Building up your triceps isn't just about creating a set of 3D arms. Yes, your triceps, the three-headed muscle that runs along the back of your upper arm, will make your guns look bigger and badder and beefier than ever.
But a strong, powerful set of triceps does more than that. Strengthen your tris, and you're equipping your body to push everything from doors to people to barbells away from your body, and you're prepping your arms to brace in a straight-arm position for everything from planks to handstands. Your triceps' main job is to straighten your arm at the elbow, an action that opposes your biceps (which flex the arm at the elbow, among other things). And that straightening action is something you use daily, whenever you reach for anything, or whenever you try to get up from the ground.
There are plenty of ways to train your tris, too, although finding just the right muscle contraction isn't always easy. Remember that locking out your elbow and straightening your elbow are two different things; focus on keeping tension on your triceps and actively flexing them when you're in the straight-arm position.
Any movement that has you straightening your arm at the elbow will train your triceps, but there are plenty of ways to vary up that arm-straightening motion. Changing the angle of your arm relative to your torso can place different levels of stretch on the triceps muscle, and adding pauses, both at the top of reps and halfway through reps, can emphasize different phases of the contraction.
Not sure what you need to do to train your triceps? Consider these 15 moves.
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