More often than not, people forget to train their triceps. If any arm exercises are included in a workout, it’s usually biceps. Why? Because they’re easier to see face on. But that doesn’t mean you should leave your triceps behind. The triceps are an important muscle group that should be included in everyone’s training, no matter what your goals.
The triceps muscles are necessary to perform a variety of functional tasks, both in the gym and day-to-day life.
The triceps are made up of three different parts; the long, lateral and medial head, together they are the triceps brachii. The triceps muscles make up two thirds of your arm muscles, way more than you probably realised. Each of the different triceps muscles helps with different movements. They’re attached to the shoulder blades and help stabilise the shoulders, as well as rotation and abduction of the arm.
In terms of exercise, some exercises isolate the triceps such as pushdowns and extensions, however the triceps are synergistic muscles for a variety of other movements. This means that they help the main muscle to complete the exercises, especially those that work the chest and shoulder muscles. Movements such as chest press, push ups and overhead press all require tricep strength.
Although you can’t singularly target one element of the triceps, you can focus on one muscle more than the others. Pushdowns focus on the lateral head which is the muscle you can see when you’re looking at your triceps from the side.
This movement is safer on the elbow joint than tricep extensions because they are held in a less extended position. As well as this, if you suffer from any wrist problems, you should use the rope attachment as opposed to a straight bar which can put pressure on the wrists.
• Take a few steps back from the Cable Machine and lean forwards slightly.
• Hold the Rope Attachment with each hand.
• Bring your elbows to the sides of your body and position your arms at 90 degree angles.
• Push the cables down by the sides of your body until your elbows are fully extended and triceps flexed.
• Squeeze your triceps at the bottom of the movement.
• Control the rope back to the start position.
Tricep extensions on the other hand place more emphasis on the long head. This is the longest portion of the triceps and the most prominent. When performing this exercise, you’re placing the triceps in full extension with a greater eccentric contraction. As a result, this can cause more muscle soreness. This makes tricep extensions more effective and increases muscle growth compared to tricep pushdowns.
That being said, this movement places more stress on the elbow joint and should be avoided if you have elbow problems. You can also choose to use a rope instead of a straight bar to decrease the stress placed on the shoulders.
• Take a few steps from the cable machine and turn to face away from it.
• Hold onto the rope attachment overhead with your elbows bent.
• Brace your core and extend your arms forward until your elbows are straight.
• Squeeze your tricep muscles at the top of the movement.
• Slowly bend your elbows and return to the starting position.
Now you know about both tricep exercises, which one should you be doing? That depends on what you’re looking for. If hypertrophy is your goal, then favour tricep extensions. With the extra extension of the muscles there will be more of an eccentric contraction which increases muscle growth.
However, this movement is more advanced. Therefore, if you’re a beginner in the gym then tricep pushdowns might be easier to start with. Likewise, if you suffer from any elbow problems such as tennis or golf elbow, you might prefer the movement of a pushdown as it places less stress on your elbows.
There’s absolutely no problem with performing both movements during a training week. If you want to grow your triceps muscles, then doing each movement once a week will increase hypertrophy.
To reduce the chances of fatigue affecting your performance, perform the exercises on different days and keep at least a rest day between each. This will give your tricep muscles the chance to rest, repair and come back stronger.
The bottom line: Working your triceps muscles independently can improve performance of other upper body exercises. Whether you include just one of both of these exercises into your training programme, you can improve triceps strength and size.
Written by guest author Eryn Barber.
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Tags: Equipment > Cable Machines
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