Interesting Figure Prep Triceps Workout

Oh, here we go another figure prep triceps workout and training article. Yes, that’s exactly right, another one, but this one is going to expel quality training secrets that will get your triceps to develop and grow.  Nothing looks more striking than well-developed arms on stage to complete the package.

First, let me warn you about other so-called experts in the field of figure prep. You will see them put out information on training. As I read their content I can only come to the conclusion that it’s just regurgitated data, copied from another source.

One dead give away is that some trainers refer to the triceps muscle as “tricep” such as:

Tricep exercise

My tricep training

A Tricep muscle

The Tricep pushdown

These are wrong. Why? Good question. First, the triceps muscle is one muscle composed of 3 heads. So, it’s not one head as in, “tricep”. It contains 3 heads as in “triceps”.

All three heads work together when doing any triceps movement. If you performed a tricep exercise you would hit only 1 of the 3 triceps heads, and that’s impossible!

Figure Prep Triceps Workout for Results

Surprising to some, the triceps muscle takes up 2/3 of your arm space, making it larger than the biceps muscle. Oh, the same verbiage applies to the biceps muscle too, biceps; it’s one muscle composed of 2 heads.

Even though your triceps may be the larger of the two arm muscles, it may not be as developed as your biceps. This is actually common because your triceps are located on the back of your arms, sort of out of sight and a lot of people tend to not train the rear body parts as intensely since they can’t be seen as much.

But we’ll fix that!

Now that you know that you have a triceps (a three-headed muscle) muscle and not just a tricep (a one-headed muscle) you need to understand the insertion points so you can train all three heads the best possible way for maximum development in your figure prep triceps workout.

Structure and Training Secret

Here is how your triceps muscle is broken down:

• The long head runs down the back of your arm and is the largest of the three heads. It’s also referred to as the inner head as well.
• The medial head is positioned on the midline of the triceps, lying deep within the arm. This head is appropriately referred to as the middle head at times.
• The lateral head is located on the outside of the arm, giving that familiar horseshoe shape that makes your triceps stand out. This head is often referred to as the outer head.

So, what are you suppose to do with that information? Here’s the trick. To build awesome, and I mean totally hot triceps, you need to train each head in a precise order.

As the angle of your arms change, the intensity of stress affects the heads differently. It’s not uncommon for figure athletes to train their lateral head too much and not put much priority on the medial and long heads.

The Long Head (The Belly of the Muscle)

The secret is to start with the long head, train that first and work down to the smallest head, the lateral head. What does training in this fashion do? Well look at you, another great question. Training with the longest head and working down allows you to put the most intensity and power into the primary head that is responsible for overall size.

When you train the long head the other 2 heads will be stimulated either partially or fully depending on the exercise. Even so, you should start your weight training off with an exercise that works the long head of the triceps muscle.  By developing the long head you will build well-rounded triceps with a lot of depth. This is EXACTLY what the judges are looking for!

In your triceps workout, focus on exercises that zone-in on the long head which are the ones that allow the triceps to stretch fully. When training your tris, your arm and elbow positions are critical. Usually, any movement over the head allows the long head to be stretched completely.

Below are some triceps exercises that zone in on the long head:

• Skulls / lying triceps extensions / French press
• Overhead extension (reverse grip too)
• Pushdown using straight bar with a narrow grip
• Close-grip bench press
• Dips

Now, I’m going to share one juicy tip on making your triceps workout 80% more effective. Can you guess what it is? It’s all in the thumb. On exercises such as skulls, overhead extensions and pushdowns where you can shift your thumb to the same side of your hand where your fingers are do it. This will put greater emphasis on your triceps.

You see, when you wrap your thumb around the bar, the brachioradialis muscle in the forearm is called upon to keep the thumb in place and this takes the emphasis off of the triceps. Pretty cool trick, huh?

The Medial Head

A lot of the weight training exercises that stimulate the long head hit the medial head as well. With that, there’s not a lot of difference in training, as on both you want to get the full stretch with your elbows overhead or out in front of you.

Below are some triceps exercises that zone in on the medial head:

• Close-grip bench press
• Overhead extension
• Skulls
• Pushdown (v-bar or straight bar)
• Reverse grip pushdown
• Dips

Below are some triceps exercises that zone in on the lateral head:

• Rope extensions
• Kickbacks
• Pushdowns
• Dips

Besides training from the long head and working down to lateral head, there’s no exact format to follow because all three heads work as a team. It’s just some exercises zone in more on one head more than others.

Below are some triceps workouts you can try.

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Close-grip bench press	4	8-12
Skulls	4	8-12
Pushdowns	3	12-15

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Dips	4	8-12
Overhead extensions	4	8-12
Kickbacks	3	12-15

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Skulls	4	8-12
Dips	4	8-12
Rope extensions	3	12-15

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Overhead extensions	4	8-12
Skulls	4	8-12
Kickbacks	3	12-15

Your first week do workout #1, your second week do workout #2, the following week do week #3, and finish off with week #4 and see how your triceps look and feel after this cycle.

How To Build The Complete Package

Now that you have an awesome figure prep triceps workout, go hit them hard, correctly, and let them rest so they can recover fully.  Take charge of your training and diet and get my FREE Contest Prep Crash Course the Insider Lessons.  Using this information, you can catapult your diet and training to the next level.