The best triceps workout for size and outer triceps is more about how your WHOLE training program is organized than specific triceps exercises or a single specialized routine.
Let me explain…
There are three heads of the triceps that you need to workout in order to get the most size out of them. The medial, lateral and long head of the triceps. But the exercises you need to do to stimulate these three triceps heads are found scattered throughout the overall size building workout routine that addresses all of your muscle groups.
To be clear, whatever size building workout split you are on should already contain most of the exercises you need for maximum triceps size.
For example:
Parallel bar or ring dips – All Three Triceps Heads
Press behind the neck – Medial And Lateral Heads
Close grip bench – Medial And Lateral Heads
There is a “catch-all” triceps exercise that will blow up your triceps size which I will talk about now.
Bent Arm Pullover Press Triceps Workout For Size – My Secret For Triceps
My overall size building routine includes the above mentioned ring dips (for chest, shoulder and tris) and behind the neck presses (mobility and shoulder size). This stimulates all my triceps heads to grow.
But I also want to do pullovers for mobility and overall performance. Here the gem gets polished.
All I’m missing in my tricep workout is a specific over head extension style exercise. This is how I fix that.
3 sets supersetted like this:
A1: Pullover press x12
A2: to close grip bench x12 Immediately to..
A3: Pullover press x 6 again
A4: to close grip bench x 6
And since I also do Zottman curls for size and mobility, I super set those Zottman curls with dumbbell overhead extension. The overhead extension is more of a straight line overhead press than an arcing type movement. This last movement nails the long head.
3 sets supersetted like this:
Zottman Curls x 6-10
Dumbbell Overhead Extension x 6-10
The following outer tricep workout for adding size is only useful once you have established a base of overall size and strength with the above routine.
My Favourite Outer Tricep Workout For Size
Now for those of you that want to specialize on the horseshoe, I have a bunch of outer tricep workout exercises for you. The outer tricep sticks out like a slab of muscle on your outer arm and makes your arm look thick from the front. When your standing side on the outer triceps looks like a half moon sitting there on your arm and screams POWER!
So how to do you work the outer triceps? Well, one of the best known and common outer tricep workout exercises is the standing tricep press down on the lat machine . . . but everyone does those already and there are not alot of great outer triceps out there, so what else works those little buggers?
First off any barbell or dumbbell movement with palms of hands facing up, works the outer triceps more than the long or medial heads. Biggest point though is “LOCK OUT THE ARMS!”. So basically keeps the palms up, or reversed and lock out and hold. Those are the most important issues to cover when targeting the outer triceps.
What if you have weak wrists and cannot target your outer triceps with the palms up? Try this with palms down. The outer triceps is worked specifically in moves where the upper arms never leave the side of the body. Lock out the arms on the lat machine pressdown and you have it. When the arm rotates or the elbow moves forward then the long tricep is called into contraction and extension. This means no outer triceps for you!
Some More Tips For Outer Triceps
Another beauty for the outer triceps is “lying dumbbell extensions”. These work the outer head of the triceps and give the shape and thickness needed for total development of the triceps as long as you lock them out and give a little twist at the top so the your palms face your head.
The last exercise that I use to work the outer tricep is “Tricep Bench Dips”. This is a good exercise that works all of the triceps, but it emphasizes the outer head a little more. The great thing about this exercise is that you can push it all the way to failure. You get a great pump and you’re totally safe and don’t need a spotter. Be careful not to let your butt drift away from the bench. or you will use too much deltoids and take the outer triceps right out of the picture.
Here is an outer tricep workout:
Reverse grip pushdown 4 sets of 8-10 reps
Super set:
Lying dumbbell extensions with a twist
Bench dips
4 sets of 10-12 reps or failure on the dips.
If you do not have access to a tricep pushdown machine, you can also try this bodyweight tricep exercise version:
Watch the tricep exercise video on youtube
Here’s to some wicked exercises and outer tricep workouts in your future! If you’ve done the workout, how did you like it?