The ULTIMATE Guide to Building Triceps (63 Studies) 

0:00​ Introduction 0:20​ Anatomy & Physiology of the Triceps 2:32​ Heavy Weight Is Better for Triceps Hypertrophy? 5:18​ The Medial Head May Be Harder to Hypertrophy 6:32​ Role of Each Triceps Head During Various Elbow Extension 9:20​ How Good Are Compound Exercises for Triceps Hypertrophy? 12:03​ Why Isolation Exercises Are Likely Necessary For Triceps Hypertrophy 21:09​ High vs Low Volume for Triceps Growth 29:40​ High vs Low Frequency for Triceps Growth 38:34​ Hypoxia Methods Can Enhance Triceps Hypertrophy? 43:02​ Summary Additional notes: In this video, we assessed volume and frequency from research done on the triceps. However, the research at this current moment does not display any strong evidence indicating different muscles should be trained with different volumes or frequencies (I'm not saying for certain they shouldn't be trained with different frequencies or volume, it's just the research does not display any observable patterns to my knowledge). Also, we mentioned the medial head may be harder to grow. After making this video, I realized the Brandao et al. study did demonstrate pretty good growth of the medial head from bench press and skull crusher training, somewhat opposing the notion the medial head may be harder to grow. Anway, I hope all of this was useful and informative! :)

As a weightlifter for 25 years in my experience as individuals we do respond differently to various exercises, loads and reps however it seems mechanically that raising the elbow up, the higher up the more the long head is activated. So to sum it up overhead triceps extensions are used to develop long head, triceps push downs work more medial and lateral head.

It's crazy how information like this is freely available. Amazing job dude. Thank you so much for sharing the research with us!

Highly underrated channel. Keep up the good work mate!

I love Triceps because they are probably top 3 most resistant muscles, they aid you during your presses and they are ready for 3-6 sets after you complete your push day, I dislike the notion of "don't train your triceps bruh, compounds do it" because they CAN handle more than that, they also recover very fast due to their relatively small size yet they can look monstrous if you train them well. They are also responsible for making your arms look thick as the biceps dont cover much area.

Very detailed and you don't get bored with the visuals! I see huge success in this channel one day. Keep it up!

My favorite new evidence based bodybuilding training channel for sure. Well rounded discussion with take-aways.

this is by far the best muscle channel in yt, the effort you put in this is amazing, thank you

This is why to cover all your bases you should pick an exercise from each elbow position and try to incorporate a compound conjoined exercise a conjoined single joint exercise and a independent single joint exercise and also varying your hand position neutral pronation supination.

appreciate the amazing work and thank you for including a summary - Triceps are something I feel I will always want to work on

The quality of the work in this channel is over the top. Already helped me so much since I first found about it. Thank you!!

For me, my Tris exploded when I found a superset type workout for them. It's 4 sets in quick succession, of 4 different movements, 10 reps each. Using only the ez curl bar, while laying on flat bench. The exercise is called "40s". Use a weight that feels too light at first, but by then end of the first set your tris are pumped and burning. We used to use 25s-35s on each side of the bar, but starting w 10s or two 10s would be good to see where you are w it then adjust. 1st movement: 10 skull crushers. 2nd movement: 10 skull crushers but go all the way behind your head, almost touching the ground. 3rd movement: move the bar from your sternum to the top of your forehead, back n forth, keeping the bar close to your body the whole time. 10 rapid reps. 4th movement: 10 rapid reps of bench. Straight up and down quickly. Do all reps quickly. Whole exercise takes about a minute. W the right weight you will feel white hot fire in your triceps at the end of the last two sets and your tris will be pumped beyond belief, seriously. Last set will be torture. Best workout ever. I often used that as my entire triceps workout, it's that good. (Oh, as far as rest we'd take a few minutes between, you need it. Not too long tho, 2-3 mins, there's a sweet spot where ur tris are still pumped/inflamed but energy is regained for another complete set. And we'd typically do these every other tricep day, because they're so taxing)

I’m hype I was just looking for a tricep video let’s goooo🙌🏻you do good work bro keep it up plz👏🏻

Top notch information and amazing graphics, you deserve a lot more subs! Keep up the goof work!

Thank you for this video. Tons of information! I will need to watch this several times!

A very good program, A lot of work has gone into it.

Such comprehensive coverage. Fabulous!

Your videos are really good for real! Im glad I subscribed.

The amount of detail in your vids is nutz. Amazing stuff and always appreciated 👏

This video is exactly the information I needed, great channel

This explains my favorite tricep exercise. I do 10-12 cable push downs, then turn around and basically do standing skull crushers with the same weight.

Great video man! Keep on going!!!

Great content, very thorough and well presented.

Arriving in this channel now, amazing work!

Great video and explanation. Thank you.

I would love to watch a video of this for every muscle.

Thanks a lot for your work

Your channel is unbelievable. Thank you so much💯

Great teaching 👍

Very informative. I've been doing lots of compound exercises on my Soloflex machine for 3 years and have nicely grown all my muscles especially my legs and chest. A few months ago, I added tricep and bicep isolation exercises with dumb bells and my arms are significantly bigger already.

