How to pump up powerful triceps: universal keys to success. How is the triceps muscle of the shoulder

At first, triceps can be mistaken for an insignificant muscle, hidden from view and “modestly” located on the back of the hand. However, the triceps account for 2/3 of the entire arm. We conclude: the volume of the arm to a greater extent depends on how well this particular muscle is developed. Interested? Then let's continue.

The structure of the triceps includes three muscle bundles. In the elbow area, they narrow and merge into a common tendon. Due to this structure, the main function of this muscle is ensured - extension at the elbow. During the performance of any of the triceps exercises, all three muscle bundles are included in the work.

Basic triceps exercises

When performing a set of basic exercises, not only triceps work, but also other muscle groups. It's about the chest and shoulders.

During the press, the upper triceps, anterior deltoid muscles and upper chest muscles are intensively worked.

Advice! For beginners, it is better to give preference to the EZ neck - it is easier to fix the position with it.

During the exercise, all areas of the triceps are worked out. The main emphasis falls on the lateral head.

Advice! For beginners, you can place your palms on the bench a little wider - it's easier to fix the elbow joints.

When performing the exercise, the pectoral muscles, deltoid and triceps are strained, which we unbend the limb at the elbow.

Advice! To isolate the muscle as much as possible, you should bring your elbows closer to the body and do not spread them apart throughout the exercise.

Triceps isolation exercises

The group of isolating exercises includes those that involve only triceps, deltas and chest are not involved in the process. The main goal of the complex is to “finish off” the triceps after basic exercises, to shape the muscles, to turn them into more “cut through”.

During the exercise, all the muscles of the triceps are included in the work. The greatest load is taken by the lateral and medial head. The back muscles are relaxed - the risk of injury is close to zero.

1. We stand in the block frame at the top block.
2. We take a straight bar with a direct grip and bend over it, fixing the position of the projectile not with the help of the strength of the hands, but due to our own weight.
3. We press the elbows to the body - in this position, the back muscles do not tense.
4. We smoothly unbend our arms in the elbow joints, linger at the end point for a second.

Don't forget about breathing. We unbend the limbs while inhaling, when returning to the starting position, we release air from the lungs.

By extending your arms with a dumbbell from behind your head, you load the long head of the triceps muscle to a greater extent. It is rarely involved in most basic exercises for working out the triceps.

1. We sit on the edge of the sunbed, rest our feet on the floor. We take a dumbbell with the hand that we will train. We stretch the limb above the head until it is completely straightened in the elbow joint.

• Inhaling, lower the hand behind the head, trying to avoid movement in the shoulder joint. We lower the dumbbell down in a straight path (towards the shoulder) or slightly oblique (towards the spine).
• Once at the bottom point, on the exhale we unbend the arm until the elbow is fully extended. At this point, we stop for a second and strain the triceps.

Do not tilt your body forward or backward - you can lose balance. The back cannot be rounded - this position additionally loads the spine.

Advice! If at the initial stage of training it is not possible to keep the elbow joint motionless, you can hold it with the hand of the opposite hand.

During the exercise, movement is observed only in the elbow joint. The lateral and long head of the triceps works.

1. We sit on a bench, rest our feet on the floor. We take the straightened arms up, take the barbell with the neck from the assistant (we grab it with the upper grip). We straighten our arms and take them a little back from the top of the head - the starting position is accepted.
2. We keep the upper part of the limbs motionless, while inhaling we slowly bend our elbows, lowering the load behind the head.
3. We do not stop at the bottom point, return the hands to their original position. Once at the “start”, exhale and tighten the triceps.

When lifting the bar, the elbows should not stretch forward. The area of ​​​​the arms from the shoulder to the elbow should be motionless during the entire exercise.

Advice! The exercise is best done with an EZ bar.

Due to this exercise, the triceps acquires additional volume, becomes embossed.

1. We stand in front of the block so that the hand is parallel to the hummock. Grasp the fixed part of the block with your free hand. The body is slightly forward, the leg of the same name to the involved hand is set back. We take the handle with a reverse grip.
2. We inhale, pull the handle down, fully extending the arm at the elbow. At the end point, exhale and tighten the muscle even more.
3. We return the hand to its original position slowly, feeling resistance.

During the work, the back should be kept still. We fix the wrist, press the elbow to the body.

Advice! At the initial stage, “do not chase the weights” - select the load so that you can complete the exercise at least 10 times.

The exercise allows you to pump all three heads of the triceps in the lower part. It is indicated in the presence of disproportion of the triceps muscles.

