Single Handed Tricep Pulldown

 

This exercise is excellent for developing triceps.  Set a cable-pull on a light to medium weight and grab the handle with an underhanded grip.

 

 

 

Lock your active elbow to the side of your body and pull down until your arm is fully extended.  Hold for a second and slowly release it to the starting position.

 





I like to do this exercise at the end of a full tricep routine as a finisher.  Go for 4 sets of 12 for each arm.

Tom

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Overhead Tricep Rope Press

The Overhead Tricep Rope Press is a wicked arm workout.  This exercise really blasts triceps.  Set up at a cable machine so that the rope handle is up high behind you.  Grab the handles.  Lean forward.  Point your elbows up and forward.

Press your arms out until your elbows lock.  Let the cable tension pull your hands back.  Repeat.  Try to keep your elbows steady.  Aim for 3 sets of 10 reps.  The Overhead Tricep Rope Press is great on its own or as part of a more advanced tricep routine.

Tom

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Winter Home Workouts

Cabin Fever

Gone are the warm glorious days of summer.  No more box-jumps in the park while swatting mosquitoes.  Brace yourself for the ice and slush and the gloom of winter.  Fight the winter blues and stay slim and trim with a simple home work-out plan.  This workout is for my friend and client Mary-Beth.  I hope she enjoys it and I hope you do too.

Equipment

The stability ball or Swiss Ball or Physio Ball as some call it is a really good workout tool.  You can do tons of exercises with this piece of equipment.  This routine will also use dumbbells.

Stab Ball Wall Sit

Stab Ball Wall Sit is an excellent exercise for your quads (front of thighs).  Find a bare patch of wall.  Sandwich the ball between you and the wall.  Feet well out in front and about 12 inches apart.  Slowly squat down, letting the ball roll up your back.  Press back up again.  Do 3 sets of 15 reps.

 



Stab Ball Roll-In

Stab Ball Roll-In is a great exercise for glutes and hamstrings.  Lay on the floor on your back.  Place your calves on top of the ball.  This is a two-phase movement.  First - lift your butt off the floor.  Second - pull the ball toward you with your feet.  Reverse the movement until butt is back on the floor.  Do 3 sets of 12 reps.



Calf Raises

For Calf Raises, go to a set of stairs in your house.  Plant the balls of your feet on the edge of the stair-tread.  Legs straight, let your body-weight push your heels down until you can feel a nice stretch in your Achilles tendons.  Now push down with your toes to go up onto tip-toes.  Do 2 sets of 25.  Yes...25.  Feel the burn!

Stab Ball Pike

Stab Ball Pike looks like a super-tough exercise but you will be surprised at how easy it is to master.  Stand in front of the ball.  Roll over top of the ball until your hands are planted on the floor.  Knees should be on top of the ball.  Now pull the ball toward you and drive your butt up into the air.  This is a great ab workout.  Do 1 set of 12.

 

Push Ups

 

Yep.  That's right.  Good old-fashioned push-ups.  An excellent compound, functional upper-body exercise and you can do anywhere.

 



 

Push-ups are sweet.  They work your pecs, triceps, and, since you're holding a plank throughout, they work your abs.  If you keep your hands in closer; you place more emphasis on triceps.  Hands out wider; more emphasis on pecs.  Go all the way up and all the way down.  Do 2 sets of your Max (ie as many as you can do...twice).  Aim for improvement each workout.

Bench Dips

Bench Dips are great.  You just need a coffee table or some other stable surface.  Fingers forward.  Heels of hands on the edge.  The farther out you place your feet; the harder it is.  Start with arms fully extended.  Bend the elbows and lower your butt straight to the floor.  You should feel this in the triceps.  You will feel a stretch in the shoulders too sometimes.  Do 3 sets of 12. 

Dumbbell Military Press

Time for Shoulders.  Dumbbell Military Press is a nice deltoid exercise that you can do in the comfort of your home to keep your shoulders in top form.

Start with the dumbbells at your shoulders.  Press them straight up until the elbows are locked-out.  Do 3 sets of 10.

Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Stand up straight.  Feet shoulder-width apart.  Dumbbells down at the sides of your thighs.  Palms facing forward.  Curl the dumbbells upward as far as you can.  Lower slowly.  Do 3 sets of 12.



Recap

Here's Mary-Beth's Wintertime Blues Workout in Summary:

Stab Ball Wall-Sit - 3 x 15
Stab Ball Roll-In - 3 x 12
Calf Raise - 2 x 25
Stab Ball Pike - 1 x 12
Push Up - 2 x Max
Bench Dips - 3 x 12
Dumbbell Military Press - 3 x 10
Dumbbell Bicep Curls - 3 x 12

Do this full-body routine 3 times per week.  Get some cardio too.  Go for a long brisk walk or ride a stationary bike.

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Outdoor Training

Bench Dips

 

Bench Dips

 

You can do "Bench Dips" almost anywhere.  You just need a stable low platform.  These are great tricep builders and good for developing practical, natural strength.  If you need to throw a punch or push yourself up and out of a manhole; you need strong triceps.

Push-ups on a Swing

Push-Ups on a Swing.

 

Wicked core workout before we even talk about pecs.  Holding yourself up and stable in this position really works the abs.  Crank out a few push-ups and you will do your chest and arms a favour too.  Look for a swing-set in sand rather than pea-gravel pictured above.

Step-ups on a Low Wall

Step-ups

 

This is a good glute exercise.  Easy to find a nice low platform.  I do all my reps on one side first then switch.  Knee-high platform is good; higher is even better.

Box...



...Jumps

Box Jumps 

Box Jumps are a wicked plyometric workout.  Find a low, stable, flat, dry platform like the sculpture/seat pictured above.  Stand back a couple of feet.  Crouch.  Jump. Step back. Repeat.  Great exercise for glutes, quads, hamstrings.  Do these at a rate of 20/minute and they'll be great cardio too.  This is an advanced move; start low and work your way up. 

 

 

 

Tom

 

 

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Muscle Matters - Tricep

Tricep work is an important part of any program - Tom

Bench Dips are a great exercise and can be done almost anywhere.  Great hotel room workout on a coffee table. - Tom

Tricep is a 3-headed muscle group on the back of the upper-arm.  This muscle extends the arm and is vital to most sports and many everyday activity. - Tom

The Tricep

I like to combine tricep work with my chest routine.  That way, the triceps get warmed-up during the heavy pressing movements and are ready for tricep-specific work.  Because the tricep is a 3-headed muscle, it responds well to a variety of exercises. 

Think of tricep as your "Emergency Muscle".  This is the muscle that you count on to get you out of a jam.  You push yourself up off the ground with tricep, throw a jab with tricep, fend-off an overhead blow with tricep, haul yourself out of a hole with your triceps.

Tricep is not immune to injury.  If you feel unusual pain where the tendon attaches to the elbow - ice it and take a few days off from any tricep work.

Great triceps make an immediate visual impact.  Flabby triceps are a big detriment to anyone's appearance.  Keep checking my blog for future tips on how to develop this vital muscle group.

Tom

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