Basic Tricep Exercises

Welcome back! Hopefully, you saw my last blog which was about basic bicep exercises that you can do at home. In this blog, I will be going over some basic tricep exercises that are great for a home workout. Let's get started!

Viewing the body and arms from behind

Tricep Anatomy

In addition to the biceps, the triceps are the other main muscle in the upper arm. The tricep, as you can probably tell from its name, has three heads: the long head, the lateral head, and the medial head. In order to fully develop the triceps, you want your exercise routine to incorporate some exercises that target each head of the triceps.

Overhead Tricep Extension

Let's start with the long head, which is located in the back of the upper arm. The long head actually extends up and crosses the shoulder joint (see diagram), and the way we can target this head is by performing exercises where our shoulder is in a flexed position, or in other words, with our arms by our head. Here is an exercise called the overhead tricep extension, which can be done with a resistance band, as shown in the images above, or with a dumbbell. To perform the exercise, start with your arm raised straight up, and slowly bend it backwards, bringing your hand towards your head. You should be able to feel the tension in your triceps, specifically the long head. To complete the repetition, bring your arm back up to the starting position (straight).

Tricep Pushdown: Two Variations

Next, let's talk about the lateral and medial heads together because we can target these two heads using two slightly different variations of a common triceps exercise, the tricep pushdown. This exercise is often done using a rope attached to a cable machine, but if you don't have a cable machine at home, you can do this with resistance bands by attaching or tying them to a stable object at about eye level. Then, you can easily perform the exercise by kneeling on the floor. Start by gripping the bands with your hands at about chest level. Then, pull the ropes downwards and extend your arms to the sides of your body while keeping your palms facing down. When your arms are extended and your hands are brought outwards, you should feel the tension in your triceps. This variation with your palms facing down targets the lateral head of the triceps more.

If you want to focus more on the medial head, simply shift your hand position so that your hands are at the sides of your body (instead of close together) and your palms are facing up (instead of down). With these two variations of the tricep pushdown, you can easily work on exercising both the lateral head and the medial head of your triceps!

So the overhead tricep extension and the tricep pushdown are two basic exercises that we can do to work on all three heads of the triceps!

Thank you for reading this blog! I hope you learned some new information about tricep training and will be able to apply these exercises to your own routine. Please like this blog post and share it with others who might like to learn about these exercises. Stay tuned for upcoming blogs featuring additional exercises!

Video version of Basic Tricep Exercises: https://youtu.be/_XH_GtHJkv4