What are the BEST TRICEPS exercises? (Science-Backed)

In this video, Dr. Milo Wolf breaks down the science around the best triceps exercises. He reviews the criteria of what makes a good exercise, why JM presses and compound movements may not be the best for overall triceps development. Following this, he gives his picks for best exercises to build muscle and size in the triceps.
References:
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www.sciencedir...
journal.iusca....
www.mdpi.com/2...
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"What are the BEST TRICEPS exercises? (SCIENCE-BACKED)"
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[@polkarots]

First

[@Ask-Ali]

Dr. Pak with the inside scoop. 3 weeks wtf

[@YounessOu]

gold medal will be shipped soon

[@topshelfbullys7889]

No one cares

[@BlackSpice]

bro saw the video before it was done

[@polkarots]

@@topshelfbullys7889clearly people care bro why u mad. Forst

[@justincooperspeech]

Love this series. Would like to see a similar vid for all muscle groups!

[@WolfCoaching]

Coming soon!

[@joaoamstalden6321]

Wow! That will be amazing, can´t wait.@@WolfCoaching

[@chaim5326]

@@WolfCoaching Delts video please

[@andrewkulinski1885]

Seconded! Give us ALL the MUSCLES! 😂 I'd love to see biceps, lats or abs up next

[@Ask-Ali]

@@chaim5326 he did delts already

[@VasardoPT]

This is some of the most useful content, it'd be great if you did similar videos for other muscle groups!

[@stephenmcalea9860]

I agree. Thanks for videos Milo

[@arsononemwv]

Ur my absolute favorite fitness channel, I’ve never been more consistent

[@nmnate]

Having been pretty enthusiastic about training triceps for a while (trying to build overall arm size), I'd posit a guess at overhead triceps extensions. For me...the most stable way to hit it is with a cable station and a v-bar. Perhaps there are machines that might be even more stable. I spent a bit of time doing them with ropes, but when you're really trying to get the last couple of reps squeezing the crap out of the ropes can make them a little squirmy and harder to extend the elbow from that stability loss. With that said I don't think we should throw out the JM press. I have yet to find a triceps exercise that stretches my medial head that hard (have yet to form an opinion about the lateral head). You can play with the touch point and the amount of elbow elevation to really find that deep stretch. I'm gonna run it as my 2nd triceps isolation this year and will see how my opinion changes over time.

[@elliottwhitticar2383]

The Official JM Press Tutorial, kzbin.info/www/bejne/noCmiGyZepJ6gMk, doesn't mention moving the bar from the chin to the skull crusher position at the bottom, but that is a variation that can provide a little more stretch of the long head. I have never tried the "dumbbell "skull overs" @wolfcoaching mentions at about the 10:38 mark, but I am eager to give those a try!

[@TheMr0450]

Ur content has won me over man.. most balanced and well laid scientific take out there

[@ioannisfoteinos8578]

As a veteran light heavyweight male boxer, and as someone that almost never comments nor subscribes (except for YOUR channel, I can verify that Milos stuff is CORRECT, LOGICAL and VALID TO DATE. GOOD WORK MAN !! RESPECT !!

[@EvanZamir]

I switched to the two arm overhead extension variant (using the rope attachment) a few months ago and it definitely has put my tricep growth into turbo mode.

[@jbeas]

This series is GOLD, Dr. Wolf. Thank you.

[@loganwolv3393]

Another benefit of doing these with a single arm is that your triceps will get a stretch from 2 directions, so not only you're stretching the triceps by extending the elbow, but also by bringing your arm towords your head, so that your stretch that long head even more.

[@JayjeetDeshmukh1]

Great video as always, would love to hear about best exercises for lats (maybe a deep dive on dumbbell pullovers or whatever you think are the best options.) Been doing cable extension for over a year now and I knew the stretch aspect was insane for growth but now I know so much more from you. Keep the content coming man you're great. 🤜

[@lessonsofadad]

Very excellent content. The coolest thing for my arm day is this: Dr. Milo's best exercises for triceps, biceps, and (side) delts are ALL cable exercises! So, i just camp out at the cables for arm day. 👌

[@efrayimbulka2292]

That's the wildest tricep dip I've seen

[@ADHDlanguages]

Top notch stuff. Can't believe I'm here before your followers count blows up.

