You want bigger arms. Most people go straight for the bicep curls, thinking that's the ticket to filling out a T-shirt sleeve, but they're actually looking at the wrong side of the arm. Your triceps make up about two-thirds of your upper arm mass. If you aren't nailing your tricep extensions, you're basically leaving most of your gains on the table. It’s physics. It’s anatomy. Honestly, it’s just common sense once you see the muscle charts.
The triceps brachii has three heads: the long, lateral, and medial. To get that "horseshoe" look everyone wants, you have to hit all of them. Most guys at the gym just spam cable pushdowns with terrible form and wonder why their elbows hurt and their arms look the same as they did last July. They’re using momentum. They’re leaning in too hard. They’re turning a localized arm movement into a weird, crunchy chest press.
Stop doing that.
How to Do Tricep Extensions Without Wrecking Your Elbows
The most basic version of this move is the overhead extension. You can do it with a dumbbell, a barbell, or a cable. The goal is simple: get the weight behind your head and straighten your arms. Easy, right? Not really.
First, you’ve got to check your ego. If the weight is too heavy, your lower back is going to arch like a bridge, and you’re going to end up with a strain that keeps you out of the gym for a month. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Some people prefer a staggered stance—one foot forward—to keep the spine neutral.
Grab the dumbbell. Hold it with both hands, forming a diamond shape with your palms against the underside of the top weight plate. Lift it over your head. This is the starting position. Now, keep your elbows tucked in near your ears. If they flare out like wings, you’re shifting the load onto your joints and away from the muscle. Lower the weight slowly behind your head until your forearms hit your biceps. Feel that stretch? That’s where the magic happens.
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Research, like the 2022 study published in the European Journal of Sport Science, suggests that training muscles at long lengths—meaning when they are stretched—can actually lead to more hypertrophy than training them in a shortened position. This is why the overhead version of tricep extensions is often superior to the standard cable pushdown. You’re putting that long head of the tricep under massive tension right at the bottom of the rep.
The Problem With Your Elbows
Standard advice says "lock out your elbows." I hate that phrase. It sounds violent.
Instead of thinking about a "lock," think about a "squeeze." When you reach the top of the movement, squeeze the back of your arm as hard as you can. Hold it for a microsecond. Then, control the descent. If you just let the weight fall, you're losing 50% of the benefit of the exercise. The eccentric phase (the lowering part) is where a lot of the structural damage—the good kind that leads to growth—actually occurs.
If you feel a sharp "ping" in your elbow, stop. Just stop. It might be tendonitis, or you might just have crappy mobility. Try switching to a neutral grip with a rope attachment on a cable machine. It’s much friendlier on the ulnar nerve.
Different Variations for Different Goals
Not all tricep extensions are created equal. You have the "Skull Crusher," which sounds metal as hell but is actually just a lying tricep extension. You lay on a bench, lower an EZ-bar toward your forehead (hence the name), and press back up.
But here is a pro tip: don't lower it to your forehead. Lower it to the top of your head or even slightly behind it. This keeps constant tension on the muscle. If the bar is directly over your joints at the top, the weight is just resting on your bones. You want the muscle to do the work, not your skeleton.
Then there are cable overhead extensions. These are great because the cable provides "constant tension." Gravity is a bit of a jerk with dumbbells; the resistance changes depending on where the weight is in space. With a cable, the resistance is the same from the start of the rep to the finish.
- Dumbbell Extensions: Great for unilateral work (one arm at a time) to fix imbalances.
- Cable Extensions: Best for "mind-muscle connection" and high-volume pump work.
- EZ-Bar Extensions: Good for heavy loading, but can be tough on the wrists.
- Single-arm Cross-body Extensions: A favorite of modern bodybuilders because it aligns perfectly with the way the tricep fibers actually run.
I remember watching a seminar with Joe Bennett, "The Hypertrophy Coach." He talks a lot about "line of pull." Basically, if your arm isn't moving in the direction the muscle fibers are designed to pull, you’re just making noise. For the tricep, sometimes moving the arm slightly across the body during an extension feels way more natural than forcing it to stay perfectly straight. Experiment with it. Your body isn't a robot; it doesn't move in perfect 90-degree angles.
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The Science of the Long Head
Most people neglect the long head of the tricep. This is the only part of the muscle that crosses the shoulder joint. Because it crosses two joints, it requires specific positioning to fully "awaken."
