The triceps is a muscle group located on the upper arm. The triceps consist of three heads. The three heads of the triceps are the long head, the lateral head, and the medial head.
Each of the three heads of the triceps muscles require a different type of movement to grow, and each head responds to a certain angle of tension placed upon the muscle. If an individual perform only one type of movement with there triceps, each of the three heads will not be equally developed. Thus, employing a triceps workout chart will help individuals to understanding which exercises will best target each head of the triceps muscle.
Train All Three Triceps Heads
The long head of the triceps cross the shoulder joint. As a result, the long head must be stretched out over head. The lateral head of the triceps is the head that contributes to the outer part of an arm.
The lateral head becomes active during certain type of extension movements. The medial head of the triceps contribute to the extension of the elbow joint. Furthermore, the medial head of the triceps is the muscle that provide the baseline strength for the triceps.
If these types of overhead movements isnt included in the training for the triceps, the long head will not be developed better than the other two heads of the triceps. Individuals should start the training with compound pressing movements as these allow individuals to use the most weight possible. Compound pressing movements for the triceps may include the close grip bench press or the dip exercise.
These types of exercises will activate each of the three heads of the triceps at the same time. Following the compound pressing exercise, perform overhead extensions to stretch the long head. Following the overhead extension, perform isolation movements like pushdowns, kickbacks, or skull crushers.
Isolation movements allow for each head of the triceps to be target without other muscle groups of the body having to be utilized. A triceps workout chart will provide information regarding the correct number of repetitions that should be performed with each exercise. For strength, use lower repetitions of exercises with longer rest periods between sets of the same exercise.
For muscle growth (hypertrophy), use the middle range of repetitions for the triceps. For hypertrophy, the muscles burns out longer under tension. For endurance use higher repetitions with shorter rest periods between sets.
Common mistake with triceps exercises include moving the elbows away from the body with pushdown exercises or using too much weight for isolation movements. If the performer utilizes too much weight for isolation movements, the performer will use momentum to perform the movements as opposed to using muscle control. Thus, the triceps will not be performing the movement.
Another way to make triceps training more efficienty is to use supersets. A superset is when one compound exercise is performed in conjunction with one isolation movement. For instance, one compound movement may be the close grip bench press followed by the skull crusher.
Or, the overhead extension may be performed in conjunction with the rope pushdown exercise. By performing these types of sets, each head of the triceps will be target. Furthermore, by using the triceps workout chart for the body to guide an individual in pairing these types of exercises, the long head, lateral head and medial head of the triceps will all be targeted.
Once the individual understands each of the heads of the triceps in how it can perform, the individual can begin targeting the specific heads of the triceps that they desire to increase in size.
