Tricep size help!

Bean

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There's a thread on biceps thickness and size, how about some info about triceps?

Skullcrushers and Pulldowns/pushdowns are a mainstay of my triceps workouts...
i normally do about 6-8 sets per 9days on the triceps over those 2-3 exercises... not including indirect work like dips, etc... prolly 12 sets of indirect work hitting them in 9 days

and its NOT working... i havent gained any tricep size or strength in months... last time i did was on DC's method of RP that i was putting on tricep pushdowns and skullcrushers... but those gains stopped.... PCT isnt helping anything; but i really dont think its an excuse... i've got my biceps growing fast enough with incline curls making my peak grow A LOT... but i'm pissed at my triceps

any tips?

there are 3 muscles on the triceps of course... there's the outer head, the upper inner, and the lower inner...

my lower inner lags slightly behind my other two muscles, but they are pretty much proportioned... they just arent growing!!!

i'm about to incorporate reverse grip bench presses... but they bother my shoulders a bit on liftoff, etc... so i dunno what to do
 

iron addict

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DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT CAUSES JOINT DISTRESS. You may get away with it fo a time, but many injuries are cumulative.

If you want big triceps do dips. They are one of the few movements that hit all three heads of the triceps almost evenly, and a movement that is easy to be progressive with. You should also try doing JUST dips for your triceps for awhile. When you are doing nice slow strict reps with 100 lbs strapped to your waist, you will have them.

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DoctorX2k2

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Iron,
What do you think of Reverse Grip Bench Press?
 
Iron Warrior

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DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT CAUSES JOINT DISTRESS. You may get away with it fo a time, but many injuries are cumulative.

If you want big triceps do dips. They are one of the few movements that hit all three heads of the triceps almost evenly, and a movement that is easy to be progressive with. You should also try doing JUST dips for your triceps for awhile. When you are doing nice slow strict reps with 100 lbs strapped to your waist, you will have them.

Iron Addict
Hey IA, will a narrower grip be better for the triceps during dips ?
 
Bean

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DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT CAUSES JOINT DISTRESS. You may get away with it fo a time, but many injuries are cumulative.

If you want big triceps do dips. They are one of the few movements that hit all three heads of the triceps almost evenly, and a movement that is easy to be progressive with. You should also try doing JUST dips for your triceps for awhile. When you are doing nice slow strict reps with 100 lbs strapped to your waist, you will have them.

Iron Addict
you think i should do a seperate dip movement? its already a staple of my chest workout; i do 6 sets of heavy deep dips every 9 days... but i focus on pushing my elbows out... should i try a narrower dip station and keep the elbows in as an additional exercise?
 
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sifu

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All I have done lately is dips and close grips, and they have grown better than ever before. I used to do all the others, but no more.
 

sifu

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Close grip benches. I do dips on a V shaped dip bar. Also I do a lot of striking on a heavy bag, which of course includes the tri's. But that is all I do.
 

ironviking

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All I have done lately is dips and close grips, and they have grown better than ever before. I used to do all the others, but no more.
same here, mine are growing crazy
I even dropped the close grips about three weeks ago and they still have been growing
 
lifted

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Bump on the close-grips. These IMO are the best way to get overall growth from the shoulder all the way down to the elbow. They seem to always be the easiest to gain strength in as well for me.

Lately I have been doing only one set on chest day instead of 3 or 4 and they are growing as fast as ever. Same goes with biceps, just one set of standing or preachers, and then one set of reverse's get the the job done very well. Make sure you minimize the push/pull/leg gap like IA always states (dunno what your routine is like) Gotta respect the arms the most.

IMO 6-9 sets may be too much even if its indirect, but again I dunno how well you recover so thats just another guess.

good luck
 
Bean

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we'll see; i did close grip dips today straight up and down for 3 sets and my triceps felt BLASTED... best workout i've put them through in a while... it says something when you're still on PCT and you get a hormone-induced-like pump :)

so full dips, then 1 set of close grip benching prolly Rest paused... then the rest of my workout (rear delts and shrugs) right?

for pulling muscles i'm currently doing 2 sets of chinups, 3 sets of incline curls, 3 sets of rows...

i dont think its too many sets... i'm growing again... i was pissed at my back and its shrunk actually and so did my triceps... but this past week i put some more meat on my shoulders visually, my legs, and my back... and my chest has kept growing throughout PCT (largely from the dips)
 
sage

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here's one for ya to try. i know them as czech presses (also heard it called california pres???) i dont know.... but its pretty close to a combination of close grip bench and skulls.... do a lying extention bending from the elbows down to your hands, but coming down right to the throat, roll the bar down right down your chest til your hands are positioned at a standard close grip bench position, and press up. So the movement will outline a right triangle when done properly. Its really three exercises in one. The lying extention, the roll from the neck to the upper ab/lower chest, and then the close grip bench. Killer.... hits the region right above the elbows real nice....(an area where a lot of us lack in size)

Sage
 
LakeMountD

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DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT CAUSES JOINT DISTRESS. You may get away with it fo a time, but many injuries are cumulative.

If you want big triceps do dips. They are one of the few movements that hit all three heads of the triceps almost evenly, and a movement that is easy to be progressive with. You should also try doing JUST dips for your triceps for awhile. When you are doing nice slow strict reps with 100 lbs strapped to your waist, you will have them.

