Much like there was for biceps, there are two tricep exercises that are above the rest in terms of effective muscle building stimulation.
If you want bigger, fuller looking arms, work more to build muscle on your triceps.
Triceps (3-headed) make up more of your arm than do biceps (2-headed). Most people are so preoccupied with biceps training that they forget about triceps.
Building more muscle on your triceps mean bigger arms.
Lying tricep extensions
Place a curl bar at the head of a bench. Sit down, grab the bar with an overhand, narrow grip, and lie down on your back, pushing the weight up and straight over your chest. Bend at the elbows lowering the weight behind your head.
With an explosive motion, push the weight back over your head until your arms are fully extended with the weight above your chest.
When you complete your reps, use your momentum to rock your body up and stand up to put the bar back on the edge of the bench.
This is probably the most effective tricep exercise you can do. You can use very heavy weight with these, increasing the overload factor to the triceps. Use a curved curl bar for these.
There are a couple of points to keep in mind.
When you lower the weight, bring it past your forehead and down towards the middle of your head.
Bringing the bar to your forehead will create unwanted pressure and stress on your elbows.
After you slowly lower the weight towards the back of your head, power the weight back up forcefully, extending and locking your arms, contracting your triceps.
Also, once you have completed these for your set of 4-6 reps, do not bother doing close-grip bench presses immediately after, using the same bar and weight.
Once you have fatigued the triceps on your set, it is pointless to try and do a few reps of close-grips at a lighter weight than you can handle when doing regular close-grips. Save your energy.
Close-grip bench presses
This is the second of two extremely effective tricep exercises.
This is a definite muscle builder for the triceps. It is performed just like a regular bench press except your hands are 6-8 inches apart from one another.
You lower the weight to your chest like a regular bench press, and then forcefully push the weight up, locking your arms and contracting your triceps.
Do not grip with a too-narrow grip of this will definitely cause some pain to your wrists.
Regular grip bench press also works the triceps, but when you bring your hands closer together, more overload is directed to the triceps.
Cable tricep pushdowns
Reach up, grab the bar, and push the bar down towards your thighs.
Stand with a sturdy foundation that will allow you to lean into the movement. Now bend at the elbows and control the weight up until the bar is by your chin.
With an explosive motion, push the weight back down until your elbows lock, fully contracting the triceps. Repeat thisuntil you complete your reps.
These are a great tricep exercise, designed to hit the triceps with serious overload. Most people can do these with more weight than they think they can.
When doing these, lean forward a bit, lean into the weight. This will keep you more balanced and will also allow you to handle more weight than standing straight up.
Also, when bringing the weight up, allow the bar and your arms to come up a bit more than parallel to the floor.
Allow the bar to come up to about shoulder level. The reason behind this is to increase the range of motion and to also decrease the stress on the elbows.
Really exaggerate locking the arms and squeezing the triceps when you bring the weight down.
These are 3 of the best muscle building tricep exercises you can use if you want to build muscle in your arms.
It can be frustrating at times when you aren't seeing the results fast enough.
However, you should follow some very important tips in order to help you stay motivated and on track.
It is very important that you only work out a group of muscles every other day. Otherwise they won't have time to heal which is when they grow.
You will also need to pay close attention to the foods you consume while you build muscle. Your body will likely need more calories overall.
You need to increase your amount of protein so that your muscles can grow.
At the same time you want to eat plenty of berries and drink water to flush toxins from your body. You should be eating many small meals throughout the day so you will always have plenty of energy.
If you aren't eating right then most of your efforts to build muscle will be in vain.
Your body isn't going to be able to produce the results you want if it doesn't have what it needs to work with.
If you find you aren't able to consume enough of what you need with your diet then find out if there is a quality supplement out there you can benefit from.
You will likely find you hit a plateau with your exercises to build muscle every four to six weeks. To avoid this you need to make sure you mix things up often.
It will help your body stay challenged.
At the same time it will prevent you from getting bored with the same old routine all the time.
Pay attention to the results you get from certain types of exercises as well. This is important because different bodies are going to respond differently.
What is working well for your friend may not work the same for you. Instead of being discouraged by this information though use it to your advantage.
Find those exercises to build muscle that seem to get results for your own body.
You definitely need to make sure you go about doing each of the exercises properly. If you work out at the gym there will likely be someone that can teach you.
If you are doing the exercises at home you should watch a DVD or video clips found online.
It is a good idea to always have a spotter in place when you work out. Pairing up with someone will also help to keep each of you motivated in your efforts to build muscle.
Following such tips will help you to be successful in your efforts to build muscle. You are going to need to invest plenty of time and effort into the process.
With that in mind you certainly want to make sure you are doing everything correctly. That will ensure you get terrific results.
It will also help to reduce the risk of any type of injury occurring.
Shawn Lebrun has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Muscle, Body Building and Build Muscle. Shawn LeBrun is a personal trainer, natural bodybuilder, and author of the top-selling muscle building program Simple Steps To Get Huge And Shredded.For a step-by-step guide to build muscle, check out Simple Steps.... Shawn Lebrun's top article generates over 1220000 views. to your Favourites.