We have selected for you the best exercises for pumping up your triceps. Basic and isolation exercises for the triceps Exercises for the short head of the triceps

The lion's share of the arm consists of the triceps. If this muscle group lags behind, the whole picture will not be very good. Therefore, hands need to be carefully worked out. Particularly difficult is working on the internal triceps.

Anatomy

The triceps consists of three bundles - the medial, the most developed and strong, the external and the internal. Despite the fact that with any exercise aimed at working the triceps, all its bundles are involved, the load is distributed unevenly. And as a rule, the inner part of the triceps is the weakest.

The main emphasis when working on the internal triceps needs to be placed on the technique of performing the exercises, the details, because, as you know, the devil lies in them. Basic exercises seem to be a lifeline for everyone who wants to shape the triceps, including its internal bundle.

They should be preferred simply because the latter do not involve the use of heavy weights, while the fate of your inner triceps depends on the progression of loads. At the same time, there are a number of specific features in working on the internal triceps bundle. Thus, hand supination and moving the arm up or back will be useful in a number of exercises.

Exercises

Excellent internal triceps bench press narrow grip. An important point in this case, the location of the elbows is: during the exercise, they should be tucked towards the body. Heavy weight It may not be possible to take it this way, but it is indispensable in developing a proportional and pleasing to the eye triceps.

It is worth noting that the work on the internal triceps bundle will be grueling. In order to fully use the internal triceps, you must first exhaust the resource of the medial and then the external bundles. Thus, for systematic movement towards the desired result, the load must remain high, but not excessive. Pumping up the internal triceps is a long and complex process; the main thing is to follow the technique, otherwise you can get injured.

The next exercise is on inner part triceps - French press EZ-bar from behind the head or upside down. It is advisable to take it on just after the previous one, when the glycogen in the muscle is already sufficiently exhausted. When starting to perform the French press, remember: working with heavy weight in this case is inappropriate and is often fraught with injury.

Finally, no less effective are push-ups on parallel bars with a narrow grip, extensions on vertical block. However, without isolated exercises the inner head of the triceps is indispensable. The most optimal during one training session lasting about an hour is the following scheme: one basic and several isolated exercises.

Absolute exclusion of the elbow joints from working on the triceps increases the risk of injury in the long term. In addition, when performing a French press, you should not lower the bar too far behind your head - your elbows should remain level with your head and close to it.

The most important thing when developing triceps is the ideal technique for performing the exercises. Otherwise, you not only do not contribute to weight gain, but also risk “falling out” of your training due to various uncomfortable sensations.

Extensor muscle posterior group shoulder, takes up the entire back surface shoulder, consists of three heads - long, lateral and medial.

Lateral head

Begins with tendons and muscle bundles on the outer surface of the humerus, between the insertion of the teres minor muscle - proximally and the groove of the radial nerve - distally, as well as from the posterior surface of the lateral intermuscular septum. The bundles of the lateral head pass down and medially, covering the groove of the radial nerve with the nerve of the same name and the deep vessels of the shoulder located in it.

Medial head

It has a fleshy origin on the posterior surface of the shoulder between the insertion of the teres major muscle and the olecranon fossa, and also begins from the medial and lateral intermuscular septa below the groove of the radial nerve.

Long head

It begins with a strong tendon from the subarticular tubercle of the scapula and continues into the muscle belly, passing down between the small and large round muscles to the middle of the posterior surface of the shoulder, where its bundles connect with the bundles of the lateral and medial heads. The muscle formed as a result of the connection of the three heads passes into a flat, wide tendon, which is attached to the olecranon process of the ulna. Some of the bundles are woven into the capsule of the elbow joint and into the fascia of the forearm.

Muscle functions

• Moves his hand back.
• Extends the forearm at the elbow joint.
• Participates in bringing the shoulder to the body.

Anatomy of the arm muscles (biceps & triceps): a complete educational program with all the subtleties and secrets...

By arms, people most often mean BICEPS. However, in addition to the biceps, there are also TRICEPS and FOREARM. See explanatory photo below:

Well, let's look at each component in order. Let's start with the biceps.

BICEPS

The biceps consists of two heads:

1. Long ( long tendon, but the muscle is small) is located on the outer part of the arm.
2. The brevis (short tendon, but large muscle) is located on the inside of the arm.

