Triceps account for roughly two-thirds of your upper arm mass. So why in the name of Arnold do you spend so much more time blasting your biceps? If your true aim is to start using more tape measure around your arms, then you’re going to need to attack your tri's with greater intensity. And once you’ve made that commitment, it’s time to refine your strategy.
Our expert panel offers its collective wisdom on coaxing the most growth out of this muscle group. But you can forget about hearing another cozy prescription for a few extra sets of pressdowns – these guys are going to help you push your triceps to their breaking point so you can get the bulbous, sickly-striated finish that you’ve always wanted.
1. DOWN SHIFT
Have you ever seen John Cena’s triceps? Well, if you haven’t, “tiny” is not a word that would be used to describe them. And though Cena is one of the hardest working men in show biz, he’s taken a fair share of his cues from WWE coach Rob MacIntyre, CSCS. When it comes to triceps specifically, MacIntyre likes to have his clients slow things down a bit.
“I like to use slow reps when training triceps especially on the eccentric portion of the lift,” he says. “Most of the time, the athletes I work with are training triceps explosively as part of other movements. However, when it is time to be pretty and get the big guns, I like to slow the reps down for isolations exercises. It is easy to develop tendonitis by trying to use fast, explosive heavy movements during isolation work due to the stress on the elbow joint. A triceps extension with a 5-10 second eccentric phase changes the game in terms of getting a pump. If you’re new to this type of training, be careful as the triceps tend to give out suddenly.”
>> TRI THIS: Lead off your triceps routine with 3-4 sets of triceps pressdowns or skullcrushers. Select a weight you’d use for 10-12 reps but use a 5-10 second negative on each rep – followed by an explosive concentric, or positive lift – and shoot for eight solid reps.

2. GET MECHANICAL
Josh Bryant, MFS, PES, CSCS, is a performance-first kinda guy. As such, he sees the triceps as a primarily as a supporting player in pressing movements. But when big presses lead to mind-boggling poundages and a superhero-like torso, training them hard makes sense..
“One of my favorite triceps tactics involves using mechanical advantage on the close-grip bench press with boards,” he says. “To do this, complete five, full range of motion close grip bench presses. Don’t rack the weight. Hold the bar pressed out at full extension. Next, have your spotter place one board lengthwise on your torso, so that the board runs from your belly to the middle of your chest. Repeat the exercise for another five reps, lowering the barbell until it touches the board. After each five reps, your partner will add one board to the stack. Little by little, this shortens your range of motion, working your triceps in different ways until you finish with four boards stacked on your chest. That’s 25 reps. It’s also just one set.” Bryant likes using this tactic because, he says, it combines aspects of rest-pause training, partial reps, cheating and drop sets.
>> TRI THIS: Bryant recommends using the system outlined above with your 10-5-rep max weight for 3-5 sets, with three minutes of rest between sets. This can be a stand-alone triceps workout, or you can follow it up with 1-2 isolation exercises for a more intense session.
3. FINISH WITH FAILURE
If your routine already consists of a challenging battery of close-grip bench presses, dips and skullcrushers, you’re on the right track. But how you finish is just as important as how you start. David Sandler, MS, CSCS, believes in getting a skin-stretching pump because of its effect on protein synthesis (read: it increases it).
“I love hitting the triceps pressdown at the end of the routine and doing drops on each set and finishing with some close-grip push-ups,” he says. “I try to hit eight reps on the pressdown set working at max, then the I drop about 25 percent and continue until I cannot get another full rep on my own. Immediately after, I drop to the ground, keep my hands no wider than shoulder-width, and bang out as many pushups as possible. I give myself a generous 90-second rest and do the whole thing again for a second and then third set. Your tri’s get so jacked with a pump, when you leave the gym, everyone knows it.”
>> TRI THIS: After 3-4 exercises worth of heavy triceps work, wrap your day up at the triceps pressdown station with three supersets combining pressdowns and close-grip push-ups. On the pressdowns, use a weight that brings about failure at eight reps, then drop the weight by 20-30 percent and continue on to failure once more before hitting the deck for a set of close-grip push-ups to failure. Rest 90 seconds and repeat for three total sets.

