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In this video I will cover the essentials to building the muscle that will help you fill those shirt sleeves just in time for summer! I go over the anatomy, some coaching tips, and many different exercises to build huge triceps.
By understanding the anatomy of the triceps you will quickly see how to target the coveted long head, which creates that horseshoe shape!
I go over simple programming tips towards the end as well to help you maximize your growth.
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0:00
So for the triceps, it's just like all the other muscles
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Minimum frequency, two times per week. Now, if you're having a specialized program
0:07
you're really trying to get that three-headed monster looking good, right? Shirt, bust, and sleeve, that kind of thing
0:12
then the line of action right now is basically straight through my arm. That's why I'm still sitting here talking to you
0:17
holding this tricep extension at the end range of motion. So what I want you to do
0:22
let's add a little more tension into the mix. Get juicy with it, you know
0:30
Oh, hello. Were you just watching me do some triceps? Well, you're in luck because today we're gonna go through
0:35
what they colloquially called the three-headed monster. We're gonna talk about some anatomy, right
0:40
Because that's important. We'll do the movements, and then we'll talk about how to make yours bigger
0:44
All right, so right off the rip, me and you, we're gonna have to become a little bit more personal, because what I have to do is
0:50
ooh, flex on you, right? So we have the long head of the tricep
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We have the long arm of the tricep. We have the long arm of the tricep
0:58
We have the long head of the tricep. We have the lateral head. And then if I was a little bit leaner deep to these two
1:03
you're gonna have the medial head. Now, the beautiful thing about the tricep is they all originate into a tricep's tendon
1:09
which is right around here, that goes to your ulna on the electron process
1:13
So that's their insertion point. Now, the lateral head and then the medial head
1:17
actually just attach to the back of your humerus. Now, the tricky one is actually a long head
1:22
because this one comes up and originates from your scapula, so in your shoulder
1:26
on something called the infraglenoid tubercle. Now, if I don't say it like that
1:30
I'll be sounding mumbly and jumbly, and it's not gonna sound smart anymore, right? So, infraglenoid tubercle
1:35
Now, the reason that's important is because the other two just attaching here
1:39
into your elbow joint, really, I mean, that's just this, right? Elbow extension
1:43
But since the long head actually comes up into your shoulder, and when you extend your shoulder
1:48
which would be this movement, you're actually stretching this one a little bit more
1:53
Now, with this anatomy, it's nice that it's simple, and it's also simple that it's nice
1:57
because, really, all you have to worry about is elbow extension. Doesn't matter if you supinate
2:02
doesn't matter if you pronate, right? This, this, same. You're getting all the activation of all three heads
2:09
Now, if you wanna specialize and only be a long head Larry, then you're gonna have to do more overhead movement
2:14
And I will tell you, for me personally, when I started focusing more on the long head
2:18
since it is longer, right, and it is bigger than the other two, I feel like my triceps definitely blew up, yeah
2:25
That'd be the right word. You know, personally, subjectively for me, right
2:28
Now, I've heard this somewhere, and it makes sense to me anatomically, but maybe fact check me on this
2:32
but I've heard that your triceps, brachii, right, so these three heads, actually make up two thirds of your overall arm width
2:39
or length, or however you wanna think about your arm size, right, circumference, maybe that's a better word
2:45
So, because, you know, on the front you have your biceps, brachii, there's only two of them
2:48
and then on the side you got, you know, your brachios and some other muscles, but the triceps do form a large portion of your arm size
2:55
So, if you're like me out there, and when you put your t-shirt on, you wanna feel those sleeves be a little bit snug, right
3:00
especially as we're going into summertime, well, then let's get into some movements for the triceps to make yours blow up as well
3:06
So, really, for movements, it's simple. We're really just extending the elbow
3:09
So, something as simple as this, right, tricep pushdown with the old
3:14
the balls of the rope, or whatever you wanna call it, right? So, you can do that two hands at a time
3:19
I mean, I can do it to one hand at a time, right? The one thing with this, and I see it far too often
3:25
let me change the weight here real quick, is, so if I do one hand
3:32
you know, you could sit here like this, right? Doing your little tricep extension
3:36
maybe holding onto the pole because it makes it look a little harder and you're stronger