1. We get up on the side of the sunbed, bend over and rest against it with our palm, turning the latter towards us. We take a dumbbell with the other hand. One of the knees can be put on a sunbed. We bend the arm at an angle of 90 degrees, making sure that the elbow is at the level of the back or slightly higher.
2. We inhale, hold our breath and fully unbend the limb due to the strength of the triceps. The forearm remains motionless. We remain in this position for a second and return to the “start”.

The back must be kept parallel to the floor - then the triceps will work great.

Advice! In the process of doing the exercise, try not to jerk, the pace of work is smooth.

Regular performance of a set of basic and isolating exercises will help to give volume and relief to the triceps. In addition to the regularity of training, the technique of performing the exercise also plays a significant role. The slightest deviations from it involve other muscle groups in the work - the effectiveness of the training will decrease significantly.

Be sure to read about it

People who come to the gym often really want to "pump up" their big arms. In this regard, they begin to do exercises for the biceps - the biceps of the shoulder.

Beginning athletes do not even suspect that the main volume of the arms is often given by another mulcular structure - the triceps or the triceps muscle of the shoulder.

Anatomy

Musculus triceps brachii consists of several basic structures. They are three muscle bundles (heads), which is reflected, in fact, in the name. The triceps brachii extends completely along the back of the humerus.

Three heads of the muscle have their own names, reflecting their structural location: lateral, long and medial.

1. The first of these ( caput laterale) is attached muscularly and tendinously to the surface of the humerus (outside).
2. The middle position is occupied by caput longum , it is the longest, attached to the scapula (subarticular tubercle).
3. Third - caput mediale , is attached one third below the head of the humerus, behind, has a fleshy upper part.

All three of these heads are combined into one muscle, which below passes into a tendon formation attached to

Triceps work

The function of the triceps muscle, or rather, the most important of them is the extension of the forearm. This is the very movement of the hand when, when the elbow is extended, the whole arm is straightened. But its medial part is responsible for this. The main antagonist is the biceps muscle.

The exercises themselves are easy to find in bodybuilding manuals or on sites on the Internet. Many training complexes are posted online on video channels.

About muscle pain

Unfortunately, the triceps muscle of the shoulder can experience discomfort, the functions of which lead to overstrain, spasm. Pain can occur when pushing weights, sharply straightening the arm.

Trigger points and muscle bands can also cause problems. In the first case, the pain can radiate to other areas, in the second case, it will be very painful on palpation.

In such cases, stretching of the heads of the triceps muscle is required. A massage therapist can do a great job with this.

Finally

You should not train the heads of the triceps muscle separately, it is pointless. Any exercise on the triceps will fully engage it.

It is worth remembering that all people are genetically different. Differences in height, size of cats, muscle shape, length of tendon heads of muscles - all this must be taken into account when shaping your "ideal" body. You should not be equal to the models of bodybuilding competitions.

Information for women and girls! For the formation of triceps, it is not necessary to go to the gym. It is enough to perform this push-ups from the floor from the bench (bench), sitting with your back to it.

Triceps is a muscle that extends the arm. Together with the biceps, it forms the relief of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow (anatomically, this part is called the shoulder). Since the extensor of the arm is 2/3 of its volume, it makes sense to do shock exercises for the triceps.

It is difficult to choose the most effective triceps exercise, because each of them contributes to the development of the triceps muscle.

Types of exercises for triceps

What is triceps and how to pump it up is a question that worries many beginner athletes. If you really want to pump up, the basics of anatomy will come in handy in the first place. This will help you perform the exercises more correctly and better navigate your feelings.

It is known that by increasing the volume of the extensor (actually, triceps), the arm becomes much more massive. If you do it the way most beginners like to do - targeting only the biceps, you will have a small tubercle in place of the flexor, but in general the arm will still seem thin.

By the way, the strength of the triceps significantly exceeds the strength of the biceps (2-3 times), so it is easier to pump it.

Speaking about how to quickly pump up triceps, first of all, you should decide what the word “quickly” means to you. If it's months, you're thinking right. If you dream of pumping it up in a week, then maybe it's time to stop believing in fairy tales?

Below are the most effective triceps exercises that will make your arm powerful and pumped up.

• Basic exercises for triceps increase its mass and are the most difficult: these are push-ups from the bars with weights, reverse push-ups and bench press with a narrow grip.
• The French press is difficult to classify as a basic exercise, but it is well suited for training triceps for mass. Due to the use of different necks, the French bench press helps to pump the entire triceps well. This is probably one of the best isolated exercises for triceps.
• The rest of the exercises are designed to create a relief based on the available mass - this is, for example, working with dumbbells,.

