SELECTING THE BEST TRICEP EXERCISES (Westside Barbell)
As an athlete, it is important to develop a strong upper body. One of the most critical components of developing a strong upper body is ensuring that your triceps are properly trained. Not only do your triceps play a significant role in the extension of the elbow during a press (bench press) or push (med ball chest pass) movement, the triceps are largely responsible for your ability to use your arms to apply force or control during competition.
The triceps brachii muscle consists of three heads; long, medial, and lateral. The muscle traces the rear upper arm, connecting at the scapula and the humerus, with the triceps tendon connecting the muscle to the olecranon process. To ensure all heads of the triceps and the triceps tendons are properly trained and developed, it is essential to have a basic understanding of tricep exercise selection for both main and accessory exercises.
The Conjugate Method provides a programming template that makes it easy for an athlete to train the triceps to improve upper body absolute strength and muscle mass. For many years, Louie emphasized the importance of tricep development for all athletes. If you have ever visited Westside, you know that much of our training on upper body days directly or passively target the triceps.
Proper triceps training comes down to two things: exercise selection and programming. As long as you select worthwhile exercises and program these movements with optimal levels of volume and intensity, you can expect to add strength and size to your triceps.
Here is how we go about selecting and programming triceps exercises at Westside Barbell:
MAIN EXERCISES
One of the best ways to develop strength in the triceps is to add tricep-focused exercises to your upper body main exercise selections. When selecting a tricep-focused exercise as a main exercise, we will always choose a multi-joint exercise considering the many training benefits provided compared to a single-joint exercise.
Multi-joint movements are preferred due to the impact these exercises have on other upper-body muscle groups. Instead of solely focusing on the triceps, we can focus on the triceps while providing adequate training for the shoulders, pecs, upper back, biceps, and forearms.
The intent of max effort upper training days is to improve the absolute strength of the upper body while also developing strength and skill in variations of the bench and overhead press. We opt for multi-joint movements only when selecting a tricep-focused main exercise.
Here are a few of our go-to triceps-focused main exercises, along with programming recommendations:
Bench Press (with band or chain)
Incline Press
JM Press
Close Grip Bench Press (with band or chain)
2 or 3 Board Bench Press
Floor Press (with band or chain)
Pin Press (flat, incline, or standing)
When programming these exercises for a max effort upper training day, we typically work up to a top set of 1-3 reps. Additionally, you can choose to use the bench press or close grip bench press as a dynamic effort main exercise. You will still follow the recommended dynamic effort upper set and rep schemes.
Remember that you can also use any of the above exercises as a primary accessory exercise. In that case, we recommend either working up to a top set of 5-8 reps or performing multiple sets of 5-8 reps. Heavy tricep-focused primary accessory exercises are some of the best tricep exercises considering your ability to manipulate volume and intensity to deliver the results you seek.
ACCESSORY EXERCISES
At Westside, the bulk of our tricep training is featured in our accessory work. Some of the best tricep exercises you can perform are single-joint exercises that allow you to focus on specific portions of the triceps, such as long-head tricep exercises or medial-head tricep exercises. Additionally, we can perform many accessory tricep exercises with dumbbells, which are tremendously beneficial.
Tricep accessory exercises will also feature considerable training volume, which is necessary to improve both size and strength. Here are a few of the common tricep exercises we perform during our upper body accessory training:
Rolling DB Tricep Extensions
Skullcrushers
Cable Pressdowns (various attachments)
DB Bench Press (flat or incline)
Standing DB Overhead Press
Williams Extensions (flat or incline)
Overhead DB Tricep Extensions
Standing Chest/Tricep Press Machine
Weighted Push-Ups
Weighted Dips
When programming these exercises we will typically perform 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps per set depending on the movement. For instance, we may increase the intensity of DB bench press or rolling DB tricep extensions while performing higher levels of volume with exercises like cable extensions or weighted dips.
Keep in mind that you can also include any of the tricep-focused main exercises as accessory exercises. It is just a matter of programming the exercises according to proper accessory exercise volume and intensity levels.
We will also feature ultra-high-volume exercises using very light weights or band tension to focus on tendon development. These exercises are always tricep extension exercises and should be performed for 3-5 sets of 75-100 repetitions per set.
EXERCISE EXECUTION
Targeting specific muscle groups requires the athlete to execute the movements with the correct intent. Failing to do so can lessen the effectiveness of the training or potentially lead to injury. As mentioned above, when choosing a tricep-focused main exercise, you will always select a multi-joint movement. With these exercises, it is expected that you will use other muscle groups to accomplish the lift while placing as much emphasis on the triceps as possible.
Single-joint accessory exercises call for more specific levels of execution. When using a single-joint exercise to target the triceps directly, it is vital to take the muscle through the entire range of motion while creating as much mechanical tension as possible. This will allow the athlete to develop larger triceps. These exercises deliver muscle growth, while the main exercise or primary accessory exercises deliver strength.
So, when performing the above-listed exercises, be sure to know the intent of the movement. If the objective is to move the most significant amount of weight using a multi-joint exercise to improve absolute strength, feel free to use other muscle groups to help accomplish the goal. However, if hypertrophy is the intention, focus more specifically on the triceps while limiting the use of other upper-body muscle groups.