3:41
but most of the time, people are standing straight up like this, right
3:45
And if you think about gravity, or the line of action, so that's how we assess muscle tension
3:51
and these kind of things in kinesiology, the line of action right now
3:54
is basically straight through my arm. That's why I'm still sitting here talking to you, holding this tricep extension at the end range of motion
4:01
So, what I want you to do, let's add a little more tension into the mix
4:04
Get juicy with it, you know? Bend over a little bit, like a little hip hinge
4:09
Now, when I come to my end range of motion, yes, it's still not perpendicular
4:14
you know, the line of action's not perpendicular. That'd be in a perfect world
4:19
but it's a lot more into my tricep opposed to when I'm here
4:23
So, I just boom, boom, boom, and now, I mean, even at this light weight, this is getting harder to hold
4:29
Now, I had to switch up angles on you, make sure you know we're getting both of my good sides here
4:32
but this would be a similar thing, right? You're using a straight bar
4:36
your hands are now pronated, but that really doesn't matter for your triceps
4:40
The reason I sometimes prefer, you know, an easy curl bar or something like that at the gym
4:44
or here I have this one, is I can definitely do more weight by holding something like this compared to a rope
4:49
But, same type of thing. You see a lot of people standing straight up like this
4:54
What I want you to try, throw that hip hinge, come back here, right
4:58
So, now we're pulling, and it's a little bit longer, too, because you're not going to hit your legs
5:02
And then, to hit that long head, we were hitting it there, right? But to isolate it more
5:06
so you're still going to get the other two as well, so don't worry about, you know, not getting all your gains
5:11
But to isolate the long head, we're going to have to do something like this, right
5:15
Overhead, we're putting it more on stretch, and you do really want to make sure
5:19
because that's another thing I see a lot of the time, is people will stop like here
5:23
You want to make sure you're getting that deep stretch and really putting that long head on blast
5:29
Now, obviously, you have the overhead rope, right? You could also use a handle, easy curl bar at the gym
5:34
Those just get a little weird to maneuver around your head, but I've done it when I'm going a little bit heavier
5:39
And then, really, I mean, you could get as creative as you want. I've seen people do, you know
5:43
the underhand, one-handed tricep extension. That's fine, too. If you feel like that activates
5:49
another one of the heads better for you, that's cool. Really, though, the anatomy doesn't make sense for that
5:54
It doesn't matter how your hand is. You're going to always hit all three tricep heads
5:59
We'll go through another variation here, in case you don't have a pulley and you're in a home gym like me
6:03
or if you're just at the gym and there's people on it, because that happens all the time. So, just dumbbell overhead tricep extension
6:09
You could do one in each hand, or you could hold it like this. Obviously, this is not a traditional dumbbell
6:14
So, if it was, you'd do something like that. Put the dumbbell head in the triangle
6:19
hold it over your head, boom, boom. And then, there's also the classic
6:23
most of the time, you know, you, for some reason, have to put your hand on the dumbbell rack that everybody else uses at the gym
6:28
But the classic, you know, tricep extension with the dumbbell, okay? That's a good one
6:33
Now, if you pretend I'm laying on a bench, we're going to do close-grip bench, right
6:37
That's a really good one, especially for overloading, because you can go very heavy with this
6:41
Now, one thing that actually took me forever to figure out on this lift is your hand placement
6:46
because I always thought the more narrow, the better. So, I'd be somewhere like in here, right
6:50
And it's just kind of awkward, never really felt good on my elbows. So, what you actually want to do, two things
6:55
First, your bar target, because with the bench, you know, your maybe like nipples a little lower
7:00
than you're pushing kind of at an arc like this. But with close-grip bench, you want to actually
7:06
you can feel it on yourself. It's called the xiphoid process. It's essentially right at the end of your sternum
7:11
So, with the close-grip bench, you first basically want to have your wrists
7:15
stacked over your elbow. So, when you're at full extension, it shouldn't be at this weird angle
7:20
where my elbows are here. It should be something like this. So, it's actually not as close as you think
7:26
And then you want to aim for that xiphoid, which is basically right under your pecs
7:30
and then push straight up. And yes, this bar is 45 pounds. Don't worry, I'm just like super strong
7:35
And then there's always the classic diamond pushup or triangle pushup, right? That'll hit some triceps
7:39
You can do anything with bands. It's just gonna change the force curve a bit because obviously with the band
7:44
