Need tricep help!

EdMan · Mar 29, 2006

Hey gang
What are your best tricep exercises? I Have been told that I my are lagging (NPC Judge) and need new ideas. Push downs, close bench, and french curls are my staples, once a week after shoulder work-out. Any help would help.
Thanks
EdMan

TooPowerful4u · Mar 29, 2006

Do what i did that made a world of difference. Learn to FEEL the muscle. Seriously. Learn to get a HUGE pump and squeeze the contraction to the point where it feels like its cramping. Nothing feels better than getting an incredible pump in my triceps without actually fatigueing them much, then do heavy dips or skull crushers. Your triceps will be crying for days, trust me.

HELLA SWOLE · Mar 29, 2006

Strict form with skull crushers for me...

Gbart · Mar 29, 2006

tp4u said it best for me thats how i got through all my plateaus just learn to squeeze that musce and only contract the shit out of it till it almost cramps it works wonders for me.

BrooklynBB · Mar 29, 2006

EdMan said:
Push downs, close bench, and french curls are my staples, once a week after shoulder work-out.

Those three exercises should be building nice, LARGE horseshoes on you, but something is obviously wrong:

1) You may be doing too many sets
2) You may not be working through a full range of motion (very important, especially for the triceps)
3) You may be UNDERtraining them
4) You may be working other exercises that use the triceps as a stabalizer muscle too often and not allowing yourself to really pound the triceps correctly.

The most common culprit is not working through a full range or performing triceps exercise sloppily. I see kids attempting french presses with weights they can't even bench press and wondering what the problem is. I see people doing some type of reverse-motion upright rowing on a cable machine. I also see everyone doing bench dips with no weight and wondering why nothing is happening.

If you had a picture of your upper body we could probably see what your strong / weak areas are and what to focus on.