When your arm is at your side (like in a pushdown), the long head isn't fully stretched. When your arm is overhead, it is. If you want that massive side-profile look, you have to do overhead tricep extensions. Period.
There's a concept called "Active Insufficiency." Basically, a muscle can't contract effectively if it's already too short. Conversely, "Passive Insufficiency" happens when it's stretched to the limit. We want to dance right on the edge of that stretch.
Wait, don't overdo it.
If you do 20 sets of overhead extensions on Monday, your elbows will feel like they've been through a meat grinder by Wednesday. Frequency matters more than per-session volume for most people. Two sessions a week, 3-4 sets per session, varying the angles. That’s the sweet spot for most natural lifters.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Progress
Let's talk about the "cheat" extension. You've seen it. Someone takes a heavy dumbbell, swings it behind their head using their whole body, and then uses a hip thrust to get it back up.
That isn't a tricep exercise. That's a full-body interpretive dance.
- Flaring Elbows: I mentioned this, but it bears repeating. Keep 'em tucked.
- Partial Reps: If you only go halfway down, you're missing the most important part of the rep. Get the stretch.
- Neck Strain: People tend to crane their necks forward when the weight gets heavy. This is a great way to get a tension headache or a pinched nerve. Keep your chin tucked and your ears over your shoulders.
- Speed: Stop moving so fast. If I can't see the individual phases of your rep, you're moving too fast.
Basically, if you can't hold the weight at the bottom for a one-second pause, it's too heavy. Lower the weight. Focus on the burn. It’s not about how much you lift; it’s about how much the muscle thinks you’re lifting.
Real-World Programming
So, how do you actually put this into a workout?
If you're doing a "Push" day (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps), do your heavy presses first. Your triceps are secondary movers in a bench press or an overhead press. Once your chest is fried, then move to your isolated tricep extensions.
A sample routine might look like this:
- Flat Bench Press: 3 sets of 8.
- Overhead Press: 3 sets of 10.
- Lying EZ-Bar Extensions (Skull Crushers): 3 sets of 12.
- Single-arm Cable Extensions: 2 sets of 15 (as a finisher).
This hits the muscles when they are fresh but also ensures you get that high-volume metabolic stress at the end.
Why the "Pump" Matters
Is the pump just for ego? Kinda. But it also serves a purpose.
When you do high-rep extensions, you're driving blood into the muscle. This expands the "fascia," the tight sheath surrounding your muscles. Over time, some experts believe this allows more room for muscle fibers to grow. Whether or not that’s 100% scientifically settled, the psychological boost of having "sleeve-splitting" arms after a set of extensions is real. It keeps you coming back.
Nutrition and Recovery
You can do all the tricep extensions in the world, but if you're eating like a bird, your arms won't grow. Muscle protein synthesis requires fuel. You need a slight caloric surplus and plenty of protein—aim for about 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight.
Also, sleep. Your muscles don't grow in the gym. They grow while you’re knocked out watching Netflix or actually sleeping. If you’re hitting triceps hard, give them at least 48 hours to recover before you blast them again. They are small muscles, but they can be easily overtrained because they are involved in almost every upper-body movement.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Workout
To get the most out of your next arm session, follow these specific adjustments. First, prioritize the overhead position. If you usually start with pushdowns, swap them for a seated dumbbell overhead extension. This prioritizes the long head while you have the most energy.
Second, implement a "tempo" count. Take three seconds to lower the weight, pause for one second at the bottom to feel the stretch, and then take one second to explosively (but controlled) press the weight back up.
Third, record yourself. Everyone thinks their form is perfect until they see it on camera. If you see your elbows drifting out or your back arching, fix it. Your future self with the massive horseshoes on the back of your arms will thank you.
Focus on the mind-muscle connection. Close your eyes if you have to. Feel the muscle lengthening and shortening. It sounds "bro-sciencey," but the ability to internally focus on the target muscle has been shown to increase EMG activity.
Stop counting reps and start making reps count.
Next Steps to Level Up Your Gains:
- Evaluate your current elbow health: If you have nagging pain, switch to cable variations with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) for 4 weeks to allow inflammation to subside.
- Audit your range of motion: On your next set of tricep extensions, have a partner check if the weight is actually reaching the full "stretch" position behind your head.
- Adjust your volume: If your arms haven't grown in three months, increase your total weekly sets by 20% and focus exclusively on the eccentric (lowering) phase of each rep.