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How to Build Your Triceps – 3 Exercises That Will Help You ...

Published in July 12th, 2009
Posted in Fitness

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When you hear people talk about training arms, they almost always focus on the biceps. While biceps are important, it is the triceps that take up nearly two thirds of your upper arm mass and that give your arms that full, thick look. If you are looking to build a truly impressive set of arms, you must focus just as much, if not more effort on your triceps as you do your biceps. Here are three excellent movements that will allow you to add an enormous amount of muscle mass and strength to this important body part.

1. Close-grip Bench Press

If your triceps are lagging behind the rest of your physique, you should make this your priority pressing exercise. When building the majority of your muscle mass, heavy weights are the key element to your success, and no triceps movement will allow you to use more weight than the close-grip bench press. To perform this exercise, take a shoulder-width or slightly narrower grip on the bar. Make sure you are employing good bench press technique – arch your lower back, keep your shoulder blades together, and place your feet solidly on the floor. If you can, have a spotter hand off the weight to you, so you don’t have to waste energy with a lift-off. Lower the weight to your lower pecs, and then drive it back to the top, all the while keeping your elbows tucked in at about a 45-degree angle.

If you have already been working on good form and technique on the regular bench press, this exercise should be a relative no-brainer to make work for you. Do one or two very heavy sets of 4-6 reps, and follow them with one or two down sets of 8-10 reps. Like any major exercise, you must constantly strive to add more weight to the bar.

2. Triceps Dips

Though some people choose to use dips to work their chests, dips are most often used as a triceps exercise. Personally, this has always been my favorite movement for triceps and has probably given me the most muscular gains in that area. To properly perform dips for the triceps, take a narrow, less than shoulder-width grip on the dip bars. Lower yourself to a point where your upper arms are about parallel with the floor. If you want, you can use a slightly smaller range of motion in favor of more weight or reps. While this wouldn’t work so well for stimulating the chest, the triceps are most stressed at the top end of most pressing movements.

If you want to see the most growth possible from your triceps, you must add weight to your body when doing dips. Like with the close-grip bench press, you should aim to make constant progress on a set of 4-6 reps and on a set of 8-10. You can also do “pump” set of maximum reps at bodyweight if you wish.

3. Decline EZ bar extensions

There are many different ways of doing extensions, but I have found this one to be the most beneficial for triceps growth. To put your body in a decline, use a decline sit-up bench. You can either have a spotter hand you the weight once you get into position, or you can clean it to your shoulders before you step back into the sit-up bench. Lower the bar towards your eyes, but do not go all the way down. Instead, come to a point where your forearms are slightly lower than parallel to the floor and drive the weight back up to lockout. Keep your form as strict as possible during most of the set, but don’t be afraid to loosen it up a bit to squeeze out another rep or two. The best protocol for this exercise is 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps.

david lamartina is a competitive powerlifter who currently sits at a solid 250 pounds and has achieved a 590 squat, 315 bench, and 635 deadlift. if you found his muscle-building tips helpful, visit

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