Both heads originate on the shoulder blade, just in different places... in other words, both heads are connected into one tendon, which is located next to the elbow joint. Subsequently, both heads form a common belly, which passes into a powerful tendon (the tendon itself is attached slightly inward (to the side of the forearm)), which is attached to the radius, and despite their name, both heads have same length, because the long head actually has a longer tendon that attaches it to the bone below.

The biceps flexes the forearm and rotates it outward (this is supination), which means that in addition to the fact that the biceps can simply bend the arm at the elbow joint, it can also supinate it (i.e., turn the palm towards the thumb).

Through the short head, the biceps takes part in adducting the arm, and through the long head, abducting the arm.

In addition to the biceps, the anterior group of shoulder muscles also consists of the brachialis muscle, which is located below the biceps, as if pushing it outward. The main function is to flex the forearm.

FOCUS ON THE BICEPS HEADS

According to statistics, there are no problems with the development of the short head (the one located on the inside of the arm), it responds perfectly to the load, and grows well from any bending of the arm. But with the development of the long head, the one that is located on the outer part of the arm, most people have problems!

• In order to fight the external head (long), you need to move your elbows as far behind your back as possible, this is the only way to engage outer part biceps
• In order to fight the internal head (short), on the contrary, you need to bring your elbows forward as much as possible.

GRIP when working on BICEPS

• The wider your grip, the more the inner head will work.
• The narrower your grip, the more the outside head will work.

BRACHIALIS

This is the shoulder muscle, it plays very important role. It is located under the muscle (i.e. under the biceps) and is involved in most of the work when training the biceps (about 50-70% takes over). It is this muscle that allows you to lift heavy weights in standing barbell curls, not the biceps itself.

The best exercises to train your biceps:

• Barbell curl reverse grip

TRICEPS

The triceps consists of three heads:

1. Lateral head (aka external)
2. Medial head (also known as the middle or small ulnar head, located next to the elbow)
3. Long head (also internal, attached to the back of the shoulder blade)

• The outer head begins at the top of the humerus near the shoulder joint and forms the outer side of the shoulder section of the arm.
• The medial head is located on the humerus and is partially covered by the other two heads.
• The long head begins on the scapula bone and is located on the inside of the shoulder section of the arm.

All three heads are in the same ligament, in the area of ​​the elbow, and that is why all three heads work simultaneously in all exercises that involve the triceps. However, each head is not trained evenly! Those. each of the heads receives its own degree of load (this depends on the mechanics of performing a particular exercise).

Each of the 3 heads (connected, because they work in conjunction) but they can be either short or long. This matter depends on your genetics. And by the way, you can easily check this and find out which one you have:

• If your triceps are short, they will look longer and bulkier.
• Well, if it is long, then the triceps looks short with a peak.

According to body type, most often mesomorphs and endomorphs have long and massive triceps muscles. But ectomorphs, on the contrary, most often have short triceps with a peak. Of course, in mesomorphs and endomorphs, the mass of the triceps will grow faster, but in ectomorphs, the triceps muscles will look more athletic from the point of view of AESTHETICS.

The triceps have two main functions: straightening the elbow joint and bringing the arms towards the body.

The best exercises to train your triceps:

• (emphasis on triceps)

For dessert - a video on the topic of today's article, they start talking about the biceps muscles from 12.33 minutes, about the triceps from 43.50 minutes, about the forearms from 18.19 minutes:

Best regards, administrator.

To pump up big muscles on your hands, you need a set of exercises with which you will achieve maximum results; You can’t just work on the machine for hours on end. We present to your attention a wonderful guide for beginners with exercises and explanations for them to build muscle mass hands! Find out more about how to pump up your arms.

“Hey kid, flash those biceps!” I'm pretty sure many people who are serious about weightlifting have heard this before. People are fascinated by muscles. Biceps and triceps are two muscle groups that people just love to show off. By the way, many of those who train with weights, I'm sure, started by working on their arms.

To build up large muscles in your arms, you need a set of exercises with which you will achieve maximum results; You can’t just work out on the machine for hours on end every day. Training your arm muscles is quite a fun activity. It seems that many people "know best practices”, but at the same time they all have different points of view on it. This article is not intended to impose anyone's opinion on you. She simply describes one vision for building arm muscle, based on research and experience.

