upper-body muscle group
Triceps exercises
The triceps straighten your elbow. They finish every press, and they make up most of the upper arm.
The triceps straighten the elbow, which means they finish every press you do. Locking out a push-up, a bench press or an overhead press is triceps work. They are also about two-thirds of the muscle on your upper arm, which surprises people who train arms mostly with curls.
Pressing with your hands closer together trains them hard while still building the chest and shoulders. Close-grip push-ups, bench dips and close-grip presses all do this. Extensions then add something pressing cannot, because they stretch the long head of the triceps in a way a press never reaches.
Your elbows are the limit here, not the muscle. Lots of extension work can irritate them, so keep the weight moderate on isolation exercises, add load slowly, and alternate between pressing-based and extension-based triceps work across the week.
Where the triceps sit
Exercises that target the triceps
Archer push-up
Chest · Triceps
AdvancedBodyweightBand overhead triceps extension
Triceps
BeginnerResistance bandBand triceps pushdown
Triceps
BeginnerResistance bandBarbell overhead triceps extension
Triceps
IntermediateBarbellBench dip
Triceps
IntermediateBenchClose-grip bench press
Triceps · Chest
IntermediateBarbell +Diamond push-up
Triceps
IntermediateBodyweightDumbbell floor press
Chest · Triceps
BeginnerDumbbellDumbbell triceps extension
Triceps
BeginnerDumbbellFloor triceps extension
Triceps
IntermediateBodyweightIncline dumbbell triceps extension
Triceps
BeginnerDumbbell +Kettlebell floor press
Chest · Triceps
IntermediateKettlebellKettlebell triceps extension
Triceps
IntermediateKettlebellSkull crusher
Triceps
IntermediateBarbell +Suspension chest press
Chest · Shoulders · Triceps
IntermediateSuspension trainerSuspension dip
Chest · Triceps
AdvancedSuspension trainerSuspension triceps extension
Triceps
IntermediateSuspension trainerWall Triceps Extension
Triceps
BeginnerBodyweight
Also works the triceps
These exercises train the triceps as a secondary muscle. It is useful work that adds up across a program.
- Band chest press
- Band overhead press
- Band plyo push-up
- Barbell bench press
- Barbell overhead press
- Barbell push press
- Bear crawl
- Bench pike push-up
- Decline push-up
- Dumbbell Arnold press
- Dumbbell bench press
- Dumbbell overhead carry
- Dumbbell pullover
- Dumbbell push press
- Dumbbell shoulder press
- Dumbbell thruster
- Dumbbell Z-press
- Handstand push-up
- Incline barbell bench press
- Incline dumbbell bench press
- Incline push-up
- Kettlebell overhead carry
- Kettlebell single-arm press
- Kettlebell Z-press
- Kneeling Pike Push-up
- Pike push-up
- Push-up
- Suspension pike push-up
- Suspension pullover