balancing arms

[massingUP]

Hey all,

In another thread -- which featured a very hunky pic of bicepfetish which was not at ALL dorky -- Brent wrote:

"bicepfetish, Your biceps are already looking great, but I agree with Traveler, that your biceps will seem much larger if you build up your triceps too. The tricep has twice as many muscle fibers as the bicep, so you can build it up almost twice as fast, leading to lots of stretched out shirt sleeves! Also, don't neglect your hammer curls, and reverse curls to get those biceps to swell. Your chest & shoulders look like they are coming along fine, but you could do more lat work, and help your traps some more."

Now, I'm not sure bicepfetish's triceps are lagging all that badly, but I certainly have that problem. My bis are an okay size and have half-decent shape, but my tris are definitely lagging and so the overall size of my upper arm is suffering. My sleeves don't stretch the way I'd like, and I just look a bit out of proportion...

And so this is a call for help. I do my tricep work, but they never seem to grow that well. It's not that I have NO triceps at all, but they definitely lag. My exercise du jour is flat-bench skullcrushers which I do with strict form (elbows in, pressing out and not up to full vertical, maintaining tension on the tris throughout) to pretty serious exhaustion/pump. I'm clearly workign the muscles, but I think I might need some new ideas, techniques and/or suggestions. And I suspect I'm not alone here...

So for those tricep experts out there, what're yer secrets? Inquiring minds want to know...

*waiting with bated breath and flexed tris*

-- J.

[Notbigenuff]

Well, my triceps are actually a body part that I get good comments on (there's another part I get good comments on--but I won't mention it here ).

I have found that close-grip benches and, frankly, good solid heavy bench pressing in general actually builds the triceps better than most "tricep specific" exercises.

Of course, everyone seems to react differently to different movements--any other suggestions guys?

[brent]

Originally Posted by massingUP

My exercise du jour is flat-bench skullcrushers which I do with strict form (elbows in, pressing out and not up to full vertical, maintaining tension on the tris throughout) to pretty serious exhaustion/pump.
-- J.

Ironically, this is also my tricep exercise de jour. I like it, and think it works. However, after doing the first 2 sets with strict form, I go for the heaviest ez-curl bar the gym has (110 lbs.) and try to keep my form as good as I can, until failure (Important: as always, have a spotter for safety). I then will get a very light bar (about 60-70 lbs.) and go to failure (by this time I am lucky to get 6!) I will do lots of other tricep specific exercises as well. As I say, the triceps can take a lick'n.

I haven't done the close grip bench for many years. I used to love it, and I'm not sure why I stopped doing them. I think I will restart, maybe then my arms will get bigger than Otto's <insert evil, maniacal laughter here>. I will definitely restart! Just really hammer them until you can't move them, these are incredibly resilient muscles, and you must tear them down to get results IMHO.

[ethernet_jock]

Triceps are something that I feel like I've definitely done well growing in the short time that I've started seriously.... My tris have basically doubled in strength... far out-growing proportionally any other muscle on my body since starting. I attribute this to the advice given me by a young (21yo) intern who used to work for me with the most amazing steel cable separated triceps I've ever had the pleasure of feeling in my entire life. He was your standard 5x5 (short and stocky) guy... but damn... those triceps.... *drool*... too bad he neglected his biceps so much.

Anyhow, what he told me was... triceps have 3 heads and you can work the shit out of them without injuring them as much as you can biceps or anything else on your arm/shoulder. The main pointer line for triceps was... narrow slow controlled vertical dips. Dips dips dips dips..... Move those little dip bars inwards so that they're almost brushing against your waist... grip properly... keep your body as straight up and down as you can.... keep your elbows as close into your body as you can (they'll have to point out a little)... and go slowly up and down... and feel the burn.

Now I can't even dip my own weight yet, but I'm getting closer and closer... so I have to use the gravitron machine... but I've literally gone from subtracting 120lbs of my weight to only 55lbs this week and only since last November (I weigh 255). On tricep/back day I tend to do 4 or 5 exercises to work the different heads of the tricps:

* Dips
* BB Skull Crushers w/ the ez-bar on narrow grip (as described by others above, this is also a GREAT exercise)
* Tricep push-downs on the cable-pully thing.... the thing where you stand up and put your back up against a thick pad, put the rope attachment on the end and grip hard and push down while keeping your back straight... .it's so fucking hard and so good. Form is critical on this one... watch yourself in the mirror and make sure you keep your upper-arms as even with your upper body as you can so that you're not using your shoulders. You'll be surprised how little of weight it takes to make this one extremely difficult.
* The sitting dip machine... works a slightly different angle... and man it feels good to set that thing at 210
* The tricep extension machine... where you sit and put your arms over a pad kind of like preacher curls... only you're pushing down.... almost like reverse hammer curls...

Things I have seen guys with really huge triceps doing... that I'll probably do when mine get stronger:

* One-handed tricep push-downs on the cable-pully thing. They hold on with one hand while pushing down with the other at this most impossible angle.... it looks really difficult but it obviously works.
* Behind the head/back dumb-bell... raises? Not sure what you'd call it but you sit straight up , hold the dumbbell vertically to the floor behind your head... either with one hand or with two (depending on your strength) and raise it up and down until it's up over your head. This also appears to do a number on shoulders/upper back to a lesser extent but it looks to me to be kind of stressful on some joints.