[@AlphaLionTrillionaire]

Best triceps video I've seen, hands down (or better yet over head for loaded stretch)

[@storiedstrength]

Glad that Dr Wolf is looking out for us kings doing single-arm overhead extensions with 100kg dumbbells

[@AMan-vs4vs]

Yeah I had to rewind that part lmao

[@hakancarlsson6140]

I love doing skullcrushers with kettlebells. And one arm overhead extensions with cable feels so nice 👍

[@gdic1]

keeop going man this is gold waiting for other muscle thanks.

[@mnyshrpknvs]

I've noticed the greatest tricep development since incorporating dips and overhead cable extensions. Looking forward to adding your variation of dB skull crushers.

[@JezzaN1]

Great video, have enjoyed your cameo's on Dr. Mike's channel. Subscribed!

[@greendog105]

There is a lot of axial fatigue on overhead extensions, skull-crushers emphasize the lengthened position almost as much but without the unnecessary fatigue.

[@mnakash77]

Thanks, This actually answered my questions, so nice that you guys use science to analyze things.

[@lazydictionary]

The dip depth/ROM you demonstrate is insane! I need to try those

[@mikesalvato]

Id love to see a video on the lats. My lats seem to barely grow or get good stimulus and i think i may be missing the point on some exercises

[@Girthquake9]

Excellent advices! I added in the overhead extensions to my routine. It gives unreal pumps with low weight required

[@TheYuri7777]

Noce video. Gonna try the single arm overhead cable extension.

[@TheYuri7777]

Came back after 4 months to say it fucking works. My long head simply exploded in growth these past months, the whole triceps did, but the long head is now the biggest it has ever been. Thanks Doc. Milo!

[@Smithster80]

Absolutely would recommend the cable overhead extension. Been doing single arm atm after doing double arms with a rope for a couple months beforehand. Plenty of growth and quite elbow friendly. Easy setup and ROM is spot on.

[@Ganjora]

found you via dr mike. so very glad i did. good content!

[@mdkgr]

Probably the best video on the subject on this platform.

[@dcuccia]

Loved it - subbed. Keep it coming. I'm particularly interested in dumbbell exercises.

[@cameronpearson2160]

Excellent video. Glad you touched on dips. Can you please do side delts, forearms, lats, and traps?

[@douglasauruss]

He just recently did shoulders including side delts.

[@G-Unit-Dogg]

Exercise starts at 6.50

[@thelaitas]

What would you recommend for someone who gets elbow pain from all the benching and tricep work? Maybe a video on how to protect your joints? Although I've been incorporating deloads lately and that helps me a ton

[@Zaeyrus]

Have been focusing on triceps for last 2 months, increased the volume and frequency, doing 50% overhead extension and 50% pushdown variants and the change is here. I'll definitely increase the overhead extensions after watching this video

[@plummaester7573]

A video for quads and chest please! Amazing information.

[@YounessOu]

thanks you .

[@Ask-Ali]

He said he's working on doing them all.

[@Renegade_2023]

Interesting. I've been doing the overhead extension for 10 plus years (I'm old) but never see anyone doing it. Glad to hear that I'm not wasting my time ! I also have decent arms, now if I can get the rest of my body to catch up I'd be happy!

[@kozmo7]

Absolutely love these videos man. A lot of fun to watch especially if you’re an exercise science nerd with a lot of lifting experience like me

[@AC57001]

Would love to see quads discussed. Might also be interesting to cover hip flexors and muscles like the TFL and glute medius which contribute to wider hips and are generally more difficult to train in the stretched position, in my experience. I would love to hear your expertise.

[@ianlewis5910]

Reverse Nordic. You'll gain the flexibility the more you do it. Hardest in lengthened position. Lenghtens all four quad muscle maximally. Can be regressed with bands and 30 reps with a 45 pound plate are quite advanced.