when you're pulling it down, it's getting tighter and tighter so it's actually harder at the bottom
7:48
than it is at the top. All right, the last movement we'll go through is the dip, right
7:52
Classic for building the chest, but also you're gonna get a little triceps. But there's a caveat
7:56
because we want to do it the right way to isolate the triceps if that's what you want to do
8:00
So, a lot of time you'll be seeing the dip, right? People come in here, get that lean forward
8:06
come down and back up. Now, that's all fine and dandy, but when you have that forward lean of the trunk like that
8:14
you can almost think about it like a pushup, like this. And so that's why it blasts your chest so good
8:19
and a little bit of the shoulders. But if we're trying to focus on that tricep
8:22
we actually want to be at a lot more of a vertical attitude, something like this and come down, right
8:30
And that makes sense because if you think about it here and I'm straight up
8:34
it's like I'm doing what? Tricep extension, see? And that's why the triceps are beautiful
8:40
So simple and so easy to think about the anatomy. And the great thing about dips
8:44
is it's super easy to overload. You can either hold something between your feet
8:47
or put on a chain belt, right? And throw some weight in between the legs. Now, while we're here
8:51
I do want to give you one coaching tip that I didn't learn until about four months ago, or I didn't think about it like this
8:56
But on a dip and a pull up, right? You're pulling your entire body weight or pushing your entire body weight
9:01
And with many other lifts, let's use the squat for example, I'm not just gonna throw 225 on and start repping it
9:07
At least not for me, right? I'm not that strong. But same thing with a dip. I'm 180 pounds right now
9:13
I'm not just, I shouldn't just jump up there and start repping 180 pounds
9:17
So actually you should warm up a little bit. It's harder to do with a pull up. You could still do it, you know
9:21
You can't see it right now, but I'm standing on basically like a plyo box or a bench
9:25
And you basically just want to assist yourself on the first however many
9:30
You want to get those joints, you know, ready to go. Ready to be pushing some more weight
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Now, maybe this is because I've been getting older. And when I was younger, I was like, dude, of course, I'm not even gonna think about warming up
9:40
for a dip or a body weight exercise, right? But just food for thought
9:43
All right, and then the last thing we'll touch on in this video is actually just frequency, intensity, and then volume, right
9:48
The three variables that you want to look at each week for your muscles in your program
9:53
So for the triceps, it's just like all the other muscles. Minimum frequency, two times per week
9:58
Now, if you're having like a specialized program, you're really trying to get that 300 monster looking good
10:03
shirt bust and sleeve, that kind of thing. Then maybe think three to four times a week up that volume
10:08
Two times a week minimum though. And as far as reps, it kind of depends on your goal
10:12
We're gonna focus on muscle building here, so hypertrophy. So for that, I'm gonna do anywhere
10:16
from six reps to 30 reps. Now, if you're doing more than 30 reps on a movement
10:20
increase that weight. If you're doing less than six reps, decrease the weight
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Easy as that. And you want to be trying to approach failure or get close to it
10:28
depending on where you are in the program. Now, we don't have enough time to cover, you know
10:32
programming specifics and periodization right now, but be on the lookout because I'll have a video coming soon
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There it is. Your triceps in a nutshell. You just have to hope that it's not one of those like pistachio nuts
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you know, you dig into the bag and then it's just closed all the way and you have to have like a literal nutcracker
10:46
As long as it's not one of those nut shells, then we're good. So hopefully this was an easy to open
10:51
You got all the good salty bits and you're ready to go. You're ready to grow the three headed monster
10:56
on each side of your body, looking good, busting those sleeves for summer
11:00
Now, this video is your vibe and you want more stuff like this content
11:04
that maybe I'll throw a little comedy that makes me laugh and hopefully it makes you laugh too
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But then the science is there, hard science, right? We're not messing around with nothing but the facts
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So if you like this kind of stuff, you should like, comment below if you want to
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and subscribe. And wait, is that three things? And the triceps, that's tri meaning three
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Did we just do a full? Yeah, we did. All right, I'll see you next time
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