Thank you, very informative.

Thanks for the content 🤜

Epic video big 🐕. Appreciate all the hard work you put into it. I was under the impression that ideal triceps routine would have your shoulders at variable angles: overhead triceps extensions, triceps pushdowns, and triceps kickbacks. I like to use a cable machine for these, and do them one arm at a time, and with no attachment. I just grab the plastic ball thing on the end and it allows me to get a WAY better contraction than doing it as a two-armed exercise. It's probably individually variable, but I just don't get much triceps activation when doing bench presses. I probably did when I first started doing presses (I had no idea how to use my chest to move the weight), but I can really focus on my chest now and I don't feel any triceps during the movement, unless maybe if I really stretched out at the top and locked out my elbows, which I don't do.

I learned, Time under Tension is king again 💎

Your channel, what a treasure trove !

One of the best channel!!!

Amazing work you put into this video! Felt almost ashamed to be able to watch it for free! :D

Much of the research indicates what we all know; everyone responds differently. However, I find the long versus short rest interval research interesting. It would seem to indicate that the time the muscle is "pumped" is important. If you do 10 sets in 30 minutes or 20 sets in 30 minutes the time the muscle has more blood flow is constant. The amount of stress on the related joints may become the deciding factor for some. It would be a decision of lighter weight for more reps or less sets with the heavier weight the extra rest time allows. Thank you for doing this

Very thorough job, appreciate the review of literature

Good stuff. Subscribed.

never heard of this 4th head until now, goated channel

Holy crap this video definitely was a lot of work thank you

quality content. subscribed

Probably the best channel on the topic.

I never did any triceps isolation before, but my tris grew significantly because I bench press using a closer grip (approx 1.5 shoulder width, even less i.e. my thumb just outside the lateral border of my delts in the saggital plane). However, the only head that had seen significant growth is the lateral head. Shiet. Now im trying to neurologically access my long head. When I do overheads, only my right arm can access it, because it has a weak lateral head (significantly less fuller than the left). Edit: i don't know why very little research is done to take into account not just the shoulder angle, but how externally rotated the shoulder is during elbow flexion. I actually feel more activation of my long head if i extend my elbows with my shoulder rotated more externally. Edit: btw, if Duchenne is a legend. His work contributed much to out understanding of electrophysiology, muscle diseases, and human expression.

Studies are important but must be considered in the context of real life application because no study can control for all variables

This channel really is a gem for anyone taking hypertrophy seriously!

Love this thanks, Algorithms!!

Keep the work going , sir its helping in every way Here's from BHARAT(INDIA)

Awesome channel und superb video pls keep going on.Pleased do more Videos for different muscle groups like back or quads.

You have a subscription. Thanks for your (and your team’s, if you have one) hard work.

thaaaaanks, whish u all the best

1 Million subscribers incoming easily, mark my words Professor!

I like the summary part in these videos saves times

brah your stuff is absolutely fantastic. Well done. I love scouring through studies and tinkering with my workouts but I have never seen a more comprehensive overview of studies on the topic of hypertrophy ever. Not even close. I would love some strength only editions also. Perhaps for the bench press. I currently hope to increase strength without getting any bigger.

In my practical experience, extensions with a supinated grip with the arm close to the body and Closed bench press they very effectively work the medial head and the distal part respectively, the lateral head in extensions with a pronated grip close to the body,I see this being disseminated and confirmed in practice here in Brazil, It is also noticed that extensions with the long arm of the trunk stimulate the long head more and the distal part less.

In my experience different repranges also change how the different heads get activated. If I do dips (weighted) in the 8-12 range I feel it mostly in the medial and lateral head. When I increase the load so I end up doing 3-5 reps the long head really kicks in too, huge difference. It would be interesting to see the comparison if they adjusted the sets so TUT was identical comparing training in the 8-12 range and the 5-6 range. Just doing 3 sets each don't seem to be a fair comparison.... Great stuff....Keep it coming

This channel is off the chain

I'll be honest, I skipped all 40 mins to the summary.

Close grip bench and extensions, done

i always jump into summary or conclusion bit.. no patience.. 👍🤣.. Another great video.

63 studies? Omg respect bro

7:49 which part of the triceps is targeted with these movements to a greater capacity.. 29:50 amount of days that might be worked

How can i do 30 weekly sets for triceps!! It’s too much effort!! And I cannot fit these set into my training program!!

I grew-up in an old school powerlifting gym. They always preached, most of your squatting should be high-bar. We did low-bar every 4th workout when we wore equipment and did heavy triples.