[@pongsakornonnim1845]

This is a great series. I am looking for the next upcoming videos. Great work, man!

[@VinceViglione]

Been doing overhead cable extensions with a Vbar with a super slow tempo especially during the stretched portion. It’s brutal. One handed is just way too time inefficient for me and I would bet that 95%+ of the population struggles to put forth a comparable effort on each side.

[@Eniovrolix]

I would still do a varaint of a pushdown just for elbow health what you also can do is incline pushdowns you set a incline bench infront of a cable and boom you have a long length pushdown maybe not as optimal for long head gains but if you combine them with overhead extension you will be good

[@1cpcook1]

Awesome video. Can't wait for the whole series on all the muscles groups!

[@dexterm2003]

Been doing overhead extensions for the past few months now and they have been awesome! I like to use a handle and grip it palm to the ceiling and then step away from the cable and have the cable behind the back at the opposite hip level. I feel that it really helps me get a huge stretch on the long head and is more comfortable than gripping the ball of the cable. Just little tweaks to the form that work for me. I also like to do drop sets to really get a big pump and being fast twitch dominant I gas out after my first working set so I need to drop the weight to get decent volume.

[@LokeVidu]

Ive always seen dr mike advocate training at longer muscle lengths but then prescribe a lot of movements that don't really emphasise the stretched position like super rom lateral raises and front raises, and even JM presses etc. While the JM press advice did get me pretty good tricep gains, I was never able to rationalise as to why exactly I'm not training in an overhead position. I recently switched over to cable triceps extensions and notice differences immediately. Thanks milo for validating the premise of training at longer muscle lengths, and even though it is not ideal. I was just looking for permission to focus more on overhead movements (being stuck in the dogma that isolation wouldn't get me arm size). For anyone wondering, I did not do overhead movements before as they hurt my elbow joint a lot, but I find that doing JM presses and then overhead triceps extensions after having my elbows warm seems to be a good protocol for now. I might switch out JM presses for push downs this meso as they feel quite nice as well. keep up the great work milo, thanks again :)

[@WiecznieNieNasycony]

science or not, I know from experience that we need three good exercises for aiming each head of the triceps that works for us best not everyone is the same JM press work very good for me progressive overload is very long there incline bench triceps pushdowns work very good for me to for triceps over head, then single hand triceps cables extension are good to

[@Justafreesheep]

Great information man, ironically it’s the exact 2 exercises I’ve been doing for months! Overhead cable extensions and lying dumbbell extensions

[@repswithroscoe]

Milo you are right. I would use the 100kg dumbbell for tricep overhead extensions if my gym had them...

[@daaaaaave]

I thought I misheard that. Was this a joke referencing something I haven’t seen?

[@ab1053897310]

glad to see this channel growing!🎉

[@bv_benhur2087]

Never thought of this. Great video. Definitely going to use this info in my next bulking block of training. You should do one for the biceps next time cuz I need some tips there as well.

[@hyst3riaaa]

Amazingly useful! Please do for other muscle groups as well, Milo 🙌🏻

[@vladvlad8749]

Is pump a factor in excercise selection? What if you get very prominent pumps with cable pushdowns but none with a OH cable extension? Should one stick to a "more lengthened" exercise if an alternative one provides a better pump?

[@FreireThierry]

Again, great video!!! At min 11:08 the study you mention, points out hypoxia being an effective hypertrophic stimulus. I've always indeed realised that training partials at bottom ROM provides me a great pump without any BFR apparatus whatsoever. Just by mainly avoiding lock-out.😅 SMH FTW

[@manduraballistic3742]

The main excercise hurts my joints, am I doing it wrong?

[@symico]

great content, i like to do a push down or a standing one arm cross over pull down and back to warm up the tricep then go with a standing skull crusher to get the stretch but i will do the one arm version as a finisher.

[@1m2ogaming]

Need more of those

[@marqsblg2274]

Can you make a video of types of progression, linear, double, dynamic double, triple etc...

