Triceps Exercises

The triceps make up roughly two-thirds of your upper arm size, more than the biceps, and they're the muscle that finishes every pressing movement, locking out a bench press, an overhead press, or a dip. There are three heads, long, lateral, and medial, and no single exercise hits all three equally, which is why a well-built triceps routine mixes movements rather than repeating the same pushdown every session. Overhead extensions stretch and target the long head, which crosses the shoulder joint, while pushdowns and close-grip presses bias the lateral and medial heads. Train triceps in the 8 to 12 rep range for isolation work, and let compound pressing like close-grip bench or dips cover the heavier strength side of things. Twice a week direct work is plenty, since triceps already get significant volume from chest and shoulder pressing. A common mistake is only ever doing pushdowns, which trains the lateral head well but leaves the long head, and therefore a big chunk of arm size, undertrained. Another is flaring the elbows out during extensions, which shifts stress onto the shoulder joint instead of the triceps. A third is treating triceps work as an afterthought tacked onto the end of a chest day with too little effort to matter. Cables offer constant tension that suits pushdowns and extensions well, dumbbells let you train unilaterally and catch imbalances between arms, and a barbell or EZ bar is best for heavier close-grip pressing where you want to load real weight.