I'm gifted with really great triceps. Never really trained them alot other than i did alot of pushups when i was a teen. I think maybe that's part of the reason. My son has inherited the exact same Triceps and the exact same arm actually

I agree with medial head been a fast twitch muscle from my own personal experience. I trained my tricep fairly well and when i got stronger i tried weighted dips for few sets and my medial head was so sore i thought that i injured myself. Never experience that with any other tricep exercises including bench press. Tricep long head is very easy to get it sore, just focus on eccentric moves on exercises like skullcrusher. I got my most gains from weighted dips because medial head makes you lower tricep look bigger especially for a small bonded guys

Thanks

just realised this is 45 min, good work

thank u so much for those videos bro .. i wish u can make a playlist for how to performe the exercices properly and which exercice for which muscle groupe exactly ... i have have been working out for hypertrophy for the last 6 months and i recently realised i was not hitiing my delt msucles as i should be .. cuz of the lack of khnowlegde when it come to movment and islolation ..

With all the the studies and tests carried out not 1 can really conclude precisely what works and what doesn't. Each person is different with all the. Variables in play what works for 1 çould be entirely opposite with adverse or stagnant outcome for another. So it's safe to say with all the fundamentals ànd principles of training apply aall the concepts to ones program always changing alwàys confusing knowing your.body a bit of everything HITT, REPS SETS PYRIMID supersets , plyometrics cardio split week lighter/ heavy all the while documenting everything you'll see that no stone is left unturned every avenue ventured every fibre stimulated or activated both àerobic anerobic physiological synergy ....you LL see the . marvel of one's own body . Feels great and is amazing seeing the transformation

With 3 sets of flat benches, 2 sets of inclines, and 2 sets of dips, and 3 sets of presses behind neck Or military presses, I’ve only just begun throwing in a few isolation sets recently…

House of Hypertrophy is gonna be huge by this day next year I’m sure of it.

this channel is a gift from the lifting Gods..

Interesting to hear the big brains logic their way through what bodybuilders have intuitively known for decades.

SUB'd! 👌

This is a must for a slim boy in 40 years so far

Goat fitness channel

0:20 the muscles with the functions of the bicep are both on the forarm and the upper arm.

So what triceps workouts should I keep in my workout?

This is why Mike Mentzer was not wrong but volume is still what works for most people

Thanks for that Video! I always struggle with the development of the Long head and tried almost everything, like building a better mind-muscle connection, different weights, angels, and exercises just to make it grow. I still haven´t found a solution but I can confirm that there are differences from one guy to another in which head primary is used. If you stumble over something that could help would be great if you share. Best Regards

I would stick with zero or close to zero degrees of shoulder flexion. The results seem to be about the same with less elbow strain.

How about a video on weighted dips and other calisthenics vs barbell exercises like you did for push-ups vs bench press?

I've been training many years and have always only done 1 tricep exercise per workout and always felt my triceps were lagging, particularly in my right arm. I've recently switched to 2 exercises, 3 sets of 8-12 reps of lying overhead french presses with a good stretch at the shoulder, followed by 2 sets to absolute failure of tricep push downs. Been doing this for a few months and seen better growth in my triceps than at any time in my training before. Never found bench presses/shoulder presses any good for tricep development, I don't really feel them in my triceps at all.

One thing I was wondering about was with the study that had the heavy loads on the bench press and moderate loads, I think you would need more sets for the heavy group since they wouldn't be getting enough volume so that might be a reason as to why they had less growth. Do you think they would be more similar in growth if the heavy group performed more sets to accommodate for more volume.

Seems like the explanation for lack of long head tricep stimulation in horizontal presses would apply to vertical presses. In the concentric part of the bench press, you are lengthening the long head and the shoulder joint (because of shoulder flexion) and at the same time shortening it at the elbow joint (because of elbow extension). The same thing will happen in vertical presses

Thank you for the great job done! Maybe I've missed it, but how does a prctical implementation of 45 weekly sets for a triceps only looks like? Say I go working out 4 times a week, I do 4 sets in each exercise. I will have to do 3 exercises each training day for triceps only. That's already a half of a regular work out. When am I supposed to other muscles?

With channels like this one, nobody should 1.fail anatomy 2.not know how to train each muscle group

So, is it better to work chest/triceps in the same workout, or chest/biceps & back/triceps different days?

At 11:38 you mention no shoulder extension happens during the eccentric phase of a vertical pressing movement. If you consider shoulder extension as purely referring to bringing the arm behind your back, then yes, no shoulder extension takes place. However, during the eccentric portion, the long head of the triceps shortens at the shoulder joint, while it lengthens at the elbow joint. Arguably, vertical presses would be as bad as horizontal presses for long head development, as it’s ROM is limited.

Surprised that dips and mechanics of upper arm starting behind the back are not discussed in these studies.

What about dips? Vertical push.

32 sets of isolated triceps in 7 days seems crazy!

What about putting some dips here and there?

I dont know how I got here but I'm impressed

2x shoulder width bench press for triceps?

Any studies on using super slow methods like in the book “Body by Science” written by Dr. Doug McGuff and John Little?

can you do a video on strengthening joints and even flexibility

When you mention sets, are you speaking about to failure? Or a set of 10 reps or 6 reps? Love your channel