When it comes to improving the arms, one thing that many people tend to do is to work on the bicep muscles regularly when the reality is, it is the triceps that give you the real sizes of the arm.  That is why many individuals are interested in going tricep exercises and making sure that they grow their arm size to an impressive level.

There are a number of different tricep exercises that you can choose from but I have several that I consider to be my favorites.  Most of these exercises are going to be using the same general motion but by changing the way that you do it to a certain extent, you can hit the tricep from a different angle.  This is important, because the tricep is actually made up of three different muscles, that is why it is called tri.  By hitting each of these muscle heads properly, you will proportionately grow and look your best.

Tricep Exercises without Machines

One of the best ways for you to grow your arms to impressive levels is to use free weights whenever you are exercising.  One of the reasons why this is the case is because you will not only be using your main muscles that you are trying to build, you will also be using many of the stabilizer muscles along with it.

One of my favorite exercises for the tricep muscles that use free weights is known as the forehead crusher. Lie on your back, either on the floor or preferably on the bench and hold a barbell at arm’s length over top of your body.  Bend at the elbow, keeping the those straight above the side of the body and lower the weight until it is resting lightly against your forehead.  Without moving your upper arms, you would press it right back up into its original position.

This is a very effective exercise for building the tricep muscles.  It can also be done with dumbbells, as this will help you to build the muscles separately and will keep you from relying on your strong arm.  Most people, however, tend to do them with a barbell because it looks better whenever you are doing them.

Doing Tricep Exercises on Machines

Another way to do exercises for your tricep muscles is to utilize the pulldown machines.  This is one of my favorite exercises and I enjoy doing it, almost every time I am at the gym.  The real key to doing this is in making sure that your form is as perfect as possible.  If you allow your form to waiver, you will not get the results that you really want.

For this first type of machine exercise, you are going to be pressing down with a bar.  Typically, I use the bar that is utilized whenever doing lat pull downs but it is also possible for you to do a short bar as well.  The real key is to keep the elbows in tight against the body and not to move the upper arms whenever you are pressing the weight down toward your groin area.  The better your form, the more you are going to benefit.

Another type of machine exercise is one that I have used on many occasions, but is not nearly as popular.  It utilizes the same movements and it is necessary for you to use the same form whenever doing it but instead of using a bar, you would use a rope.  I often keep my hands down close to the end of the rope and as I press down, I push my palms down further so that they are facing the floor and my thumbs are together.  This helps me to get a real pump at the end of the exercise.

Additional Tricep Exercises

The next two tricep exercises are not actually going to focus on the triceps themselves.  The first one that we are going to discuss is the bench press.  Although this is typically considered to be an exercise for the chest, it also is very effective at working the triceps as well.

The bench press is a multi-joint exercise and it works a number of different muscles of the body, all of which will benefit from this movement.  While you are doing your bench press, you should be able to feel it in your arms as well, even if you are concentrating on your chest muscles.  It is also possible for you to do your bench press with a tight grip, which is an excellent tricep exercise in itself.

Something else that might surprise you is the fact that working the largest muscles of your body, the legs, can actually help your arms to grow as well.  When you are doing heavy lifting exercises, such as the squat or deadlifts, this will release chemicals into your body that will naturally promote muscle growth throughout.  In other words, as you’re working your legs, you are also gaining size in every other muscle in your body.

Don’t overlook this as being a myth.  It is something that everybody that lifts weights needs to understand, the fact that you must incorporate leg exercises into your routine.  If you find that you have hit a stall or that your exercises are not doing what they used to do, work your legs for a while and you will see that you begin to notice gains again.

Tricep Exercises at Home

The final type of exercises are ones that can be done at home.  Push-ups are an excellent idea for you to be doing, regardless of whether you are working out at the gym or not.  I start every day with a set of push-ups to absolute failure.  At times, I may keep my grip rather wide but at other times, I keep my hands close together in order to hit the tricep muscles specifically.

Not only is this an excellent start to my day, it also helps me to get ready for whatever it is that comes my way.  If I go to the gym, it keeps me lose and if I am not going to the gym, it keeps me from getting too sore.  Best of all, it grows my arms to a larger size and that is what I’m really looking for anyway.

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Tags: barbell, best tricep exercises, bicep, free weights, tricep muscles, triceps

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Tricep Workouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.