Looking to reap more gains from your arm day workouts? Upgrade your overhead triceps extension so you can pump up the big muscles on the back of your arms. In our latest episode of Little Things, where we cover easy changes you can make to your workout to supercharge common moves on the lifting circuit, Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. tackles the triceps overhead extension.
Even if you’ve done triceps extensions regularly, we’re guessing you’ve never done them quite like this before. According to Samuel, you’ll get the most out of the overhead triceps extension if you’re not doing the movement from a standing position. Yes, really. In our tutorial, Samuel and fitness pro Jonathan Chadwell lead us through the exercise and explain why the more common approach is less effective.
First, arching your back is common. That can lead to back pain. The standing setup is also an awkward positioning for the shoulder joints and lower back. “When we get to the top, our joints are very close to stacking—wrist, elbow, and shoulder—that’s not a position of work, our triceps have it very easy at the top of the rep this way,” explains Samuel.
By revamping the move with Samuel’s small adjustment, we can give ourselves constant tension at the top of the overhead extension, protect our lower back, and even slip in some abdominal work. (Such anti-extension work occurs when your abs prevent your lower back from arching, according to Samuel.)
In his supine (lying on his back) on a bench, Chadwell can stretch his arms back as far as he can, tighten his abs, and lower and extend the dumbbell with his max range of motion for your shoulders. “He gets that great live triceps contraction at the top,” says Samuel. The biggest win from making this 90 degree flip to the bench? “Look at the lever for his forearms at the very top. That’s a lot of gravity he has to face as opposed to…the standard extension.”
The rotation may take a while to get used to, but we promise you’ll soon wonder why you did it any other way. The effects you see in the mirror won’t hurt, either. Samuel’s bottom line: “Make this adjustment. Your triceps will be on fire when you do overhead extensions.”
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