You’ll often see plenty of muscle boys repping out bicep curl after bicep curl in an attempt to get their guns to grow. However, if you want a pair of sleeve-stretching arms, then your focus needs to be more on your triceps than your biceps. Your triceps are a larger muscle group than your biceps – being comprised of three heads and actually making up two-thirds of your upper arm – which means they have more potential to grow.
Compound movements are key (as always) to building serious size and strength, and the good news is that the best exercises to grow your triceps are ones that work your chest as well.
That’s right, you can work your triceps by benching!… with a few modifications.
1. Close-grip bench press
By modifying your bench press to a close-grip press, you’ll be recruiting your triceps more to perform the lift (please lower the weight accordingly as we don’t want you getting crushed on your first set).
Keep in mind you don’t need to go super-narrow on your first set. Start by bringing each hand slightly closer than shoulder-width and focus on keeping your reps slow and controlled.
2. Dips
Bodyweight dips is another move that’s great for your chest as well as your triceps. If you can master it you’ll effectively be able to bulk up your boobs and your arms in one single session. To focus more on your triceps when you dip, keep your grip as narrow as possible so as not to rely too much on your larger chest muscles and shoulders to complete the movement.
Known by some as ‘squats for your upper body’, dips can be less stressful on your shoulder joints than a standard flat bench press and can be progressed fairly simply. If you’re performing 15 reps without much struggle while maintaining good form, then try adding some weight with a dipping belt or weighted vest.
3. Diamond press-up
I read somewhere that Zac Efron would rep out diamond press-ups to get his triceps popping. This may not be true anymore now that he’s become something of a tank, but I still think of the high school musical hottie whenever I try these.
Start in a press-up position with your hands together, fingers spread so that the index fingers and thumbs touch and form a diamond shape. As you lower your chest to the floor, allow your elbows to break away from your body but make sure that your back remains flat.
4. Overhead extension
When it comes to isolation exercises, the overhead extension crushes the competition, even skull crushers. Overhead extensions recruit all heads of the tricep, especially the long head, which will mean the most activation and the most mass-building.
You can perform them using a rope attachment on a cable machine or seated with a dumbbell, depending on whichever you prefer or whichever piece of equipment is free. What’s important is keeping your elbows as close to your ears as possible, as flaring out takes the stress off the tricep.
Gay Personal Trainers
For some extra help getting those triceps to pop, your best bet is working with a gay personal trainer. They can design a training and nutrition program to suit your individual needs, and be on hand to help coach you towards your goals.
The next best thing is to subscribe to Gay Fitness UK on Apple News and Google News!
Subscribe to Apple News & Google News
If you found this article even slightly interesting, informative, funny, or ridiculous, then please give us a like, share, tweet, tumble, flip, or follow.
And you can also receive weekly workouts for free by subscribing to our newsletter. Happy gaying!