By the way, the truly basic exercise in which the extensor of the arm works is the bench press. Of course, it is aimed at working out the pectoral muscles, but the triceps also get a decent part of the load. This exercise uses heavy weights. You won't be able to lift the same weight on close grip or French presses. As a rule, the working weights in these exercises differ by 2-3 times.

It makes no sense to list all the exercises for triceps, we will analyze only a part of them. Those that really help to pump up this muscle.

A set of exercises for the extensors of the arms

Let's start by looking at triceps exercises in the gym. This is the best way to train triceps!

Bench press

This is a basic exercise that pumps the chest, shoulders, triceps. Usually the bench press is performed on the same day that we swing the triceps. This is convenient, unlike the back-biceps scheme.

Yes, this is not the best exercise for triceps, since the target muscle group here is the chest. But without it, the hands will not grow. There is also an inverse relationship - weak hands greatly spoil the results in this exercise.

In addition to the classic bench press, to pump up a huge triceps muscle, you need to do a number of specialized exercises.

Close Grip Press

The best triceps exercises should work well on the triceps muscle and not strain the rest. This is the ideal. In practice, things are not so rosy.

For example, the close grip bench press is certainly very effective, but it puts a lot of strain on the shoulders. If the athlete has any shoulder injury, he will not be able to perform this press.

The narrow grip press is performed in such a way that the elbows are pressed to the body, and the bar is lowered to the middle of the chest. If you lower the bar to the bottom of the chest, the front bundles of the deltoids will overwork. If it is above the middle of the chest, the wrists are strongly bent at the lower point.

french press

An exercise that no triceps training program can do without. It is isolated if you perform this exercise correctly.

You need to lie on a horizontal bench and place your feet firmly on the floor. Next, take the bar with a grip that is comfortable for you and take it slightly behind your head. From this position, you can start work. Arms from shoulder to elbow are not perpendicular to the floor. You take your elbows behind your head a little further so that your arms slightly deviate from the vertical.

Lower the bar to the very head, then unbend your arms.

If at this time you feel (hear) clicks coming from your elbows or experience pain in your joints, try another bar or skip this exercise.

Reverse push-ups

This is one of the most effective exercises for triceps, as well as push-ups from the bars.

You need to find an emphasis for legs and arms (benches will do). In principle, you can put your feet on the floor, but this will make the exercise easier.

Put your hands behind you on one bench, put your feet on the other. You need to take a position so that the support under your arms is behind you and does not prevent you from moving up and down. Put pancakes on your knees (choose the weight so that 10 push-ups are difficult for you, and you could no longer do 11-12 times). Bend your arms and lower yourself down to a right angle at the elbows, then return to the starting position.

We swing triceps qualitatively, without jerks. If you do such push-ups with a jerk, either the pancakes will fly off your knees, or you will get a shoulder injury. In general, triceps training should be done with high quality.

Extension of arms on the block

Stand in a block frame near the top block, on which a straight bar was hung in advance. Grab it with a straight grip, bend over it from above to fix the weight below not due to the strength of the hands, but due to your weight. Press your elbows to the body - this position does not include the latissimus dorsi.

Do arm extensions 8-12 times per set.

Bar push-ups

When we don’t know how to pump up triceps without iron, bars come to the rescue.

If you are a physically prepared person and will do push-ups without additional weight, you will not see outwardly noticeable results. You need to add at least 5–10 kg and gradually develop strength so that muscle tissue begins to grow after it.

So, how to pump triceps on the uneven bars. The starting position is this - the legs hang in the air, squeeze them, the shins can be crossed. Straighten up, no need to lean forward, bring your elbows to the body.

Move straight up and down, like a shuttle, trying not to sway or lean forward or backward.

Feels like you should feel that the load is distributed to the triceps and a little front of the deltoids.

Work in a partial amplitude in the upper positions, make sure that your shoulders are fixed, that is, they do not fall or rise. If this starts to happen, the pectoral muscles and trapezium will begin to train.

Triceps workout with dumbbells

A good option is the french press with dumbbells. This is a triceps-friendly exercise if you don't have a barbell but dumbbells. In addition, you can rotate the brush as you like, and not be dependent on the shape of the fingerboard.

You can do this exercise with one dumbbell, clasping it with both hands. This is a comfortable and flexible grip. The dumbbell rotates slightly as you move your arms due to gravity. This element can be performed both sitting and lying down. Do not confuse it with a pullover - there the arms do not unbend.

The dumbbell overhead press is often placed last in a training program. It isolates the triceps, causing it to fill with blood.

