Although we often roll our eyes when we see some vapid
infomercial trainer talking about "sculpting" the abs, the analogy
really does hold true when you're talking about the application of
iron to triceps.
Hey, think about it: You've got three muscle heads to work
with there. By bringing up the weak points you really can "sculpt"
how your upper arm looks. You can make it bigger and more
aesthetically appealing.
And that's what this series is all about: sculpting a
symmetrical bodybuilder body. As an NPC bodybuilding judge,
competitor, and medical professional, Dr. Clay Hyght is a darn good
sculptor. Roll up those shirtsleeves and get your chisels
ready!
Your Biceps' Big Brother
So far in this serious we've covered building a bodybuilder back and chest.
Now that you know how to thicken up your torso by building
symmetrical muscle in just the right places, let's move
laterally and talk about building world-class arms, starting with
the triceps.
Just as the barbell bench press gets far too much
attention over the equally-worthy (if not more worthy) dumbbell
bench press, the biceps seem to steal our attention away from their
bigger brother, the triceps.
While they may not comprise two-thirds of the upper arm mass as
many say, the triceps are certainly the largest muscle group in the
upper arms. And whether you train for looks or function, the
triceps are even more important than the biceps.
Let me explain.
From a performance aspect, the triceps are of utmost importance
as they contribute greatly to your pressing ability, whether in the
frontal plane as with a shoulder press or in the transverse plane
as with a bench press.
Although it would be nice if we could isolate the chest and/or
delts more with presses, there's simply no way to take the triceps
out of these movements. In fact, at least one EMG study has shown
that the triceps (and anterior delts) are actually more active than the pecs during the barbell bench press!
That would explain why another study showed that training
triceps before chest significantly reduced the subjects'
strength on the subsequent chest exercises. But you already knew to
train chest before triceps, right?
From a cosmetic standpoint, the triceps are far more important
than biceps to your looking studly when strutting around. Why?
Because we walk around with our arms straight. This puts the biceps
in an unimpressive stretched position and the triceps in a
potentially impressive, semi-contracted position.
In competitive bodybuilding it's hard to get by without
great triceps. They are, of course, critically important in the
pose named after them: the side triceps pose. But they also give
depth to the back of the arm in the side chest pose.
You'd think that the front and rear double biceps poses are all
about the biceps, but in fact, the triceps are just as important in
those poses. Have you ever seen someone hit a front double bi that
has great biceps yet their arms don't "hang" down in the pose?
It's almost as if the back of the arm is just flat —
straight across at the bottom.
That's not something you want. Instead you want that
full, hanging look that comes from having great triceps,
specifically the long head of the triceps.
That brings me to one of the take-home messages of this article:
You can alter the appearance of your triceps via your
exercise selection. Most people simply do a couple of triceps
exercises and go on their way. Even if you do select "bread and
butter" exercises like close-grip benches and dips, you may not be
positively affecting the appearance of your triceps.
As I overheard contest promoter John Lindsay telling a young
competitor who vowed to come back to the USA next year 15 pounds
bigger, "Bigger is not better. Better is
better."
Anatomy of the Triceps Brachii
Just like a tricycle has three wheels, the muscle group we call
the triceps is comprised of three heads: the lateral head, the
medial head, and the long head.
As the name implies, the lateral head of the triceps is situated
most laterally on the back of the humerus. It essentially forms the
lateral aspect of the triceps "horseshoe."
Although it would make sense that the medial head of the triceps
would be situated most medially of the three heads, this isn't the
case. Instead, the medial head basically lies in between and deep
to (under) the other heads of the triceps. Because of its
orientation, this head of the triceps is largely not visible,
although it certainly contributes to the overall mass of the
triceps muscle.
That leaves us with the long head of the triceps, so named
because it is, in fact, the longest of the triceps heads. The long
head is longer because its origin is on the scapula as opposed to
the humerus itself like the other two heads.
Now, I'm not trying to make you nod off by talking origins
and insertions, but it's of physique-enhancement importance that
the long-head of the triceps crosses the shoulder joint. More on
why in just a moment.
What "Type" of Triceps Do You Have?
Although triceps come in as many shapes and sizes as there are
people, I categorize them into four categories:
1) Evenly developed and thick
2) Evenly developed but lacking thickness
3) Well-developed long head and thin lateral head
4) Well-developed lateral head and shallow long
head
If the lateral and medial aspect of your triceps horseshoe is
proportionately developed, then the lateral and long heads of your
triceps are, at least in terms of symmetry, good to go. If this is
the case and your triceps have good overall mass and
thickness, then the medial head of your triceps is also well
developed — as in scenario #1 above — and you are a
lucky bastard!