----

so nice to be able to offer advice for a change... I hope it was good advice. :P

The most important thing that Neil (the tricep king) taught me was to NOT work triceps on the same day that you do chest. That way you don't weaken your tris for chest day and vice/versa. Hehe... I can still see him with those tight t-shirts teasing me in staff meetings intentionally flexing those tris when nobody else could see and he knew I was watching. Too bad he claimed to be straight.

[Mdlftr]

I've found that triceps respond well at the end of a chest work out with specialization. In a typical chest workout, I do:

incline db presses 3-4x8-10, going down to 4-6 reps on last set
push ups 2x 20 or more, depending on how I feel
HS incline press 3-4 setsx8-10
flat BP 3x6-8 reps

then, transitioning to triceps...

3 sets of dips, 8-10
(use the balancing machine to hold some of your bodyweight when you first start out, if you can't do BW. Then, of course, you can add a weight belt)

triceps rope press downs (with special emphasis at the very end of the range of motion. Bring your wrists all the way down, so that you finish the rep with your hands pointing down vertically, flat against your thighs. Don't stop when your wrists are still cocked in front of you, but go all the way down until your wrists are flattened out. Those extra few inches in the range of motion REALLY hit the fingerlike projections at the end of your tris near your elbow.)

2-3 sets flat bench skull crushers done using an EZ curl bar, supersetted with close grip bench presses, without rest between sets. You do a set of skull crushers, then shift your grip and immediately do a set of close grip bps. Rest then do a second superset of SC and close grip bps

Seated behind the neck db triceps extension. 3 sets. While seated in a chair with back support, take a single db, heavy enough that you need two hands, and hoist it over your head. While holding your upper arms straight overhead, and close in to your head, slowly lower the db, holding it in both hands, behind your head, then back up again. Try not to spread your arms, but keep them close to your head. You WILL feel this in your tris! This exercise is the single best one I've found for hitting the belly of the triceps. I can really feel it, and it produces results.

Finish off (as if you aren't feeling finished already!) with bench dips. 2-3 sets to failure, say 12-15 reps. (THis is really a pumping exercise) Put your feet up on one bench, and put your butt on the edge of another bench opposite, with your hands down on either side of your hips. Slide your butt off the bench, so you are suspended in the air, supported by your hands and feet. Slowly lower yourself down with your arms. Your elbows will thrust out behind you. Go down until your hands are just about even with your armpits, then push back up. You should hit failure after about 8-10 reps during your set! THis leaves you with a great pump, and you feel great!



[For great video footage of Bob Paris doing this exercise, see the Weider Chest and Tris training video, circa 1992. He looks GREAT, and he's NOT a small guy! Don't know where that rumor got started, but he's big. Mattarazzo is also on the vid, along with Labrada, Gaspari and Flex Wheeler doing chest flyes. There's even a brief shot of Mike Mentzer walking away as Gaspari prepares to do incline bench! Great vid!]


My two "trainer" cents,

Mdlftr

[ethernet_jock]

listen to everything he said ^^^^

ignore me... please...

* blushes *

way to show me up, yo.

[Mdlftr]

Ethnet,

I'm not showing you up, dude! I just explained it more. You got it out first..I suspect we were "two great minds with but a single thought..." since our posts are so close in time.

Sort of like a thread a while back where Brent talked about an exercise, then Glam(I think it was Glam. My apologies if I'm remembering wrong) came after and explained the exercise.

Mdlftr

[ethernet_jock]

one thing's for sure... you are definitely a great mind and a super-nice guy.

Thanks again for everything.

[glammaman2000]

i love pullover-presses.e-z curl bar.start with bar behind your head,lying on bench.(ideally,barbell on floor).pullover to chest-close-grip press-back to chest-back overhead to floor.it requires some flexibility in shoulder socket.DO NOT LET ELBOWS SPREAD!start with baby weights.in some ways,it's easier with heavier weights,because 45lb.plates move the bar up closer to your head.another thing you can try is pronating your wrist on kickbacks(i.e.palm up at finish)you must pause at top(3sec.)on ALL kickbacks or they are close to a total waste of time.i have noticed that guys who get a big torso ahead of arms have a hard time developing them later.& Bob Paris WAS very big!his flawless proportions threw everybody off.

[brent]

Originally Posted by Mdlftr

...
Sort of like a thread a while back where Brent talked about an exercise, then Glam(I think it was Glam. My apologies if I'm remembering wrong) came after and explained the exercise.

Mdlftr

Good point, I can't remember everything, and I'm sure most other people can't either. Also, I don't know everything there is to know (please don't tell anyone I said that). If I mention something, chances are I am interested in it, and I'd like to learn more about it if someone knows more than I do. I'd rather play dumb, and attract new information, than claim to know everything, which I think repels information. I figure the more we learn, the more we all grow!