If you want a big bench press or impressive arms, then you need to build some serious triceps strength. Most people don’t realize that the triceps provide a large portion of the force for all upper body pressing movements. In this article we’re going to discuss the 7 best triceps exercises for strength and muscle mass. As you’ll see, there are several movements that are clearly superior for developing strength and upper arm muscle mass.
Most folks reading this article are interested in two aspects of triceps training. They want to increase upper arm mass, of which the triceps contributes the largest part. The triceps brachii is double the size of the biceps, contributing roughly 2/3 of overall arm size.
Similarly, many athletes want to increase triceps strength, to ultimately build a bigger bench press, or overhead press. It’s very clear that strong triceps greatly affect overall pressing strength, in all planes of motion.
As you’ll see throughout this article, creating bigger triceps is one of the best methods to ultimately make stronger triceps. After reviewing the research, it’s also clear that the triceps brachii respond best to training at a variety of angles, especially overhead style training. Let’s take a quick overview of the best triceps exercises for strength and muscle mass.
7 Best Triceps Exercises for Strength Overview
- Training volumes greater than 20 sets per week are best for triceps training
- Triceps grew substantially more using overhead triceps extension exercises
- Narrow grip pressing exercises really do challenge the triceps muscles more than normal grip
- Adding triceps isolation exercises to compound movements promotes better arm growth
- An even mix of single joint and multi joint movements are best for triceps
As you’ll see further on in this article there has been quite a lot of research on triceps strength training. We will cover in depth information for training all three heads of the triceps, but the overall principles behind strengthening the triceps aren’t complicated. Before we can get into this info, we need to make sure we have a solid understanding of triceps anatomy.
Triceps Brachii Anatomy
The triceps brachii has three parts, or heads, and is one of the smaller muscle groups. These three triceps heads are properly called the lateral, medial, and long head of the triceps. Each head has it’s own unique job, and provides force at different joint angles.
The primary job of this muscle is to extend the forearm muscle. This is why it is crucial to strengthen the triceps for a big bench press, as a bench press is just extending your arms from the bottom of the lift. Check out this awesome video that goes in depth on triceps anatomy.
Now that we have a strong understanding of what the triceps is, and how it works, we can start to take a look at some of the strength training research. The first question we should ask ourselves is how much triceps training do we actually need?
Triceps Training Volume for Strength and Mass
If you’ve read any of my other articles on muscle hypertrophy and increasing mass, you’ll recall that all things being equal, training volume is one of the biggest drivers of muscle gain. This was highlighted in an excellent research article entitled, “A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy.”
In this research review the researchers determined that higher volumes tended to be more effective in promoting muscular growth in the triceps. Here is a quote summarizing the research.
However, as suggested by recent studies, such as Brandão et al. (2020), the growth of the triceps brachii is not uniform, and multi-joint exercises can affect more the lateral head, and single-joint exercises the long head. This suggests that a combination of these is important for triceps brachii hypertrophy
Training volumes higher than 20 weekly sets seem to be more effective for triceps brachii muscle gains. We have to note that volume from multi-joint exercises also counted for the triceps brachii training volume, thus 12-20 weekly sets of direct triceps brachii work may be optimum
A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy
It’s important to highlight that we have to consider training volume from pressing movements, as well as direct triceps work. For example, 3 sets of strict press also counts as three sets of triceps work. Moreover, this is the same idea for bench press.
In fact, this research study determined that adding in a mix of multi-joint / compound exercises and single joint isolation movements, provided increased hypertrophy, compared to only compound movements. As you’ll see, this will be an on going theme. Triceps require a variety of exercises to build strength and size.
Triceps Training Angles and Muscle Activation
If you’re trying to achieve optimal triceps strength then you’ll need to increase triceps size. Most athletes aren’t aware that there are only two methods for increasing strength in any muscle. First, increase neural efficiency, including firing rate, and firing synchronicity. Secondly, you can increase the muscle size. That’s it.
In order to best develop triceps size, you need to work it at various angles. In fact, there has been some great research showing that overhead triceps exercises are actually superior for muscle growth, particular in the horseshoe areas of the long, and medial heads, that are most visible. Here’s an excerpt from that research study.
In conclusion, triceps brachii hypertrophy was substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position, even with lower absolute loads used during the training.
Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position
In this 12 week study, the researchers had their participants complete different triceps extensions exercises. Some did them with a normal cable push down, and some with a near vertical upper arm, extending the arms overhead. They found that the overhead extensions group increased overall triceps mass by 19.9% vs 13.9% for the non-overhead group.
Of note, it was obvious that the athletes doing overhead cable triceps extensions weren’t able to use as much weight as the normal cable push down group. This didn’t matter. They still gained more muscle mass.