It makes no sense to do this exercise with large weights, you need to pick up a tangible weight and work efficiently, trying to ensure the maximum amplitude of contraction of the triceps muscle.

Another interesting option is the extension of the arm with dumbbells in an incline. In this exercise, you need to bend over, take your hand from the dumbbells back and turn it with your elbow up. Try to keep your elbow parallel to the floor. If you can’t do this, it’s okay, work as best you can.

Pushups

The most home workout option. If you press your elbows to the body and slowly push up, the triceps and the whole body are well strengthened. Due to the low speed of the movement, you will stay in a tense state for a longer time (this is the essence of such an exercise as the “bar”). Plus, the shock load will go to your triceps.

To complicate push-ups, you can use movable rotating stops.

Changing the angle of the body changes the load on the triceps. If the head is higher than the legs, then push-ups are easier. If it's the other way around, it's harder. The most extreme version of push-ups is upside down purely on the hands (push-ups in the horizon). But this is already aerobatics, which refers more to gymnastics than to pumping up muscles.

If you can do push-ups at least once, pressing your elbows to the body, then you already have the initial physical preparation.

Training schedule

If the muscle group is large, then it is better to give it a shock load every 7-8 days. For muscles such as triceps, it is acceptable to load more often - you can do 2 heavy workouts per week and one easy one. Or 1 heavy, 1 light. Training triceps once a week for muscle growth will not be enough.

• When you do any exercise for the triceps, pay attention to the sensations - you should feel that you are working. If you do push-ups on the uneven bars, and the next day your pectoral muscle hurts and your arms don’t hurt at all, reconsider your technique. Push up so that it is the triceps that get tired. If the muscle stiffens, burns, gets tired after the exercise, it means that you are pumping it.
• If your elbows start to hurt, pay attention to the technique, change the necks, bandage your elbows for the duration of the exercises. Try all of these before you quit your workout. Take a course of joint strengthening supplements that contain chondroitin and glucosamine. In the end, reduce the working weights and see if the pain disappears.

On isolated extensions of the arms (French press, extension of the arms on the block), pay attention to the position of your elbows - the farther the elbows from the body, the less the load on the triceps. You will feel it.

Press your elbows - you will immediately understand if this working weight is too big for you. This is the secret of such presses. Therefore, always watch your elbows yourself or ask someone to look after you. Compliance with the technique will help you pump up a large triceps and not get injured.

Anatomy of the muscles of the hands (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 FOREARMS. See explanatory photo below:

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

BICEPS

The bicep is made up of two heads:

1. Long(a long tendon, but a small muscle) is located on the outer part of the arm.
2. short(a short tendon, but a 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 join into one tendon, which is located near the elbow joint. Subsequently, both heads form a common abdomen, 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 are the same length, because the long head has in fact, a longer tendon with which it is attached below to the bone.

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 the adduction of the arm, and the long head - in the abduction of the arm.

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

FOCUS ON THE BICEPS HEADS

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

Treatment

• To fight outer head (long), you need to take your elbows as far as possible behind your back, only in this way the outer part of the biceps will turn on.
• To fight inner head (short), on the contrary, you need to bring your elbows as far forward as possible.

GRIPS when working on BICEPS

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

BRACHIALIS

This is the shoulder muscle, plays a 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 work with heavy weights in standing barbell curls, and not the biceps themselves.

The best exercises for training biceps:

• Lifting the bar for biceps with a reverse grip

TRICEPS

The triceps has three heads:

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

• The external 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 two other heads.
• The long head begins on the scapula and is located on the inside of the shoulder section of the arm.

All three heads are in the same bundle, in the elbow area, 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 (it 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 thing depends on your genetics. And this, by the way, can be easily checked, and find out which one you have:

• If your triceps is short, then it looks longer and more massive.
• Well, if it is long, then the triceps looks short with a peak.

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

Triceps have two main functions: straightening the elbow joint and bringing the arms to the body.

The best exercises for training triceps:

• (emphasis on triceps)

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

Sincerely, administrator.

Before starting to describe all the features of training for triceps, you need to emphasize the importance of this muscle. Of the entire mass of the arm, the triceps is 2/3, which means that the main volume of the arm depends on the inflated triceps. Became interesting? Then let's continue.

Since the triceps is a small muscle group, the technique comes to the fore here. Correct performance of all exercises can give the maximum effect. What is important when training triceps?

1. Be sure to exclude the work of other muscle groups. As an example, the wrong press or push-ups on the bars with a narrow grip pump the chest, but have little effect on the triceps. This is the most common mistake.
2. An understanding of the structure of the triceps is required in order to understand which muscle bundle works under what circumstances. Usually athletes load only the middle and outer head, with little or no development of the long head.

