Tricep Heads Workout Tips You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

Understand your tricep heads first

Before you jump into any tricep heads workout, it helps to know what you are actually training. Your triceps are not just one muscle. They are a three part team that works together whenever you push, press, or straighten your arm.

You have:

Long head
Runs from your shoulder blade to your elbow
Largest of the three and crucial for overall arm size and shape
Helps extend your elbow and assists with shoulder movements like bringing your arm back or overhead
Lateral head
Sits on the outer side of your upper arm
Creates that visible “horseshoe” look when flexed
Works hard during powerful, high intensity pushing movements
Medial head
Tucked closer to your torso, under the other two
Less visible, but key for stability and lockout strength

Research suggests the three heads have different fiber types and motor units, which means they behave almost like three separate muscles with specific roles in arm movement. When you understand that, your tricep workouts stop being random and start becoming targeted and intentional.

Focus on the long head for arm size

Since the long head is the largest part of the triceps and crosses the shoulder joint, it plays a huge role in how big your upper arm looks. If you want thicker arms, giving the long head extra attention in your tricep heads workout is smart.

The long head is best trained when it is:

Stretched overhead
Fully shortened with the arm down and back

Best long head tricep exercises

Try building your sessions around a mix of overhead and lying movements like:

Overhead tricep extensions
Dumbbell overhead extensions
Cable overhead tricep extensions
Weight plate overhead extensions
Lying tricep extensions and skull crushers
EZ bar or dumbbell skull crushers
Lying tricep extensions with dumbbells or cables
Banded lying tricep extensions

These moves put the long head in a lengthened position, which is strongly linked to hypertrophy for this part of the muscle, according to updated triceps guides and hypertrophy research cited in a 2024 Gymshark article.

Programming tips for the long head

To make this work in the real world:

Include one overhead exercise and one lying extension in each tricep session
Aim for 8 to 12 reps with a weight that feels challenging near the end of the set
Control the stretch at the bottom instead of bouncing in and out of reps
Keep your upper arms steady so the long head does not lose tension

You do not need to load these with your heaviest weights. A moderate load with excellent form and slow lowering will usually beat sloppy heavy reps for growth.

Build the lateral head “horseshoe”

The lateral head gives your triceps that sharp outer edge. If you are chasing definition and a more athletic look, this is the head you want to highlight. The lateral head works best when:

Your elbows stay tucked by your sides
You use a pronated or neutral grip
You emphasize powerful elbow extension

Best lateral head tricep exercises

Some strong options for your lateral head are:

Cable tricep pushdowns with an overhand or rope grip
Dumbbell skull crushers with elbows slightly tucked
Close grip bench press
Diamond push ups
Rope or bar pressdowns with elbows pinned to your ribs
Tricep kickbacks with a neutral grip
Tricep dips

A 2024 fitness guide highlights that lateral head focused exercises like skull crushers, cable pushdowns, and close grip bench work are especially effective when executed with close grips and controlled technique.

Common lateral head mistakes to avoid

When you are chasing the pump in your lateral head, it is easy to slip into bad habits. Watch out for:

Flaring your elbows way out to the sides
Using too much weight, which turns a tricep move into a full body heave
Cutting the range of motion short at the top or bottom
Rushing the negative, instead of lowering under control

Keep your ego in check here. A lighter weight with strict form will hit the lateral head more than a load you can only throw around.

Do not forget the medial head

You might not see the medial head as clearly, but you feel it when you lock out a press or finish a push up. It is essential for stability and full elbow extension.

The medial head responds well to:

Hands by your sides
Underhand or reverse grips
Full range of motion to lockout

Best medial head tricep exercises

To round out your tricep heads workout, mix in movements like:

Reverse grip cable pushdowns
Underhand pressdowns
Close grip bench press taken to a firm but controlled lockout

Guides updated in 2024 and 2025 point out that reverse grip pushdowns are particularly useful for emphasizing this inner, stabilizing head.

You do not need many medial head specific moves. One carefully performed reverse grip exercise in each tricep session is usually enough for most people.

Use compound lifts to work all three

While isolation exercises let you zoom in on each tricep head, compound movements give you more muscle for your time. They load all three heads at once and help you build real world strength.