Biceps

As the name suggests, this biceps. It consists of a short and a long head. To maximize your biceps development, you need to give equal attention to both of them. The main way to “get” to each of the biceps heads is to frequently change grip and hand positions while performing biceps exercises. I will go into this in more detail later.

The brachialis muscle is the second part of the biceps. It starts deep in the biceps and is visible on the outside of the biceps and in the upper part of the forearm. It is extremely rare to find a well-developed brachialis muscle from people who do not specifically train it.

The brachialis muscle not only affects the size of the forearm and the strength of the entire biceps, but also increases over time the “maximum point” that many people strive to achieve. I truly believe that the shoulder muscle can and should be developed.

I often see guys in my gym, their peers, who perform an unimaginable number of single exercises for the biceps with the goal, I quote: “Pump up muscular arms.” I absolutely disagree with this. Would you try to pump up huge shoulders using only single exercises, for example, arm raises? Of course not. So why behave differently with biceps?

Now, when I talk about single exercises, I don't specifically mean concentration or isolation curls. I'm talking about arm curls in general.

Barbell curl

A compound exercise is an exercise that uses more than one muscle group. These include deadlifts, presses, rows and squats.

You can often hear that curls with barbells and dumbbells are complex exercises for the biceps. This is said by the same people who recommend not pacing yourself during exercise. Why? Because the pace forces other muscle groups to work. Do you see what I'm getting at?

By limiting the work of other muscle groups, the essence of the complex exercise is lost. Therefore, I classify any type of arm curl as a single exercise. Many will decide that then there are no exercises left to develop biceps. Let me shed some light on this issue.

Biceps rows

That's right, bicep rows. Have you ever done a bent over row and felt a strong contraction in your biceps? The biceps row is very similar to this. Essentially, you're doing a bent-over row, but you're lifting the weight with your biceps.

Place a long bar on the lower crossover block for a crossover in your gym. Lean forward about 45 degrees. Grasp the bar with an underhand shoulder-width grip. Raise it towards your upper abdomen. Concentrate on working your biceps as you lift.

When you perform this exercise correctly, you will feel a contraction and pumping of your biceps that you have never felt before! This will obviously work some of the back muscles, but any compound exercise will also have an impact on other parts of the body.

You may doubt the effectiveness of this exercise, but I encourage you to try it. I'm sure that once you do it, it will become part of almost every biceps exercise you do!

The same principle can be applied to close grip rows. Instead of pulling down to your sternum, focus more on engaging your biceps as you pull down to your collarbone. This variation of execution is also beneficial for the brachialis muscle.

Other exercises for biceps

In addition to various variations of biceps rows, I will now list those exercises that are most suitable for beginners.

Focus on the upper biceps and brachialis muscles:

Emphasis on the lower biceps:

All of these exercises are aimed more at overall muscle building than at honing specific muscle areas. The training complex, I recommend performing at a pace of 1 second for effort and 1.5-2 seconds for relaxation.
The biceps are a muscle group that is designed for slower movements, so a slow pace of their execution plays a big role here. But many people do not attach importance to this. Different muscles perform different functions.

Let's take the triceps for example.
We use the triceps to perform a sharp, strong blow. Therefore, a more intense pace of exercise would be appropriate here. While the biceps are involved in slower actions, such as carrying some kind of weight or things. Common sense would dictate that a slower pace of exercise is much better for achieving muscle gains.

We use the triceps to perform a sharp, powerful strike.

As I said before, people often mistake barbell curls for complex exercise. I cannot agree with this, since I consider it the main exercise for developing biceps exclusively. I also disagree with the idea of ​​not tempoing while lifting weights. The body works as a whole.

Digging a little from the topic, I’ll use the process of sneezing as an excellent example. When sneezing, it is impossible to use only a certain part of the body. By trying to do this, you are going against the body's natural reflex. The same thing happens when doing barbell curls.

If there is slight movement in hip joint allows you to lift a little more weight, use it. But you need to do everything with a sense of proportion so that it doesn’t look like you’re trying to make love with weight. And you should also not deviate as this can cause serious injury.

Very little hip movement is needed to help lift the weight. And remember that biceps are weakest in a straight position. And at an angle of 90 degrees they are at the peak of contraction.

