BEST exercises for triceps growth and why the kickback isn’t one of them
Stick to stable exercises with lots of ROM, that are limited by the target muscle group and that you can load properly. Good triceps hypertrophy exercises include close grip bench pressing, push-ups, dips, overhead presses, pushdowns, overhead extensions, skullcrushers and pullover/skullcrusher hybrids. If your goal is muscle growth, you probably want to avoid the DB kickback and the bilateral DB overhead extension.
Close Grip Bench Press
The CGBP is a solid compound exercise for the triceps. Whether it is done on a flat or incline bench is unlikely to impact the triceps all that much, though they can serve as useful exercise variations for the chest. For the triceps, they serve a somewhat similar purpose to a skullcrusher, except that they probably work the long head of the triceps less than skullcrushers. This is because the long head of the triceps inserts at both the shoulder (where it serves to extend the shoulder) and elbow, which means that during push-ups, it cannot go through a full ROM or contract much.
Push-Up Variations
Push-Ups are another solid triceps exercise. Much like the close grip bench, they are not the best exercise for the long head, but are pretty good for the other 2 heads. Also much like the close grip bench, varying feet elevation (feet on the floor vs elevated to the same height as hands vs above the hands) serves as useful variation for the chest, but is unlikely to impact triceps growth much. In my experience, most people can get more triceps ROM by using a plate deficit.
Dips/Machine Dips
Dips involve different shoulder positions than push-ups and close grip benching. Because the long head inserts at the shoulder, it is likely beneficial to include a dip or pushdown exercise in your program for maximizing complete triceps growth. Like benching and push-ups, dips are also a great chest exercise – whether it is best counted as an exercise for the chest or the triceps depends on what you feel is the limiting factor.
Overhead Press
The Overhead Press is somewhat slept on for triceps growth in my opinion. Simply put, if you’re overhead pressing correctly, your triceps should get near a full ROM and should also be the limiting factor – or, at least, still get pushed close to failure. Again, though, because the overhead press involves shoulder flexion and elbow extension simultaneously, it’s unlikely to be the best for long head growth. Nevertheless, it trains the triceps through a full ROM, and the shoulder angles are different from benching, push-ups and dips, which likely makes overhead pressing or overhead tricep extensions a worthy addition to a program.
Skullcrushers/Preacher Triceps Extensions
Skullcrushers are essentially the triceps isolation equivalent of benching and push-ups. They train the triceps while the shoulder is flexed to 90 degrees. Unlike benching and push-ups, though, they don’t grow many muscle groups besides the triceps, are overwhelmingly likely to be limited by triceps strength and are a better exercise for the long head of the triceps, since the shoulder is no longer being flexed when the elbow is extending (this means the long head can actually shorten and produce more force). Preacher tricep extensions are usually performed at a similar shoulder angle to skullcrushers, so, for most hypertrophic intents and purposes, they are interchangeable.
Cable Pushdowns
Pushdowns are essentially the triceps isolation equivalent of dips. They train the triceps while the shoulder is relaxed/near full extension. Unlike dips, though, they don’t grow many muscle groups besides the triceps, are overwhelmingly likely to be limited by triceps strength and are a better exercise for the long head of the triceps, since the shoulder is no longer being flexed when the elbow is extending (this means the long head can actually shortern and produce more force).
Overhead Extensions
Pushdowns are essentially the triceps isolation equivalent of overhead pressing. They train the triceps while the shoulder is fully flexed. Unlike overhead presses, though, they don’t grow many muscle groups besides the triceps, are overwhelmingly likely to be limited by triceps strength and are a better exercise for the long head of the triceps, since the shoulder is no longer being flexed when the elbow is extending (this means the long head can actually shorten and produce more force). Because the long head becomes lengthened as the shoulder is flexed, this exercise produces one of the biggest long head stretches out of any tricep exercise, which likely makes it a great option for long head growth.
Skullcrusher/Pullover Hybrid
This exercise is likely the single best exercise for the long head of the triceps. Why? It works the long head through both its functions – shoulder extension (like a lat pullover) and tricep extensions (like a pushdown). This means you can get a deep stretch for your long head. In addition, if you use a cable instead of dumbbells or a barbell, you could probably figure out a way of making the shoulder extension component full ROM as well, though your lats might give out before your triceps do. Then again, this should be relatively unlikely, as most people can skullcrusher less than they pullover (considering bending your elbows makes pullovers much, much easier).
Which exercises are no good?
DB Kickbacks
DB Kickbacks have to be one of the worst tricep exercises I can think of. The ROM is at most half of full ROM and the resistance curve makes the exercise even worse. Another minor but noteworthy issue with the exercise is that you’re bent over. This likely fatigues your lower back and hip extensor muscles more than is necessary. In fact, the shoulder angle in a DB kickback is usually very similar to that of a pushdown – except it is worse on almost every single other aspect of promoting growth than pushdowns.
Bilateral DB Overhead Extensions
For some people, bilateral DB overhead extensions can work well. However, for a lot of people, the exercise is inherently a partial ROM – the dumbbell collides with their upper back long before they are able to achieve a full ROM for the triceps. For this reason, I tend to advise against using the exercise for most people, and instead recommend bilateral cable/barbell overhead extensions, unilateral overhead extensions or overhead pressing.
That wraps up the triceps. More muscle group exercise selection articles on the way!
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