How to Build Bigger Triceps?

March 20, 2024
Sam Andreas

Want big arms that fill in your shirt sleeve?

Build your triceps!

Tricep muscle constitutes two-thirds of the arm.

But I came to the realization that most lifters have trouble growing their triceps, not because they don’t know how to train them.

But rather because of elbow problems!

They pick a dumbbell or barbell and start doing the extension or skull crushers.

Elbow pain kicks in.

They lose motivation after a few sets and leave!

In this post, I’ll share with you some tips on how to overcome this problem and others in order to build thick tricep muscles.

7 Tips to Build Bigger Triceps

Here are 7 tips to grow your triceps.

Keep in mind, there is a common misconception that some tricep exercises isolate a particular head in the muscle. This is not really true. All the tricep heads work together.

However, there are certainly some exercises that slightly prioritize a certain head over others.

For example, the push-down exercise is slightly biased towards targeting the lateral head, while dips are biased towards the long head.

1 Have a Separate Arm Day.

This way you have more energy and mental focus to devote to your triceps. Start with Triceps if they are lagging.

You could also include another tricep session after a chest or shoulders workout.

2 Start with cable push down.

Ignore skull crushers and dumbbell extension for now.

Whether you’re using the rope or the bar handle, do the full range of motion and focus on stretching the triceps as much as possible.

When you come up with the cable make a 30-45 degrees angle with your elbows.

Do not come halfway up at 90 degrees or more elbow bent. Not enough stretch.

Correct Form. Stretch all the way up to reach 45 degrees or less.

3 Minimize the Lat involvement when using the cable push down.

This is done by pushing the cable handle directly downward instead of dragging the weight backward with your lats.

Don’t drag the cable backward with your lats. Placing the elbows beyond your body’s level will shift the tension to the lat muscles.

Correct Form. Push straight downward. Place your elbows in front of you.

4 Push down for as many sets as you can.

The idea here is to have as much blood flow into your triceps and elbow area as possible. So, do 5 or 6 sets of cable push down. Do 25 to 12 reps in each set.

If possible incorporate 3 sets in one giant set as follows:

Set 1: rope push down with flared elbows and wide-angle.

Immediately after,

Set 2: rope push down with narrow-angle and hands closer together.

Then immediately after,

Set 3: rope reverse push down.

Do 15-12 reps each. This is one giant set. Do another 4!

1

Rope push down with flared elbows and wide-angle.

2

Rope push down with narrow-angle and hands closer together. Notice his grip position at the top of the rope.

3

Rope reverse push down.

5 Incorporate Dips after the push down.

Now you have warmed up your triceps and elbows, it’s time for some heavy dips.

Do this on a dip machine, or a flat bench and upload weights on your legs.

The key here is to not turn this into a chest dips.

Place your elbows behind your body to the back, and don’t flare them outwards.

Perform half the range of motion, and don’t go all the way down to minimize chest involvement.

Alternatively, you can do a close-grip flat bench press. Lock your elbows at the top and don’t come all the way down (only 2/3rd) to minimize engagement of the pectoralis muscle.