Iron Addict
he had me doing these for a while and i must say they definitely hit the triceps in every position and very nicely.. i had to stop doing them cause of a chest problem but i would give them a shot.. and if you do them you can do them as one of your chest movements as well.. two birds with one stone.
 

Jcc

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Describe the chest problem.

I do dips leaning forward for chest, but a couple times I've tried them upright for tris and something just didn't feel right in my chest, either.
 
lifted

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Describe the chest problem.

I do dips leaning forward for chest, but a couple times I've tried them upright for tris and something just didn't feel right in my chest, either.
Probably your sternum, I get that too. As long as I gave it some time to catch up with the increase in poundages each week, it really didn't bother me anymore.
 

John Benz

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Weighted dips are far and away the best mass-builder for the tricep. These can be hard on the rotator cuff, and seated dip machine is a good alternative if your rotators are weak. Skullcrushers are great, but very hard on the elbows, especially if you begin use enough weight to make them effective.

My second favorite tricep movement is the cable pressdown. If you find yourself leaning into the machine, use an incline bench for the pressdowns. My arms respond best to reps between 6-8.

Close grip bench is good, but more of a compound excercise. No matter the grip, the chest still pulls a good bit of the load. My chest gets a good enough workout from benches and inclines. I prefer movements that isolate the tricep. After many years of lifting, I have not found them to be on the top rung. Just as chest dips recruit too much tricep to be in the top tier of chest movements. Everyone is different, but this is what works for me.
 

jweave23

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DIP DIP DIP DIP DIP DIP DIP
Sorry it just reminded me of some old 50's doo wop thing :D:D

Anyway, I would recommend weighted dips also, can't go wrong with them. That seems to be what you're missing here Bean :)
 
BigVrunga

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Close grip bench and weighted dips with elbows at the sides are great for elbow mass, I also like decline dumbell extensions and pressdowns. Skull crushers + Close grip bench (8-10 reps with the ez-bar for the crushers and then immediately rep to failure with close grip presses) will really blast the tris.

Just make sure you take steps to protect your rotator cuff - warm up your shoulders with these stretches and exercises:

http://www.pccdocs.com/patientresources/patient_pamphlets/rc_exercises.htm

http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/rotator-cuff-injury.htm

I cant stress how important it is to properly warm up the shoulders (or any muscle group, for that matter).

BigV
 

Rictor33

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close grips are now the only thing i do for tri's due to my shoulder problems that make skullcrushers really painful. Since ive started doing close grip with more intensity my bench has gone up and my tri's have gotten much better. BUMPS close grip one more time. PLUS its a compound exercise which gives you IMO more functional strength then would more isolated exercises like skullcrushers/pressdowns.
 
bioman

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In total agreement with BigV on the shoulder warm ups for dips. Even after lengthy warm ups I developed shoulder problems from dips. I'd advise deep stretching of the pec groups as these tend to clamp down and pull the shoulders out of alignment (at least with me).

Nothing beats them for growth IMO.
 

smike319

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best workout i've put them through in a while... it says something when you're still on PCT and you get a hormone-induced-like pump :)
Amen to that...........dips are a staple in my exercize routine!
 
Bean

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I've been doing dips for weeks... when i originally posted this i had been doing them for a while... i get GREAT chest involvement when doing leaning-forward dips... in fact i've had better chest growth than ever, even during PCT

but i tried the 1 set thing for triceps doing close grip and they shrunk a bit after two workouts :(
maybe i should cut out all tricep work altogether to see if it shrinks even more?
i'm doing 3 sets of heavy dips and a rest pause set of dumbell shoulder presses twice in 9 days... i get great tricep recruitment on both of those...
i'll have to see how it works...
 
BigVrunga

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Oh I love dips - but i havent been able to do them in months thanks to my nicely cracked sternum.:) (see the 'wacky chest injury thread...). Dont go past paralell with your elbows and it puts less stress on the shoulders as well. (as well as your elbow tendons - another fragile zone). Going really deep on the dips is great, but only for an un-weighted or light set, IMHO.

BigV
 
MaDmaN

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here's one for ya to try. i know them as czech presses (also heard it called california pres???) i dont know.... but its pretty close to a combination of close grip bench and skulls.... do a lying extention bending from the elbows down to your hands, but coming down right to the throat, roll the bar down right down your chest til your hands are positioned at a standard close grip bench position, and press up. So the movement will outline a right triangle when done properly. Its really three exercises in one. The lying extention, the roll from the neck to the upper ab/lower chest, and then the close grip bench. Killer.... hits the region right above the elbows real nice....(an area where a lot of us lack in size)

Sage

This is a great movement..I have done these for twoyears and my tricep size is scary.I add a little too this one I cant get anymore clean reps I roll the bar and go int a close grip bench up then negitive lying extension down,roll again and totaly burn out the tries on the negitive rep..Great Exercise your triceps will have to grow..
 
destro19

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I like to do close grip bench and barbell skull crushers. Some people like using the bent bar but I like the regualr one. I also like to go heavy for 6-8 reps and about 4 sets. im pretty brutal on tri's cause there my favorite.
 

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