I want to take this opportunity to point out that you shouldn’t completely ignore regular triceps push downs. This data simply means that you need to vary the angle that you use, to achieve optimal results. This research study, summarizes this notion well.
Each head of the Triceps Brachii (TB) has a different pattern of force and activity during different shoulder elevations. At low shoulder elevations, the long head of the TB has the major role in elbow extension. While in higher shoulder elevation angles, the medial head takes over as the major muscle.
The different role of each head of the triceps brachii muscle in elbow extension
Now that we know that we should train our triceps with 20+ sets per week, and we also know that we should train with various overhead exercises, let’s take a look at the 7 best triceps exercises for strength and mass.
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The 7 Best Triceps Exercises for Strength and Mass
As someone who writes a lot of fitness programs, I find I tend to center my upper body triceps movements around just a few exercises. This doesn’t mean that they are the best exercises for everyone, or that a certain exercise not on this list isn’t worthwhile.
It means that these are the best exercises for building strength based off of my experience. Furthermore, these exercises align with the current body of research and should help you improve your upper body strength.
I want to remind you that some of these exercises will be compound movements, while others will be isolation movements. Recall that even indirect triceps work counts towards your overall triceps training volume. Let’s take a look at the exercises.
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Weighted Dips
If you’ve done any of my strength, or hypertrophy focused programs, it should come as no surprise that I like weighted bar dips for triceps work. This is definitely a compound movement that heavily involves the shoulders and pectoral muscles as well. Here’s a quick video covering the details of this movement.
I strongly favor the weighted dip, especially for functional fitness athletes like CrossFitters, for a variety of reasons. First, it has tremendous carry over to a wide variety of exercises.
If you can perform weight dips well you’ll have a strong overhead barbell press, and a strong bench press. In my experience, focusing solely on those other two exercises doesn’t carry over as well as the dip.
I want to point out that this exercise isn’t for everyone. Newer athletes, or those with shoulder issues shouldn’t perform this movement, as it can be hard on the shoulder joint. However, almost everyone with healthy shoulders can work their way towards weighted dips via strict bodyweight dips.
You can also use other exercises like a bench dip to help work your way towards body weight dips, and ultimately weighted bar dips. I recommend working between 5-15 reps for this exercise. Lower reps, with heavier weights will build more strength, while higher reps will tend to build more size. Next, let’s talk about some overhead triceps extensions.
Overhead Triceps Extension
As we saw in the research highlighted above, the overhead triceps extension is a great elbow extension exercise for creating muscle mass in the triceps. This exercise has some key differences that help make it an effective mass, and strength building movement. Here are some quick tips for the movement.
This movement requires constant tension from the minute you start to the end of your set. Compared to cable push down exercises, you can’t relax at the fully flexed position. This is one important benefit of the movement.
It’s also important to remember this effective exercise works better even with less weight than push down variants. I recommend focusing on the higher end of the rep range for this movement, using full range of motion. Try staying between 8-20 reps for each set. Now let’s talk about the close cousin of this movement the standing dumbbell triceps extension.
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Standing Dumbbell Triceps Extension
This is one of the best exercises because it can be done in almost any gym. All you need is some dumbbells, and you can get a killer triceps workout. This is a great option for folks that don’t have access to a cable machine, or specific pieces of gym equipment. Here’s a quick video about the exercise.
This is the standing variant of the dumbbell triceps extension. If you’re using significant weight, then you might want to consider the seated variant, as it will be a little easier to stabilize overhead. The standing version will require a little more core strength throughout.
This is another isolation exercise that is best done between the 8-20 rep range. Again, make sure you’re working through your full range of motion, aiming to get to at least a 90-degree angle at the bottom of the rep. Now let’s talk about a great compound triceps exercise.
Close Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press is an old school powerlifting assistance exercise. The truth is that if you want to be strong at a certain movement then you need to practice that movement to increase neural efficiency. However, you can’t only practice the movement to the exclusion of all else.
Many weight lifters, and powerlifters find it beneficial to include variations of their primary movements. In this case, the close grip bench press is a variant of the standard barbell bench press. In this variant the triceps are taxed much harder than in the normal bench.
Don’t believe me? I invite you to check out this research study where they determined that the narrower your hand placement, during a bench press, the more heavily taxed the elbow extensors (triceps) are. Here’s a great video about the movement.
As the video elucidates, you don’t need to have your hands super close, like diamond push-ups. You simply need to move them closer to your rib cage than you otherwise might. I find that most athletes figure out where they like to press from with just a little experimentation.
This movement is one of the best exercises for building triceps strength, and overall pressing strength. I recommend going a little heavier on the movement. Try a rep range between 5-12 for best strength results. Next let’s talk about the venerable skull crusher.