Useful compound options include:

Close grip bench press
Standard or weighted dips
Diamond push ups
Military or overhead press with a closer grip
Standard push ups

A closer grip in pressing movements naturally increases tricep involvement compared with wider grip variations. Research based guides emphasize that exercise choices like close grip bench press, dips, and diamond push ups are efficient because they hit the long, lateral, and medial heads together.

You can think of compound lifts as the foundation of your tricep training and the isolation work as the finishing detail.

Structure a tricep heads workout

You can build a balanced session by combining one or two compound moves with targeted isolation work. Here is a sample template you can adjust based on your level.

Sample beginner tricep workout

Close grip push ups

3 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Overhead dumbbell tricep extensions

3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

Cable pushdowns (overhand grip)

3 sets of 10 to 15 reps

This hits all three heads with simple, easy to learn movements.

Sample intermediate tricep workout

Close grip bench press

3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps

EZ bar skull crushers

3 sets of 8 to 12 reps

Rope cable pushdowns

3 sets of 10 to 15 reps

Reverse grip cable pushdowns

2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps

Here you get:

Heavy compound work for overall strength
Long head emphasis from skull crushers
Lateral head focus from rope pushdowns
Medial head activation from reverse grip work

Sample advanced tricep workout

If your elbows are healthy and you have good technique, you can try a more demanding session:

Weighted tricep dips

4 sets of 6 to 8 reps

Barbell or EZ bar skull crushers

4 sets of 8 to 10 reps

Single arm cable pushdowns

3 sets of 10 to 12 reps per side

Overhead cable tricep extensions

3 sets of 12 to 15 reps focusing on stretch

This setup combines heavy loading, unilateral work, and long head stretching positions for a powerful growth stimulus.

Train in the right rep ranges and volume

For most muscle growth goals, including your triceps, the general sweet spot is:

8 to 12 reps per set
Around 60 to 80 percent of your one rep max

Triceps guides and hypertrophy research referenced by Gymshark in June 2024 suggest:

12 to 28 total sets per week per muscle group
Spread across at least two sessions

For your triceps, that might look like:

2 or 3 tricep focused workouts per week
4 to 8 sets per session, depending on your experience and recovery

You do not need to live in the gym. You do need to be consistent and gradually increase either the weight, the total reps, or the total sets over time.

Use form cues that actually help

A few small adjustments can turn an average tricep session into an effective one. During your tricep heads workout, try to:

Keep your elbows under control
Overhead and lying work: elbows fixed, not drifting forward or backward
Pushdowns and pressdowns: elbows close to your sides
Move through a full range
Fully bend, then fully straighten your elbows without snapping the joint
Control the lowering phase
Take 2 to 3 seconds to lower the weight on skull crushers, extensions, and pushdowns
Brace your core
Avoid leaning or swinging your torso to cheat the weight up
Breathe on purpose
Inhale as you lower
Exhale as you push or extend

These cues protect your elbows and shoulders while keeping the tension where you want it, on the triceps.

Recover so your triceps can grow

Training is only half of the picture. The other half is allowing your triceps to actually recover and grow. Updated guides on tricep training stress that neglecting rest and recovery can stall progress and increase injury risk.

Keep these basics in mind:

Rest days
Avoid heavy direct tricep work two days in a row
If your elbows feel tender, scale back volume or intensity for a week
Sleep and nutrition
Aim for enough sleep so you wake feeling reasonably rested
Eat a balanced diet that includes enough protein to support muscle growth
Hydration
Staying hydrated supports training performance and recovery
Progression, not punishment
Add weight or reps slowly over time instead of trying to jump too fast

Your triceps will usually respond better to smart, consistent work than to brutal sessions that leave your arms aching for days.

Put it all together

If you remember just a few things from this guide, let it be these:

Your triceps have three distinct heads, and each one responds best to slightly different positions and grips
The long head loves overhead and lying extensions with a full stretch
The lateral head stands out when you use close grips and keep elbows tucked
The medial head benefits from reverse grip, full lockout focused work
Combining compound presses with a few targeted isolation exercises twice a week is usually enough to see progress

Next time you train, do not just add another random pushdown. Pick one exercise for each head, pay attention to your form, and track what you do. A more thoughtful tricep heads workout can make your arms look and perform better, long before you add a single extra set.