All the men who approach the weight room want a huge chest and nice round biceps to be able to show off the big arm, but they underestimate the importance of the triceps, the true responsible of the
bulkiness of the arm!
The training of the triceps is, therefore, fundamental for all those subjects who want a voluminous and tonic arm and for this it is important to select the exercises well, but let us first see the anatomy of this muscle.
Index
THE ANATOMY OF THE TRICEPS
First of all we must understand that the triceps is divided into:
- side head
- medial head: together with the lateral one, it favors the extension of the forearm on the arm
- long head: has the task of adducing, extending and rearranging the arm
and is composed largely of 2 type muscle fibers, which is why it responds well to heavy series with low repetitions, compared to other muscles.
THE BEST EXERCISES TO TRAIN THEM
Multiarticulatorium (with barbell):
- narrow bench for the triceps
- floor press
- board press
- flat bench
- military press
Isolation:
- french press with barbell or dumbbell
- triceps to high cables with string or triangle
- vertical extension with barbell or dumbbell
- push down
Free body:
- dip to the parallels
- dip with one or two benches (feet on the ground or raised)
- pushups
The only problem with bodyweight exercises is the difficulty in overloading; we can add ballast or increase training density or change angle and execution times.
BEWARE OF THE ELBOWS!
After training the triceps it is very common to experience pain in the elbows; tendon tension in the most common exercises for this muscle is very strong (especially when using the barbell instead of dumbbells). It is better to make slow and controlled movements, to have the execution corrected and to lift the loads slowly!
Furthermore, the triceps, like the other muscle areas, must be stimulated sufficiently for the achievement of hypertrophy, they need time recovery and must then undergo the adaptation process (SRA chain: stimulus, recovery, adaptation).
Without this sequence the triceps will not grow!
Key points for triceps muscle hypertrophy:
- the training range must be between the 65 and the 80% of the ceiling
- the most optimal repetitions are between 8 and 20
- it is better to use medium-low repetition ranges for multi-joint exercises and high repetitions in isolation exercises
- the failure is not mandatory, but it is good to go near it
- the triceps can be trained from 2 to 4 times a week
These muscles are not small like biceps and it is good not to limit yourself to isolation exercises; furthermore these muscles respond well to high loads.
We have seen the main exercises for the triceps and every month it is good to run the selection of exercises to make sure we find new stimuli for the muscles that tend to "adapt" to the same stimulus prolonged over time.
And how do you train your triceps? How many times a week? Do you prefer multi-joint or isolation exercises?
Let us know in the comments!