Only knowledge and adherence to technique will allow not to spray the load, but to direct it to the desired part of the triceps, and for this you need to take a closer look at the structure of a small, but important, muscle.

It is important for both beginners and experienced athletes to know how to train and rest so that the muscles grow most efficiently. Be sure to read the article on our website about. Learn what supercompensation is and how to use it.

Features of the structure of the triceps

Triceps consists of three bundles of muscles, which narrow closer to the elbow and connect into one tendon. Thanks to this structure, the main role of this muscle group is performed - extension at the elbow. In general terms, any exercise to a certain extent and with different loads always affects all 3 beams. The main reason is the different attachment points on top.

Usually, difficulties arise with pumping the long head of the triceps, since it is fixed on the shoulder blade. So, for maximum load, you need to take the elbow back during the exercise. When loaded, the middle muscle bundle starts to work first, while an increase in the weight of the projectile forces the external (lateral) part of the muscle to work, and only in extreme cases does a long triceps bundle come to the rescue. But it is the long head that is the most massive part of the triceps, and therefore it is necessary to try to develop it.

Since we are more interested in a long muscle bundle, we will consider the main factors that make it work:

• exercises should include pulling the arm back or generally the need to bring the arm up (an example is the French bench press).
• The higher the working weight of the projectile, the stronger the long part of the triceps is loaded.
• It is important to keep your elbows close to your body.
• You need to use the shoulder joint in the exercises. For its constant loading, the French bench press is often used, which is performed lying down, keeping the arms in their original position at an angle to the head.
• It is better to keep the projectile with your palms up when doing exercises, otherwise more load will be transferred to the external triceps.

It is important not to lift the weight with the whole body during workouts with a load on the shoulder joint. If the physically selected weight is not suitable, then jerking can only provoke injury. If you can not complete the next approach - choose a smaller weight.

We advise you to start training with basic exercises, giving all your best when performing them (bench press with a narrow grip or push-ups on the uneven bars). Then, with an isolated exercise, the triceps will already be warmed up and you will not need to use weights that can provoke injuries. And now let's move on to a description of the basic techniques that solve the question of how to pump up triceps.

Basic triceps exercises

The list of the most effective exercises includes 5 exercises:

• bench press, narrow grip
• sitting/standing french press

This list includes both basic exercises and isolation exercises (they only affect a specific muscle group).

Push-ups on the uneven bars

A basic exercise that we recommend putting at the beginning of a triceps workout. When performing, it is important to keep the body straight, without leaning forward. If in the process the elbows are spread apart, then the load will go to the external triceps, while the elbows pressed to the body will load the long (most important) part of the muscle. Be sure to fully straighten your arms at the top point to remove the bend in the elbows.

Close Grip Bench Press

A basic exercise recommended to be performed at the very beginning of a workout. Do not forget about the mandatory warm-up, because. there is a risk of injury - the working weight of the projectile for this exercise is usually the largest among other triceps exercises. It is advisable to carry out training on a bench with a negative slope, which will give a greater effect, since the load will go to the deltas less.

When performing, the grip should be shoulder-width apart, and the elbows should be pressed to the body as much as possible. If the elbows are further apart, the load will “flow” onto the external triceps.

French bench press

An isolated exercise with a load on the elbow joint. When performing, watch where the bar falls. If at the lowest point it is at the level of the nose or forehead, the external triceps work, and when lowered behind the head, the long triceps. The projectile must be taken with the palms up to load our main muscle, otherwise the outer part will work. The rules for placing the elbows are similar: the closer to the body, the better for a long bundle of muscles.

Seated/Standing French Press

Another isolated exercise. As an exception, the palms down grip is optimal. Remember the elbows - the closer, the better the muscle of interest to us is loaded. The exercise can be performed without a barbell, using 1-2 dumbbells at your own discretion. How to make a choice? According to your own feelings, the better it “goes”, use it.

Extension of arms on the block

isolation exercise. It is convenient because it allows you to choose a comfortable body position while standing, and the grip can be any (if the appropriate handles are provided). If the handle of the block is rope, then it is recommended to turn your palms towards the floor at the bottom point, which will have a greater impact on the long part of the muscle. The question of the location of the elbows is similar to all previous exercises - the closer to the body, the better.

Summing up

We hope that now you have an understanding of the importance of triceps in arm size. You know its structure and the most effective exercises. It remains only to act and remember that the regularity of training is the engine of progress!

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