The ways in which you can load the muscle and the tools you can use to do it are incredibly varied, and depending on your goals, they aren’t necessarily equal. To help you better understand which extensions you should choose during your next arm day, we reached out to Ryan Hopkins, co-founder of Soho Strength Labs in New York City.
Below, he riffs on three common triceps exercises to get you better armed with knowledge for your next workout.
Best for: Upping your bench and adding size. If you want to get bigger and stronger, doing skullcrushers is a safe bet, but Hopkins notes that you should tweak your form by allowing the bar to travel a few inches back and behind your head at the bottom of the move.
“Your triceps tie into your shoulders, too,” Hopkins explains. “So you can use the by extending the elbow and the shoulder.”
Application: This old-school triceps move, which has you lay down on a bench, takes the momentum out of the equation. As a result, almost all of the movement is coming from you extending your arm at the elbow. Also, Hopkins agrees that for guys who want to increase their bench press max, this variation is king.
“Any time you want carryover to another move, you have to look for what is closest in motor structure—meaning the actual position you’re in,” Hopkins says. “Being supine on a bench with that same upper back extension is going to have a higher transfer to the bench press.”
Safety: Aside from the obvious risk of going too heavy and dropping a barbell on your dome, Hopkins asserts that the traditional skullcrusher is safe overall.
“You’re on your back, and you don’t have to control much other than your upper arms and elbows,” he says. Again, just check your ego and opt for moderate weight for more reps.
Best for:Beginners. This is the exercise equivalent of ordering the burger at a French bistro—you know what you’re getting and won’t be left disappointed, but you’re playing it safe. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Hopkins’ overall assessment of the move is that it’s practically risk-free and is good enough at targeting your triceps. “I’d say that this is the best for beginners, just because they can do it right away,” Hopkins adds.
Application: If you’re simply looking to exhaust your triceps, just clip a rope attachment—or any handle of your choice—and start pumping out reps. At the end of your workout, you can lighten the weight and do a bunch of high-rep sets for a fantastic pump.
Safety: “There’s really no learning curve to this move besides maybe getting better at keeping your upper arm stable,” Hopkins says.
You’re also never going to load up the machine so heavy that you can blow anything out, he says. “You’re not going to drop a weight on your face. You’re not going to hurt your labrum, and you’re not going to rip up your arms. It’s very easy.”
Best for: Building stronger triceps and full-body control. Hopkins praises this move as being, “a piece of triceps extension gold that people don’t use.” In short, he loves it for the stability it requires and how it’s basically a full-body plank that you move with your triceps.
Application: It’s not technically an isolation move, but the suspension trainer extension, Hopkins says, forces a lot of growth as you stabilize your body.
“There’s so much more stress and tension on the triceps area because all three of your triceps heads are controlling your body, so you don’t rotate,” Hopkins says. “For most people, the TRX triceps extension is going to induce more hypertrophy because of the blend of intensity and tension.”
Safety: Though Hopkins thinks that this is the best bang-for-your-buck move that you can employ for your triceps, he admits that it’s the riskiest.
“You have to control your body in a plank position, and you have to control the amount that your shoulder is rotating,” he says.” You have to control a lot of stuff.”
Note: the farther your feet are to the suspension trainer’s anchoring point, the easier the move will be. The farther back your feet are, and the more parallel your torso is to the floor, the harder it’ll be.