[@BenG-rd5wg]

Great video, Milo! Could you please explain to me again what you think of skullovers? I didn't quite understand whether you said they were suboptimal when you mentioned them first.

[@foodformosquitoes]

Amazing video brother

[@honeybrew5063]

I prefer the JM Press over the Pushdown. Pushdowns always feel weird and the cable pulleys in my gym are rusty and everything but smooth. I still do them but more as a "secondary" exercise (since december with LPs) My primary exercise is the overhead Extension on a cable, but I feel like it's an exercise where I really plateau often and feel the need to change something like the Cable Angle or the attachement.

[@harmoni.e]

This is very good and I discovered this whiles developing a personal tricep growth program. First I started with dips, bench Dips, and psuedo planche pushups. (I googled this targeted all 3 heads 🤷🏾‍♀️) I saw some growth over a month but my dips never improved because I could still only do negative dips. So, I ditched the dips for overhead extensions w/ 10lb dumbells and was amazed at how hard it was. I could barely do 3 reps! It's been 2 weeks since then. Now I can manage maybe 10 reps AND I just tested my dips after watching this video and I can do 3 full, real dips. 😮

[@jeffbunnell9961]

Good this is my main triceps builder, along with cross-body extensions

[@hero1raiden]

Really awesome series. During overhead extension, is the degree of shoulder abduction and/or rotation relevant? Is it necessary for the humerus to be maximally flexed? Would you consider doing a brief tutorial on the movement? Thank you

[@sandy2kr11]

Great one! more of this type of content please.

[@ProphetFear]

When I train triceps directly I use distal dominant lifts and lateral angles. When I train back I always do pullover variants behind the head. Actually, ab wheel rollouts count as tricep volume too, and barbell situps behind the head, and I guess when you do candlesticks and grab the bench behind you that counts as an isometric stretch. Simply put, the long head is ironically the easiest head in the world to hit without even trying.

[@iSakdes]

Thank you! very informative. I'd suggest lowering the background music a little bit. It makes hearing your voice a bit difficult. My laptop's speakers are considered good yet I find it difficult to hear you properly.

[@thsstphok7937]

We need a video of the best exercises for quads. You're legs are very developed

[@WolfCoaching]

Coming soon boss!

[@klalakomacoi]

Happy to do the overhead cable extension for most of my tricep work, but you'll take the JM Press from my cold dead hands.

[@VideoGerm]

Amazing series. Please do one for all muscle groups.

[@patrikjelinek8945]

Great video. I just have one question: Does having a neutral grip for tricep exercises not limit its recruitment? Basically, is the tricep working as well as with a pronated grip?

[@Pain53924]

Please make a video about best exercises for the forearms for hypertrophy.

[@tastytucker981]

Great video as usual Dr. Milo! I like to have the cable pully set high and I bend to a 90ish degree angle with one foot in front and the other against the cable machine for stability while facing away. Would you say this is still ideal or no? I ask because it is still overhead in the stretched position albeit at a different angle rather than standing or sitting straight up. Been loving the videos man very informative.

[@jgillerm]

Great series Coach

[@bisaular5333]

I have freaky triceps since i was in my 20, and now nearly 50. My best exercises? Skullcrusher/french press and overhead extension. I train in my home gym, always have. In my early days, all i used was short bar and ezbar. Now, i have cables, so i alternate between them. Pressdown never work for me. Dont know why. Well maybe it works but not good enough for me. Rope pressdown maybe, but not the bar.

[@cfisher642]

obviously the biceps next to round out the arms. Thanks for the knowledge

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

With weighted skullcrushers using the (20lb) ez bar, while keeping your upper arms in a fixed slightly further back from vertical position, you can have the bar clearing the top of your head, simulating an overhead extension with regards to the stretch.

[@Metalkake]

Fantastic video! Would love to see your take on Chesticles 🙏

[@Marcooooooooooo]

Damn, you got a solid OHP. Music too dramatic for me, but thanks for video!

[@danielmillward9947]

Was it 100 or 60 kg

[@itsallgoodman940]

You said a skullover is bad than you said its good, which is it? So happy to hear you say that. Doing that one tomorrow. Would the vbar OH cable extension be fine. As another point would be dual exercises over single-armed exercises.

