to play catchup.

Any suggestions? Maybe hit them x2 a week?

Thanks!

 

[Becoming]

Work on them 2x as much as you hit bi's and you should be fine... there is no reason they should be smaller than your bi's....

Use heavier weights... and compound and old school movements.... Some people like giving them their own day seperate from chest or hittng them 2x per week...

Close grip bench... or weighted dips...
Then seated tri-presses behind the head or skull crushers (do them to the neck/chin to make it tougher) or lying DB skull crushers....
Maybe finish with pushdowns or rope pushdowns or a variation

Don't waste your time with kickbacks or multiple types of pushdowns, or extra crap for shaping till you get some mass... the CG/Dips and tripresses will help with that... if you have energy for that extra stuff you did not work hard enough on the stuff before it... stick to the basics and hit em heavy... tris are/have the potential to be strong as hell... if you don't tap into that they won't grow...

last- be careful and do it right - go heavy as you can but use weight you can handle with proper technique- don't swing the weights- tendonitis is painful as hell, hard to get rid of and the last thing you want.l..

 

[Scotsman]

Becoming has some great points. I like giving tri's a second beating during the week. I do reverse grip bench or close grip, then overhead tri-extensions, then pushdowns. Dips are also a great workout.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[Cut]

do heavy close grips. I agree with Scotsman about overhead tris and dips too.

 

[athlete0185]

close grip bench, overhead dumbell extention, weighted dips. im not huge by any means but my triceps have a pretty nice horseshoe shape to them if i must say so myself.

 

[Becoming]

those overhead tris will really get a good stretch and get things moving...

 

[supersizeme]

here is my tricep workout.

Alternate workout A and B each week

Workout A
close grip bench
skull crushers
rope pushdowns

Workout B
weighted dips
oh db extension
single arm cable pushdowns

 

[time2getbig]

i love decline crushers, close grip single cable push downs! Good luck bro

 

[jj23]

Do you find only 3 excercises enough for tris?

 

[Scotsman]

Do you find only 3 excercises enough for tris?

Not to brag but my arms are over 20" cold, and I only do two to three tri exercises per week. You get a lot of work from bench and shoulder presses on your tris.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[time2getbig]

Just about. I work tris twice a week Tues- Overhead EZ Bar Extensions, Close Grip, Rev. Single Cable Push Downs and Dips then tri's again on Fri. Cable Push Downs and Rev. Single Cable Push Downs. This routine works for me

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

I know this is highly personal and not a universally applicable 'truth' or anything but i have tried it all and i know that for my biomechanics skullcrusher are quite simply the best mass builder for my tris...everything else pails compared to them. I use the EZ with a close grip,last set or two i go to failure on them and immediately go to failure close gripping the same weight.

 

[Dorian'sDisciple]

Do you find only 3 excercises enough for tris?

???

 

[strongsmartsexy]

I have a day I work tri's independent of chest day. On chest day I use heavy dips to hit the chest and tri's. Slow controlled movements with full range of motion on the dips.

On tri days I do heavy incline skull crushers, heavy overhead raises and cable pulldowns either as pulldowns or in overhead fashion.

Tri's build well with heavy overload. If you have a training partner do some negatives after you fail. Remember though, tri's have a tendency to just fail. Not much warning, just gone.

As another note, your tri's make up 2/3 of your arm mass... Bigger tri's = bigger arms...

 

[time2getbig]

decline crushers seem to be the best for me, not as easy to cheat by incorporating lats

 

[UA_Iron]

whats up with tricep kickbacks anyway? does anyone find them to be helpful for tricep development? I usually see guys with small arms doing these anyway.

 

[Sub-Zero]

im new, but i only do one 4-set exersise in addition to my bench, and inclines for my triceps... (except every other time i work triceps i also add in dips)

and i consider myt riceps to be really nicely defined, large, and sexy...

 

[time2getbig]

i find kickbacks to be useless, the excercise does isolate the tri like I want. Kickbacks require the use of the rear delt to hold the weight. Just my .02

 

[d3track]

Slow controlled movements with full range of motion

and really squeeze the contraction

there's your magic formula

 

[strongsmartsexy]

and really squeeze the contraction

there's your magic formula

Bingo!

Damn near everyone I see at the gym trains tri's, and most other body parts, WAY too fast. It's like they're in a rush. Not only do they not take advantage of the contractile sqeeze, but they about rip the tendon off the bones when they release for the next rep.

 

[frotobaggins]

I have found that my triceps need lots of volume to grow. I work triceps one day per week doing the following movements: Closegrip bench 5x5, Weighted dips 3x15, French press 3x10, push downs with a v bar 3x10. Its really an individuall thing as I am sure this is not the best route for everyone.

 

[big4life]

If you have never tried them try elbow out extensions. Here's a thread from our powerlifting board, and they work great on building strength and size. There is lots of other great info over there if you look.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27734&highlight=elbows