Train Like an Athlete by ATHLEAN-X (Video Podcast)

If your triceps are not as big as you would like them, then you are going to want to watch this video. Here I am going to show you how the development of the long head of the triceps is key to the overall growth of the tricep muscle. The long head accounts for almost two thirds of the overall size of the triceps and needs to be made sure that it is getting adequately targeted in your workouts.

One of the problems that comes in is that many of the compound movements done for the triceps like the bench press or even the close grip bench are not sufficiently targeting the long head. This is because when in the finished contraction, your arms are out in front of the body and the elbows are not behind the torso.

In order to maximally contract the triceps long head you will need to have your elbows behind your body into extension. This can be achieved with another compound move like the dip, however many times people will complain that they feel this exercise more in their chest and shoulders than they do in the back of their arms. This actually has more to do with the position of the body in space during the exercise. Lean too far forward and you will feel it in your chest and delts. Maintain a more upright posture and you will more effectively hit the triceps.

In any event, here I wanted to give you two more tricep exercise options that could help you to get better growth in this area of your arms. The first of these is called the drag pushdown. Similar to the drag curl being done for the long head of the biceps, this variation of a popular tricep exercise is going to hit the head of the triceps on the back and inside portion of your arms the best. It does this by forcing you to keep your elbows tight to your sides and back behind your body throughout the movement.

The key is to keep the hands close to your body at all times and literally let them ride up the front of your torso throughout the movement. Note that you will likely have to decrease the weight that you are using to perform this tricep exercise. This is due to something called active insufficiency. When you shorten a muscle across one of the two joints that it crosses you decrease the ability of that muscle to produce force when shortened over the other.

While this leads to lighter weights being used it should not stop you from doing the exercise since this combination of shortening allows for the most contraction you can experience for a given muscle (in this case the long head of the triceps).

Next we have the barbell lift aways. This exercise can be performed with a single barbell stripped of all plates. Again, you will not be able to use very heavy weights here at all, but the contraction that you will feel by performing this is incredible. Hold the bar back behind your knees with your hands spaced just outside of your shoulders. Lift it up behind you making sure to keep the elbows straight and pause at the top for an added triceps contraction.

These two tricep exercises are a great addition to any program, but will work especially well if you are having trouble developing this thick inner portion of the back of the arm. If you are looking for a complete program that builds your arms and helps you to get triceps that fill your shirt sleeves, head to http://athleanx.com and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Start training like an athlete and watch how much more quickly the results come.

For more science based videos on how to build bigger arms and the best exercises for triceps, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/jdcav24