Try Training Triceps

By Dr. Graham
Last updated March 4th, 2019 .First posted on by .
What’s the big deal about developing bigger biceps?

When we talk about arm development, most people check out their biceps, and tend to ignore the triceps, simply because the biceps are visible and the triceps are all but hidden from view on the back of the upper arm.


Impromptu pose
at Health & Fitness Week

Ask someone to “make a muscle” and they will almost invariably pose with flexed biceps, perhaps even proudly kissing their “big guns.”

Biceps are so named because of their two “heads,” or origins, whereas the triceps have three points of origin. Technically, the triceps are

the larger of the two muscles, yet most people develop their biceps while all but ignoring their triceps, to the point that the biceps become larger than the triceps.


Health & Fitness Week

For bigger arms, developing the triceps will yield better results, but today we�re not talking about getting bigger muscles.


Health & Fitness Week

In terms of functional strength, putting time into triceps development will bring more useful results than putting the majority of focus on the biceps.

In sport, more is demanded of the triceps than the biceps, with the majority of sports putting a focus on triceps strength, while very few sports call for overpowering biceps strength.


Health & Fitness Week
if you ignore your strength, it will go away

If you haven’t been putting energy into strength training, remember that if you ignore your strength, it will go away. If you have been putting insufficient focus on triceps, especially if you have also been giving your biceps more than their fair share of attention, consider if it is time to bring your triceps up to speed.

 

Commit a few minutes every week to triceps strength training.

You will feel, look, and function better with stronger triceps.

 

Your golf swing, tennis backhand, yoga, bench press, shot put, swimming, pole vault, calisthenics, and many other activities will benefit immensely.

— Dr. Graham

Stability Ball Tricep Extension Exercise

Tricep extension exercises basically utilize a movement where the elbows serve as the hindge of the movement while the upper arm is kept in the same place throughout the movement, and the lower arms and hands that hold the resistance move through the range of motion. The range of motion takes your arms from being in a straight position to a bent at the elbow position. This can be performed in a variety of positions, with a multitude of resistance sources.

Today we focus on an exercise that also targets other areas of the body at the same time. This exercise not only targets your triceps, it also works your core, glutes, and hamstrings.

Steps 4 and 5 shown here
Lisa Holt instructing at FoodnSport Washington Retreats

 

Equipment:

    • stability ball

 

  • dumbbells

 

Directions:

    1. Place dumbbells at your feet in front of your stability ball.

 

    1. Sit on stability ball.

 

    1. Carefully pick up the dumbbells and place them on your legs, sitting upright.

 

    1. Curl dumbbells to your shoulders with elbows in to your sides.

 

    1. Step feet out away from you to carefully roll the ball down your back until your upper back is resting on the stability ball, keeping dumbbells and arms close to your body.

 

    1. Raise your hips so your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders, keeping neck in a neutral position. Maintain this body position for the whole set of reps. To help maintain this position throughout and make the most of this exercise, push your weight into your heels and keep the glutes engaged.

 

    1. Extend the dumbbells directly over your head with arms straight and palms facing each other. Keep dumbbells against each other.
Stability Ball Tricep Extensions
at the FoodnSport Washington Retreats

 

    1. Start of rep: Keep your upper arms in this same postion while slowly bending your arms and lowering the dumbbells until your forearms are below parallel to the floor, and your elbows are pointing up.

 

    1. Keeping your upper arms in place, lift your weights to the top of your arms to straighten your arms and return to start. That’s the end of the rep

 

    1. Repeat from step 8 for the amount of repititions (reps) to develop your muscles according to your goals. A good range for general purposes and to start with would be 8-12 reps. Choose a weight that allow you to do 8, but no more than 12, in good form.

 

    1. When you have finished one set of reps: bring dumbbells back to the position you used in steps 4 and 5: close to your shoulders with arms close to your side.

 

    1. Carefully step your feet back toward the ball so that you slowly roll yourself back up into sitting position.

 

    1. Place dumbbells on knees to rest between sets.

 

    1. Start at step 4 from here to do your next set of reps. Doing 1 – 3 sets with 30-90 second rests between is a good general purpose place to start.

 

  1. When finished with all sets of reps, from sitting position with weights on legs (as in step 3), stand, letting the ball to roll away from you.

 

Additional Resources

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.