Maintaining tempo helps the biceps in their weakest position, as well as when maximum strength. This is my theory, and I'm not saying that other theories are not true. But I see the logic in it and that's why I think it's effective.

Triceps

The triceps is a triceps muscle consisting of a long, lateral and medial head. I repeat that for the full development of the triceps, it is necessary to pay due attention to each of its parts.

Changing focus on different muscle heads occurs due to changing the position of the elbows. To understand how this is done, think about doing a French press with dumbbells. If the elbows are spread wide, the load will mainly go to the long head.

The closer the elbows are to each other, the more emphasis is placed on the lateral head. Due to the anatomical location of the medial head, it is quite difficult to isolate. But many people I've talked to have found that pressing with a shoulder-width grip underhand is extremely effective for developing this part of the triceps.

People who train at my gym often use single exercises for both biceps and triceps, leaving out “everyday” exercises such as close-grip bench presses. The difference between biceps and triceps is that the latter require more isolation. This is largely due to the fact that, compared to the biceps, the triceps heads are located more separately.

Triceps Exercises

Before I list the exercises that I consider most effective for building triceps mass, I want to talk about the technique of performing some exercises.

The “close grip bench press” sounds pretty simple and straightforward – a bench press, only with your hands closer together. This is quite correct. Some, however, believe that the hands should be placed at a distance of 10-12 cm from each other. I disagree. At this distance there is a large load on the hands. This bench press variation also works the triceps because the shoulder part of the arm is close to the body.

You will find that your elbows flare out much less when your hands are shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower. In addition, in this position there is not much stress on the hands. I recommend performing bench presses with a narrow grip this way.

Bench barbell extension “Skull crushers” gives a decent load on the elbows. To reduce it, you need to place the bar behind your head, and not at forehead level. In this position, you will need to move the shoulder part of the arm back a little. Another advantage of this variation is that it puts more strain on the triceps.

I mentioned earlier French presses. Personally, I no longer do them. They cause elbow pain and I can't even tell you how these exercises are done safely. It's a good idea to warm up your elbows before doing these presses. Try it out and find out what works for you. If you feel pain in your elbows, shoulders or hands...STOP!

Regarding all other triceps exercises, I advise you to perform them in a way that is convenient for you. If you regularly change the position of your elbows, then without a doubt the load will go to all heads of the triceps.

Think like this. If the elbows are located close to the body, then the part of the triceps that is furthest from it will swing first and vice versa. This is enough general rule and is not absolute for everyone, but it can tell you what needs to be done to shift the focus to the desired area.

I will now present a series of exercises that I believe will be most effective for beginners.

All aspiring bodybuilders dream of big, pumped up arms. To achieve this, they focus on exercises for the biceps, forgetting to train the triceps muscles. But the triceps form 2/3 of the volume of the upper limbs and give them a powerful, sculpted appearance. Therefore, the back surface of the hands, just like the front, needs to be worked on regularly.

The triceps is formed by three muscles - medial, lateral and long. Together they perform two main functions - bending the arm at the elbow and adducting the shoulder to the body.

From the point of view of bodybuilding, the three beams have the same importance, but the volume of the upper limbs largely depends on the lateral (side) part of the triceps, located with outside shoulder

Triceps training

In many sources on bodybuilding, there is an opinion that you can work on each triceps bundle separately. In fact, almost all exercises for the back of the arms work the three heads equally.

In addition, the general structure of the muscles is determined genetically, that is, if the athlete’s lateral head of the triceps “lags behind,” accelerating its growth relative to the other two will be extremely problematic.

However, there are “little tricks” that are used to increase stress on the lateral shoulder. Below are exercises that allow you to shift the emphasis to the outer triceps bundle due to non-standard technique and an unusual grip:

