Have you noticed that your triceps are weaker than your biceps? Ideally, our triceps should be bigger than the sum of the biceps and radius, however, some people's triceps are underdeveloped because it is harder to feel the stimulation and the triceps are too short. The only way to do this is to deliberately build it up.
In addition, the lateral head is the most pronounced of the three parts of the triceps, while the other two are more easily blocked by the body. And which way should we focus our training?
How often should you train?
Generally speaking, the triceps will be worked in conjunction with the pectoralis major, whether you are doing push-ups or bench presses, the triceps will be working together and assisting.
Jay ashman, weight training instructor at nasm pes, recommends training the triceps 2-3 times a week and the latest scientific literature confirms that such a training frequency is efficient; this is according to a study published in the journal of sports medicine which showed that muscles trained twice or more a week will gain greater size and strength compared to those trained once a week.
Triceps training focus
Usually triceps training is based on isolation movements where only one joint is active (basically the elbow joint), however, there are some considerations to be taken into account when performing isolation training, coach ashman says that in any isolation exercise you have to be aware of the contraction and extension of the muscle, for each repetition it is important to get the muscle as extended as possible and then for example, in a standing or seated triceps extension, extend the weight as far down as possible to ensure that the triceps on the back of the arm feel the extension, then lock the elbow to allow the forearm to lift the weight up, slowing down as much as possible to focus on the sensation of contraction and extension rather than through a fast rhythm of movement.
The elbow position has a great influence on the effectiveness of triceps training. For example, when you perform a triceps pulley pull-down, you have to train with the elbows pinned to the sides of the body, which then relaxes the long head and interferes with its involvement, so it is necessary to train more of the lateral head muscles, another training movement is to position the elbows to the this will concentrate particularly on the long head; reducing the stimulation of the lateral head.
In simple terms, the downward pulling and pressing movement focuses on the lateral head of the triceps; the upward elbow lift trains the long head of the triceps, so you can then do strengthening depending on which one you are missing.