Another triceps machine I designed and built is the lying triceps extension. Coogee Gym in Sydney had a crude version of this apparatus. This movement is what Larry Scott recommended. The original Vince's Gym had a variation of the Coogee machine. Primitive at best.
The idea of this machine is to have the triceps in a pre-stretched position besides the head. The body is straight for both stability and power. The pulley is from about 5 feet off the floor. A later modification added adjustable pads to keep the elbows from moving out.
Vince,
I tried something similar many turns ago, based on your recommendation actually. I didn't have the adjustable side pads, but the overall set-up was nearly identical.
I found getting into the starting position was extremely difficult, and potentially dangerous, even with a weight I could do for 15+ strict reps.
How do you address that limitation? After a set to failure, returning the weight to the stack isn't a very natural or safe movement, either.
you could sarcastically brand me yet another "expert" (a learned man such as you *do* recognize that as an Ad Homenim, yes?), but my issues with the exercise stand on their own merit. If I wanted to really cream the long triceps head, I would instead probably perform seated overhead triceps extensions on a dedicated machine or with an EZ curl bar. Some, like Ell Darden, swear by two-handed overhead DB extensions, but those never worked for me: once you're even the least bit strong, the dumbbell will be so big as to scrape your upper traps and neck in the lower half of the stroke.
I think that, with only a few exceptions, most very good bench pressers I've known or know of had some of the biggest triceps in the strength training world. Most of them did assistance work in various forms. Ted Arcidi swore by the BNP. Blakely loves the JM Press. Eder was a super powerful dip guy. Other very strong pressers have endorsed the close-grip and/or Barbarians' reverse-grip press.
What do they have in common?
Bench pressing strength, obviously, but also great strength in their ancillary stuff, most of which consists of compound/multi-joint exercises.
Some might protest and dismiss all that; "those guys were all loaded!," they bleat. So were the Dillets, Vince Taylors, Matarrazzos (sp?) and umpteen number of dudes who used isolation moves and pumping training.
I am not so naive as to suggest a golden mean, but I do think the most proven *exercises* for big triceps is far from a cold case. How you implement them in terms of frequency, sets, reps and the overall loading paradigm is a different story...