• Crossover extensions. To execute we take rope handle and hook it to the rope upper block. We bend forward slightly, literally a few degrees, so that our arms are suspended. We spread our elbows slightly to the sides. As you exhale, gently straighten upper limbs. At the bottom, at the peak point of contraction, we pause for 1–2 seconds, then inhale and slowly bend our arms. We do 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions. The peculiarity of the exercise is that elbow joints not pressed to the body and slightly apart, and the movement itself is performed strictly perpendicular to the floor.
• One-arm crossover extensions. Take a stable position in front of the block and slightly tilt your body forward. We hook the D-shaped handle to the top cable and grab it with a reverse grip (palm facing the ceiling). We hold the shoulder perpendicular to the floor, do not press it to the body. From this position, as you exhale, extend your elbow. In the lower phase, we linger for a second, and then smoothly return the hand to the starting position. We work only with the forearm, the shoulder itself should remain motionless. We do 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions for each hand. The exercise can be performed in a sitting position. This will increase the load on the side beam by “turning off” the back.
• . We lie down on horizontal bench. The head remains on the seat so as not to overexert cervical region. We place our feet firmly on the floor. We take two small dumbbells with a reverse grip (palms facing ourselves) and lift them above the chest. Keeping your shoulders perpendicular, with an inhalation, gradually lower the weight “to your forehead.” We hold for a second, and then, as we exhale, we straighten our elbows and return our arms to the starting position. We perform 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions.
• Lateral leads. We lie with our backs on a horizontal bench. Take a dumbbell in one hand with a hammer grip and lift it perpendicular to the floor. Inhale, bend your elbow and lower the weight to the opposite shoulder. As you exhale, we move the limb to initial position. The movement is carried out only with the forearm. We perform 3-4 sets of 10-12 repetitions for each hand.

To pump up powerful lateral heads of the triceps, the exercises discussed above will not be enough. Professional athletes recommend using multi-joint strength elements as the basis for training, allowing for a comprehensive impact on the shoulder. Let's look at the most effective ones:

• Close grip press (3x10–12). The position of the hands in the exercise plays a key role. If the spread of the hands on the bar is too wide, the emphasis shifts to the pectoral muscles; if it is too narrow, the risk of injuring the hands or “flipping” the projectile to the side increases. Experienced athletes It is recommended to place your palms at a distance of 20–30 cm from each other. So, we lie down on the bench and take the bar with a narrow grip. We remove the weight from the racks and, with an inhalation, smoothly lower it to the bottom of the chest. Exhale powerfully and slowly raise the barbell above pectoral muscles(“We don’t get it on our heads!”). Keep your lower back pressed against the bench.
• Dips (3x10–12). Beginners, when performing this exercise, make the following mistakes: relaxing the arms in the negative phase, swaying the body and leaning forward too much. Such shortcomings in technique reduce the effectiveness of push-ups. Movements should be uniform and controlled, without jerking, a slight forward bend is allowed. Proper execution: we grab the parallel bars and take a handstand; We don’t “round” our back; inhale and smoothly lower until your shoulders are parallel to the floor; We do not spread our elbows to the sides; exhale powerfully and return to the starting position.
• Reverse push-ups from a bench (3x10–12). The exercise is not recommended for beginner athletes due to the high risk of injury to the shoulder ligaments. We turn our backs to the bench and place our palms on the edge of the seat. We straighten our knees completely, place our feet on the support (second bench, chair, platform). From this position, while inhaling, bend your elbows and lower your pelvis. Exhaling powerfully, we return to the starting position. To increase the load, we place several bar plates on the front surface of the thighs (with the help of a partner).

As a rule, triceps training is combined with back or chest training. In this case, one multi-joint strength exercise and one isolating exercise are selected. If you pump your arms on a separate day, increase the number of elements for the triceps muscle to 3-4 and add to them the load on the biceps.

Especially for beginner athletes, we provide useful tips, helping to safely and effectively strengthen the back of the arms.

• Choose the right working weight. Strength exercises Volume-forming exercises are done for 10–12 repetitions, and isolating exercises for relief are done for 15–20.
• Keep the tension “within the amplitude”. When performing close-grip presses and dips, do not straighten your elbows completely. This will increase the load on the triceps.
• Avoid cheating. Try to perform all exercises only by straightening your arms. It is not recommended to help yourself with your body. If it’s hard, reduce the weight of the projectile and repeat.
• Warm up. Before processing triceps muscles be sure to warm up your shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. This will help reduce the risk of injury.
• Use weights. If the exercise is easy, add extra weight. For example, in dips, increase the load using a special belt on which the weights are suspended.

Try to avoid sharp pain in the elbow and shoulder joints. If pain does appear, stop exercising for a few days and allow the tissues to recover.