[@Dougie.A.M]

Y u not 260 doh? All jokes aside, excellent content Wolf. I look forward to binge watching your future content sir.

[@toms1389]

Hey man, found your channel through the video's of Dr mike. You make also great videos and i like the science behind it. Can u maybe make a video for options about training the glutes with cable excercises with emphasizing the excentric stretch. Dr. Mike have videos about the glutes but no cable excercises. I think cable excercises for the glutes are a good way to train the glutes with less hamstring/quads activation compared to lunges/squats etc. I aks this because i expercienced more female then man clients when i was training people and the girls mostly wanted bigger glutes without bigger legs😅. Keep up the good work!

[@brownpanda8320]

Could you do a version of this but for people that train at home, or only have a pair of adjustable dumbbells?

[@h3k4me3]

Yes, it would be great to explicitly include the best options that use dumbbells and maybe a bench.

[@tntcheats]

TL;DW: 1. bosu ball Jefferson curls, 2. jerk then cleans, 3. tricep curls. You're welcome.

[@elecow17]

i added this to my routine a few months ago and did see some growth, so glad to hear a credible coach feels the same way about this exercise. ps i knew it was a good exercise cause i "hated" doing this for my triceps.. that stretch you get at the lengthened position is nastyyy

[@manduraballistic3742]

Great vid. I'd love to see for forearms. Never seen that done before

[@Candyapplebone]

I recently started doing one arm skull crushers and I noticed they’re really working on my arms. Good advice

[@paraworth]

Fantastic. First prize. Cable over head extension Oh yeah what a feeling

[@aliendroneservices6621]

0:01 Chest press and overhead press, Timed Static Contraction (TSC). Not both in the same exercise session. Allow plenty of time for recovery.

[@mikesalvato]

The single arm vs dual arm is really useful for me because i foujd the heavier the weight stack the more i had to angle to offset due to my bodyweight vs the stack, even when my muscle could handle it

[@RobiGold11]

Just use a dip belt to weigh yourself down

[@nmnate]

Put the cable pulley lower so that you're pushing a little more directly against the ground. If you have a massive lean with the full stack, it's really cumbersome.

[@Marco-pf3te]

For elbow pain: start with pushdowns as a 1st exercise and then do overhead extensions second. By having pumped a lot of blood into the area your elbows are nicely warmed up, which prevents pain. Secondly, you need less weight on the extensions because you're pre-fatigued. In this case less weight is actually a good thing since it might prevent pain and fortunately pre-fatigue doesn't mean less hypertrophy (according to Andy Galpin).

[@Omar1066]

Great video. Learning lots. Thank you.

[@memouki]

The long head of the triceps disengages when the shoulder is abducted, you need shoulder adduction to engage the long head of the triceps if not you will only target the other two short heads of the tricep. That's what I learned from Dr. Veronica Foster. Does this always apply or is there something I'm missing?

[@matusjurcik6974]

by starting doing dumbbell skull overs, my arm size increased like crazy over relatively short period of time (years ago). Still doing that as my main excercise. Skullcrushers not good for me (elbows and shoulders). Dumbbell skull overs, are more natural and can load them more.

[@Pliniomohn]

Do this series for all muscle groups, please

[@Antonio_Serdar]

I would say this was very intuitive, nothing kills my triceps like cable overhead extensions. I do it with both arms though, and I make sure to get an EXTREME stretch in the triceps.

[@wissen9000]

I would like to see a push pull leg split with all theses best exercises in it and how many rest days exercise order etc

[@gerarddempsey5785]

Love this series!

[@onurbole7921]

Why is it that we think about pressing movements every time we talk about compounds for the triceps? An overhead extension and pullover hybrid is technically a compound and that would work the triceps and lats simultaneously in the stretched position.

[@lazer797]

That Dips depth is insane. I felt my shoulder snap just by watching

[@jadenalmeida8592]

1) 6:40 cable overgead extension 2) 10:30 skull crudhers