Tricep exercise selection

R

Renky

Member
I have a limited home gym set up. Basic free weights and a bench - no rack.

For exercises, I have mainly worked with tricep kickbacks and close grip bench press (using dumbbells).

No racks and no spotter means I cannot use bar.

Skull crushers are mega painful for my elbows and dips hurt my wrists.

I am happy to keep going with close grip bench press and kick backs, but I am not sure that I "feel" the tricep muscle working hard in the close grip bench press. It has always been one of those exercises where I wondered whether I truly worked it as hard as I could have...

Years ago when I went to a gym, I would go with tricep press downs on a lat machine and this worked amazing with regards to feeling the triceps really work hard. I am tossing up whether I need to buy a lat pull down machine for my garage? Kick backs really work the muscle, but you are limited with the weight you can use due to shoulders etc.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks.
 
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Dips are king for tris IMO. Do you have exveptionally weak wrists? Id say go with CGBP if your wrists actually hurt that (too) much. But do them with the bar. Just roll the bar up your body and slide under, or buy a rack. CGBP with dbs are not the same.
 
Dips are great, if you can get around your wrist issue. Close-grip press is great too, use a very close grip and keep the bar up toward your collar bone! Tricep heaven (or hell, with DOMS afterward)


I think if triceps were my main concern, I'd choose the close-grip bench press, but a very close-grip keep the bar high to emphasize triceps. You don't need a spotter if you stay with higher RM and avoid failure. Obviously dangerous to attempt a 3RM PR with no spotter!
 
OHP with a close grip, or CG push-ups (weighted if necessary) are terrific.

Dips are ideal, but finding the right spacing can be difficult for some folks and not worth the injury risk to get there.

I am not a fan of skull crushers for the same reason you aren't; personal discomfort, though for many they're fine.
 
Yep... My wrists are a bit suspect... They are ok now, but I do not want to go back to suffering the wrist pain I once had. It was so bad that my wrists could not even support me doing push-ups (and that is bad for me, because I can do heavy bench work). I did years and years of heavy weights on a constant basis and I feel this did damage to my shoulders and wrists. Lifting as heavy as I was, I can see now that I lacked form all for the sake of getting the weight up. I paid the price, but am very thankful it was not a whole lot worse and required me having surgery. HST has been much friendlier to me.

Elbows flare up badly with skull crushers and the triceps end up not getting the work anyway in my situation.

Dips... I just feel these can take a toll on shoulders. While my shoulders are ok now (as in recovered), I still need to be mindful that they are a weak link for me. Especially the left shoulder. Always feel like it would not take much to burn out the shoulder joint again.

Alex, how do you do the OHP?

Are close grip bench presses with dumbbells a waste of time? Most of my workouts are with dumbbells for safety mostly - much easier to drop a dumbbell than it is to drop a bar. I have been looking at one of those rack and pulley set ups where I rack the bar for benching, squatting as well as do the pulley exercises for lats and triceps etc. Maybe it is time to upgrade?

Biceps are easy and there are a multitude of exercises, but triceps I feel like I am stuck with two and one of which I am not getting that worked feeling in the muscle. Regular bench pressing does work the triceps for me some, I can feel that, but is it enough? I think I need to have at least one dedicated exercise for biceps and triceps. Bodybuilding and symmetry is my aim...

Not sure what to do...
 
BB's are friendlier on joints than DB's, IMO. Less stablisation required.


OHP for me is behind-the-neck, push press style, relatively closer grip (in the context of the exercise, that is).
 
AlexAustralia said:
BB's are friendlier on joints than DB's, IMO. Less stablisation required.


OHP for me is behind-the-neck, push press style, relatively closer grip (in the context of the exercise, that is).
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That one is also a killer on triceps, forgot about that lift.
 
Isn't the OHP similar to tricep push downs on the lat machine then? I feel that I would be able to push the weight a lot more on the tricep push downs than OHPs.

Are kickbacks not recommended?

I used to do tricep dips off like a chair. You know the one where you extend your legs straight out and your hands are placed behind you? These seemed to go ok a number of years ago, but wonder now if they would be harsh on shoulders?

Thanks.
 
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No, it's nothing like a push-down.

Kickbacks are horrible for your shoulders, and in that context, bench dips (what you're describing) aren't super awesome if you have shoulder issues.
 
I feel that there is a lot of energy and effort to get the weight in place to carry out the OHP and feel that doing the push-downs is sounding like the best option in my situation?

I could maybe try grabbing the dumbbell and lying down with it and doing an over chest press. Less energy involved in getting the weight in place?

So close grip benches with dumbbells is not the way to go? This is what I was looking at for the main triceps exercise https://www.jefit.com/exercises/1166/Close-Grip-Dumbbell-Press

Thanks.
 
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I feel like you're trying to talk yourself into it, based on the equipment you have.

I'd recommend diamond/CG push ups before that DB exercise. Add weight to your back as you need to.

I think push-downs are terrible for the elbow. I've tried to reintroduce myself previously, and they're just not viable for any form of significant load. Maybe if you're juicing up but even then, you'd be better off running OHP's of some form.

Energy-required shouldn't be a reason to not do an exercise, to be blunt. The most effective exercises are all intensive; deadlift, squat, BB presses, rows, chins.
 
Renky said:
I feel that there is a lot of energy and effort to get the weight in place to carry out the OHP and feel that doing the push-downs is sounding like the best option in my situation?

I could maybe try grabbing the dumbbell and lying down with it and doing an over chest press. Less energy involved in getting the weight in place?

So close grip benches with dumbbells is not the way to go? This is what I was looking at for the main triceps exercise https://www.jefit.com/exercises/1166/Close-Grip-Dumbbell-Press

Thanks.
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Those are fine. A barbell is preferable, but those are pretty effective imo.
 
Nice!

I am now looking at one of those home multi-gyms. One that is a little more basic though and not include every "doo-dad". Wife said she is more likely to work out if we had one of these, so I may look into it as a supplemental device to my free weight set up. Besides... In my opinion, nothing beats going mega heavy on a machine chest press.

Any recommendations on brands?

Thanks.
 
My favorite is CGBP using myo reps followed by a metabolic set of band pushdowns of around 15 reos with a fast concebtric movement, slow eccentric movement and a 1 second or so pause and squeeze backward in the fully extended position.
 
Renky said:
Nice!

I am now looking at one of those home multi-gyms. One that is a little more basic though and not include every "doo-dad". Wife said she is more likely to work out if we had one of these, so I may look into it as a supplemental device to my free weight set up. Besides... In my opinion, nothing beats going mega heavy on a machine chest press.

Any recommendations on brands?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

What unit are you looking at?
 
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