If the size and proportion your triceps horseshoe is good, yet
your triceps lack overall depth and thickness, especially down by
the elbow, then you fall into category #2 and need to maintain the
visual symmetry of your triceps while thickening them up from the
inside out. This is a fairly common scenario.
To remedy this problem, your focus should be on the medial head
of the triceps. Since it lies under the other two triceps heads,
it'll give more overall girth to your upper arm.
However, the reality is that you can't isolate the medial
head! In fact, it seems that the medial and lateral head of the
triceps almost always work as a team, with the medial head leading
the way.
Although you can't selectively isolate and hypertrophy the
medial head, you can strategically select exercises that
take the long head out of the equation. Therefore, the stimulus and
growth from that exercise will only be divided among two heads as
opposed to three.
The close-grip bench press is a great option if you're
looking to thicken up your triceps. Not only does this exercise not
stimulate the long head well, but you can also use a lot of weight
and get some spillover stimulation to your pecs.
Although not as "manly" an exercise, dumbbell kickbacks also hit
the medial and lateral heads well while, for the most part, leaving
the long head out of the movement.
Before moving on, it's worth noting that the oh-so-popular
straight-bar pushdown doesn't seem to hit the medial triceps
head very well. So if the back of your upper arm looks more like
beef jerky than a slab of beef, leave this exercise alone, Cable
Boy!
Now, this is less common, but it does occur. This occurs when
the inside of your triceps horseshoe is nice and thick, yet the
outer (lateral) aspect is rather thin. In this case it's your
lateral triceps head that needs more attention.
As in the preceding scenario, the close-grip bench is a great
compound exercise option, and the dumbbell kickback is a great
option for an isolation exercise as they both hit the lateral
triceps as well.
I know I poo-poo'd the straight-bar cable pushdown earlier,
but it's actually a good option if you need to focus on the
lateral head of your triceps.
By far the most common developmental problem that I see with the
triceps is having good development of the lateral triceps while
having poor development on the medial aspect and subsequently no
"hang" to the arms in the double biceps poses. This is due to poor
development of the long head.
After getting creamed in my first bodybuilding show at the age
of 19, I decided to more closely evaluate my physique as I prepared
for my next show. I soon noticed that when I did a front double
biceps pose, my arms didn't "swoop down" on the bottom like
the people in magazines. Instead mine were flat as a board on the
bottom!
I realized that although I was doing a variety of triceps
exercises, I wasn't hitting the long head of my triceps, the
one responsible for giving that rounded look to the bottom of my
flexed guns. Oddly, it's not hard at all to overlook exercises
that really hit the long head well.
Recall that the long head crosses the shoulder joint whereas the
other two triceps heads don't. When you raise your arm overhead,
the long head of the triceps is stretched a bit, while the others
aren't. Since more tension is already on the long head, it will
subsequently end up doing more work, as if a bit of slack were in
the other two heads.
So, by pre-stretching the long head of the triceps, more motor
units in that muscle will be activated. This occurs because
it's simply more mechanically advantageous to use a taut
muscle than one with slack in it.
So although you may fry your triceps with close-grip benches and
pushdowns, you're simply not going to tax the long head well
until you implement an overhead movement like unilateral dumbbell
extensions. This is my personal favorite when it comes to targeting
the long head of the triceps.
On a bit of a side note, it's not just close-grip presses that
don't hit all the triceps heads. Presses in general don't hit the
long head well. In fact, during overhead presses the long head of
the triceps is practically snoozing! That's all the more
reason why former powerlifters will specifically need to target the
long head to achieve even triceps development.
Now, back to what does hit the long head.
Ever noticed that your triceps have "mysteriously" gotten sore
after a back workout? I'd be willing to bet that the back
workout in question included a pullover variation and that it was
specifically the long head that got sore. This happens because the
long head is trying its best to be nice and help your lats pull
that heavy-ass dumbbell or barbell back to the starting
position.
You can take advantage of this by doing a bit of a hybrid
pullover/skull crusher. Skull crushers with an EZ-bar already hit
the long head pretty well, but if you further stretch the long head
by lowering the bar behind your head as with a pullover, you'll
really blast the long head and fill out that flat-ass posterior arm
of yours.
Even though not overhead in nature, dips and pushdowns with an
angled bar and/or rope also hit the long head pretty well. But as a
general rule, the long head will help out on most exercises if the
resistance is high enough. So I wouldn't count solely on heavy
dips and pushdowns to beef it up.
Summary
I work with a lot of very advanced bodybuilders. For them, just
one underdeveloped muscle can make the difference between first and
tenth place. Do you need to be so meticulous with your training?
Probably not.
But just remember, you can't do two or three triceps
exercises and assume you've thoroughly and evenly stimulated
your triceps. You must first assess your weakness, then select
exercises that address that weakness.
Remember, assess then address!
