both rope pulldowns and rope v-handle pulldowns are triceps training movements that are highly visible in the gym. They are very advantageous both in terms of depth of stimulation and ease of mastery.
But if your plan for the day is to train your arms alone, rather than bench press followed by a bit of triceps work, then come up and start the various rope pulldowns and the fitness-loving beast is afraid you'll lose more quality moves.
various variations of arm flexors and triceps extensions for the triceps are great for training the triceps alone.
Arm flexors can be done standing, sitting or lying down, on a plank, on an upper incline bench, on a lower incline bench, or with different types of equipment such as straight bars, bent bars or dumbbells. The advantage of using dumbbells is that you can identify and address imbalances in arm strength.
just make sure that the weight of the dumbbells is not too heavy. It is very important to perform a full stroke in order to properly work the triceps, and oversized dumbbells hinder you from performing the movement better.
How to do dumbbell overhead arm curls?
If you only have a pair of dumbbells, or a limited number of dumbbells available at the gym, do not do this movement if they are all too heavy. More importantly, this movement requires moving the triceps over the full movement stroke so that they are correctly stimulated, and too much weight can make the movement difficult, thus increasing the risk of muscle injury.
1. Start in a standing position, feet apart, shoulder-width apart, with the dumbbells raised in front of your body.
2. Raise the dumbbells above your head until your arms are straight.
3. Slowly lower the dumbbells behind your head, taking care not to extend your elbows outwards too much.
4. Lift the deadlift to the starting position when the forearm is above the horizontal position.
5. The upper arms should remain stationary throughout the exercise.
6. Do 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps each.
7. Do super sets with diamond push-ups to bombard the triceps more thoroughly and strengthen the pecs and shoulders at the same time.
8. Concentrate on getting a full range of triceps stimulation with each movement to ensure that more muscle fibres are activated. The more fibres that are activated, the more muscle will grow.
one-arm dumbbell triceps overhead arm curls
by using dumbbells instead of a curved barbell for overhead arm curls, you can alternate between the two arms to ensure that the weaker arm does not get more done by the stronger arm, but at the same time you can work only one arm per set. This movement allows you to concentrate on one arm and have a greater range of motion, so make sure the triceps are stimulated in every place.
As with the other workouts, make sure the weight is not too heavy and that ideally both arms are well rested.
overhead rope arm curls
if you do this movement with a rope instead of a dumbbell, the main benefit is that the resistance is consistent throughout the exercise. Attach the handles to the pulley in the low position and raise your hands above your head with your arms fully extended.
Lower the rope, keeping the upper arms still, then flex the arms back to the starting position.
supine dumbbell arm curls
lie down and do arm curls on a flat bench during the workout. This helps you to focus better on the arm movement, unlike the standing movement to keep your balance, and both movements work well on the triceps.
Lie on a flat bench with your arms straight and hold dumbbells in both hands. Lower the dumbbells in elbow flexion, keeping the upper arms still and also ensuring that the elbows do not flare out to the sides, and slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
exercise ball supine arm curls
if you want to do arm curls lying down, you can also lie on an exercise ball instead of a flat bench, which makes the movement more difficult.
The unstable surface of the exercise ball makes it necessary to keep the core in good shape while doing the movement, which gives a whole new training stimulus to isolation movements that would otherwise target the triceps. When doing arm curls on an exercise ball, be sure to use exceptionally light weights, otherwise you are likely to fall.
variations on machines like dumbbells, curved bars and straight bars, variations on tools like planks and exercise balls, and i'm sure you'll be able to discover even more arm flexion variations on your own to give your triceps a different kind of stimulation. Show off your proud horseshoe arms this summer.