Skull Crusher
Skull crushers are a good exercise for overall triceps development. It should be no surprise that this exercise can be dangerous and shouldn’t be loaded super heavy. You should notice a trend. The closer to vertical your arms are during a given triceps move, the lower the weight should be.
This exercise can really hammer the medial head of the triceps, which is what makes your triceps appear wide. Take a look at this video.
This is definitely a movement to try and build a pump in the upper arm. Don’t try to load this too heavily. I recommend a 8-16 rep range. For safety reasons I don’t recommend going near failure, unless you don’t mind dropping it on your face!
Don’t be afraid to use an easy curl bar, as many folks find it to be more comfortable on the wrists. Now let’s talk about the classic triceps isolation exercise. The cable push down.
Cable Push Downs
This exercise is the most common triceps exercise you’ll see in the gym. I know some of you are wondering why I’m recommending this exercise even though is was inferior to overhead exercises. Well there are a few reasons for that.
First, it works for a variety of athletes, and is easier on the elbow joint and shoulder joint. Secondly, you can utilize a variety of cable attachments to change how this exercise feels. I generally prefer a curved bar, but there’s nothing wrong with using the rope attachment. Here’s a great video.
The biggest thing to avoid is those super short range of motion reps, where you’re only extending your arms a few inches. That’s straight up ego lifting, and not as effective as using full range of motion.
I recommend sticking to higher rep ranges such as 8-20, as it’s very difficult to lift heavy weight with this move. Now let’s talk about the final triceps movement, the close grip push up.
Close Grip Push Ups
This is a great body weight only triceps builder, which means there’s no reason why you can’t do this exercise. Make sure to keep your elbows tucked in close to the rib cage, just like the close grip bench press. Here’s a quick video reviewing the movement.
Obviously, this is a great movement to do at home, and you can even make it more difficult by using a resistance band, or adding a deficit with dumbbells or plates. This exercises is better at building triceps endurance. I recommend doing sets higher than 10 reps. Now let’s talk about how often you should be hammering your triceps, and just how much recovery they need.
Triceps Recovery Research
This research study compared the amount of time it takes for your triceps to recover, as compared to the pectorals. To save you some reading, they recover almost fully in 72 hours, and are fully recovered in 96 hours.
This leads us to some practical implications. First, you can really hammer your triceps twice per week. It gets a little more murky if you’re only doing moderate triceps work, which you could get away with more than twice per week.
Just keep in mind that you would do better starting at the low end of the spectrum (12 sets) and ramping up to 20+ sets over the course of weeks, and months. Now that we’ve hammered your triceps knowledge, let’s quickly review some great strength and muscle building programs.
Strength and Muscle Mass Programs
I’ve been writing programs on this website for years. The vast majority of these programs are functional fitness programs, and are completely free. However, I do have some premium programs, that include a lot more info compared to the free versions.
In this section I’m going to list several of my most popular programs for building strength and mass. Some of them will be functional bodybuilding programs, where as others might focus on endurance, or strength. I recommend clicking around to see which program interests you the most.
Programs to Build Muscle Mass
- The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
- 6 Weeks of Muscular Growth for Functional Fitness Athletes Program
- 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program
- The 11 Week High Intensity Bodybuilding Program
Programs to Build Strength
- 9 Week Functional Strength Program (Part 1)
- 9 Week Advanced Strength Program for Functional Fitness
- 7 Week Free Strength Training Program
Hybrid Programs: Strength, Muscle Mass, and Conditioning
- 15 Week Lift Heavy Run Fast Program for Functional Fitness
- 10 Week Functional Powerbuilding Program
- 9 Week Sprint Program for Running
This is just a small sampling of some of my more popular programs. I would estimate that if you followed all of my programs, you’d have a fitness program laid out for the next several years! I bet you can find something that will fit your needs.
Final Thoughts
We’ve covered quite a lot of research and information on the 7 best triceps exercises for strength and mass. I want to highlight a few points before signing off. First, don’t worry over much about hitting your triceps from every conceivable angle.
As long as you include some overhead triceps extension movements, and some heavier triceps movements, you should have no trouble building muscle and strength.
Next, make sure you actually rotate through various exercises. Don’t just stick to the same two exercises that you really like. Any good program rotates exercises, otherwise, your body will adapt to that training stimulus and stop responding with increased strength or muscle mass.
The biggest factor in increasing triceps and upper body strength will be consistent work over the long hall. Don’t go for broke for two weeks and wonder why you don’t have huge arms. Work diligently with these 7 exercises, increasing volume and weight through methodical progressive overload.
Before you know it you’ll see carry over increases in muscle mass and upper body pressing strength. You might end up cutting all the sleeves off of your T shirts. It’s been known to happen.
If you have any questions or comments, then make sure you put them in the comments section below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training!
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