The Top 5 Best Triceps Exercises

Two common questions you will hear from male weightlifters are:

1. How can I get bigger arms?
2. How can I bench press more weight?

Normally I would scoff at such questions, except that the answer is a lesson that most young weightlifters need to learn.
Because your triceps comprise two-thirds of your arm, the answer to the first question is: train your triceps.
Because your triceps are often the weakest link in the chain of muscles that facilitates bench press, the answer to the second question is: train your triceps.
This brings me to the point of this whole post, which is how best to train your triceps.

Anatomy of the Triceps

The triceps brachii has three heads that connect the humerus and scapula to the forearm bone called the ulna.
These heads are known as the Lateral, Medial, and Long heads.
The lateral head is located on the outward facing side of the humerus.
This head is most responsible for the horseshoe shape of the triceps.
The medial head is located towards the midline of the body.
The long head runs along the bottom side of the humerus and is the largest of the three heads.
Again I will mention that your triceps make up about 70% of the total muscle mass of your upper arm.

Triceps Anatomy

Functions of the Triceps

The primary function of the triceps is to extend the elbow, which results in straightening the arm.
The secondary function of the triceps is fulfilled only by the long head of the muscle, which is to adduct the arm (or to bring the arm down towards the body). The triceps shares this function with the latissimus dorsi (back muscles).

Top 5 Best Triceps Exercises

A number of criteria went in to selecting the best triceps exercises. I focused on compound exercises over isolation. We also want to be able to go as heavy as possible in order to build the size and strength we are seeking. Work a couple of these exercises into your weekly training, and you will see a huge improvement in your triceps within 2 months.
Until I get my video camera set up, you can enjoy the following videos from YouTube.

1. Close grip bench pressClose grip bench is probably the best triceps exercise on the planet. This exercise allows you to go heavy and put maximum stress on the one muscle besides the pecs that can help increase your bench.You want to set up like a regular bench press, but position your hands no wider than shoulder width. On the descent, you want to keep your elbows in; do not let your elbows drift away from your body like you would with a regular bench press. At the bottom of the movement, you want the bar to come to the lower portion of your chest; at the top of the movement, the bar should be over your upper chest.
   Ideally, your forearms should be perpendicular to the floor at all times. Your hands and wrists should be directly over your elbows throughout the movement.
   
2. Dips (weighted)A classic triceps builder. Keep your body as upright as possible to put the stress on your triceps rather than your chest.Use a belt with a chain to add weight to your body if you can do more than 5 reps at bodyweight. Be careful to always respect the flexibility and stability of your shoulders. Be sure not to lower your body so far that your shoulders become compromised, and always use strict form and a bounce-free concentric movement.
   
3. Rack lockouts or board pressTrue powerlifting exercises, these two can be used interchangeably but only choose to use one of these exercises in any given workout. For the most part they train the same muscles.The goal here is to train the top portion of the bench press, where triceps rain supreme. I prefer rack lockouts because if I do use too much weight I can just rack the bar, and I don’t have to worry about carrying around a bunch of boards nailed together as if I didn’t already carry enough equipment around in my gym bag.
   

   Rack Lockouts

   
   

   Board Press

   However, most powerlifters that I have ever known prefer the board press to rack lockouts. I believe this is because the board press is identical to a regular bench press, except that the range of motion is much shorter (and there’s a big board on your chest). You can also vary the thickness of the boards from 1 inch to 10 inches or whatever you need for your workout.
   
4. Lying French press (aka skullcrushers, nosebreakers)This is as close as I’ll get to recommending a triceps extension type exercise. The reason I like this exercise so much is that you really can work up to a decent weight, and it works your triceps from a different angle than any of the pressing movements.I suggest using an EZ curl bar and positioning your hands shoulder width apart. Lower the bar under control down to your nose, your hairline, or behind your head. If you feel any pain in your triceps, opt to lower the bar behind your head. In the following video we split the difference… this guy lower the bar to his hairline. I typically prefer behind the head.
   
5. Close grip (diamond) push ups (with a clap)What? How did this get in here? No seriously, if you can bang out a set of 10 diamond push ups that’s great, but can you clap after each rep. This is an exercise that will really condition your triceps to contract with maximum force.You want to position your hands underneath your chest with index fingers and thumb tips touching. The space between should form a diamond. As soon as you can do 10 of these without the clap, add the clap. In order to clap properly you will need to push yourself up high enough to execute the clap and return your hands to their proper diamond position for the next rep. If this is too hard you can work up to it by placing plates or books beside your hands, and ‘jump’ up onto them. This is initially a shorter range of motion than a clap.
   In the following video this guy is just doing regular diamond push ups without a clap. We do these in thai kickboxing class.
   

If you use a 3-day full body training split, you can probably choose 3 of these exercises, using 1 each day. If you have an ‘arm day’ (which is a totally bogus topic for another day), you can probably choose 2 of these exercise for your triceps routine.