4. DROP IT
Like Sandler, Jim Ryno, CPT, believes in forcing your triceps to grow by inviting punishing pumps.
“By far, my favorite intensity technique when training triceps is using a drop set on the last set of each triceps exercise to really stimulate muscle growth,” he says. “To do this simply drop the weight down approximately 25-30 percent from your original weight for as many reps as you can handle. If you’re doing it right, the tri's should be screaming at you! Drop sets take the muscle to the point beyond muscle failure thus yielding some serious results in your overall upper arm development.”
>> TRI THIS: Research shows that one set to failure per exercise is an effective way to gain muscle size. But every other workout, try humbling your triceps by going beyond failure with a drop set on every exercise. A drop of 20-30% of your working weight has been shown to yield the best results.

5. VOLUMIZE
Why do 10 reps when 20 will do? This is a favorite refrain of the high-volume training crowd, which believes that muscles thrive on high-rep, high-set challenges. Justin Grinnell, CSCS, isn’t so single-minded in his approach but thinks that “more is better” is a philosophy that your triceps can benefit from.
“My favorite training intensity technique for triceps are high-rep supersets,” he says. “Since the triceps get a ton of heavy work from overhead presses, dips and bench presses, I like to get as much blood into the muscle as possible with isolation movements done back-to-back. Doing this will tap into some other muscle fibers that were not hit during the heavy work. I like lying dumbbell triceps extensions superset with overhead rope extensions for four sets of 15 reps. Make sure to keep continuous tension – don’t pause at the bottom of any rep. You want to force as much blood into the muscle as possible, and create as much time under tension as possible to maximize muscle tissue breakdown.”
>> TRI THIS: Finish off your next triceps workout with an isolation-themed superset. For max results, as Grinnell describes, try pairing two exercises that hit different parts of your triceps by varying arm positioning. An overhead extension paired with a pressdown, for example. Grinnell suggests four sets of 15 for each superset.

6. HIT SOME POSES (…SERIOUSLY)
One thing missing from most triceps routines is a focus on achieving a peak contraction – a deliberate, powerful pause at the top of every rep. But with the triceps, this is an especially valuable tool – since the primary job of the triceps is to extend the elbow, achieving and holding that extension can boost positional strength while also summoning more muscle fibers into play. M&F advisory board member Eric the Trainer knows this and prefers to take advantage of it, in unconventional but highly beneficial fashion. He just wants you to flex.
“Using an engorging, or flexing, phase directly following each set with a 10-second hold can blood to the region, supercharging the desired results,” he says.
>> TRI THIS: At the conclusion of each set of triceps work, flex your triceps forcefully for 10 full seconds. Rest 30-60 seconds before diving back into your next working set. Repeat this for each set you do in a given workout to maximize positional strength, blood flow and growth.
7. STEP UP YOUR SELECTION
Attention: back away from the cable station! Too many of us have grown averse to the idea of truly testing ourselves when it comes to building a better physique. But, as Phil Gephart, MS, CSCS, that is exactly why proven, meat-and-potatoes training is superior to fancy techniques any day of the week.
“When we are talking intensity we're not talking ‘let's sweat a lot and work really hard and really fast’ but rather intensity from a training standpoint is simply a number relative to your one rep max,” he says. “So when we go in an intensification phase we are raising the load or using heavier weight. For training triceps during an intensification phase, I feel the most bang for your buck would be to incorporate dips. But you have to make sure you use a full range of motion where the bicep touches the forearm at the bottom of the ROM and your elbows are 99% straight at the top. Because we are talking intensification, shoot for around six repetitions. What that means for most of you guys is that you will probably need to add a weight belt or some apparatus were you can hang weight from your body. Remember, when looking to do six repetitions we want that to be the last rep you could possibly do with maybe one more in reserve. So if you could do 8-10 (or more) it simply isn't heavy enough. Add some more weight, meat.”
>> TRI THIS: How much do you dip, bro? Make it your mission in life to be a boss on the dip bars, striving for sets of six to near failure at the start of your triceps routine when you are strongest. This will likely mean using a weight belt to make it more challenging. If you are serious about gaining all the benefits the dip has to offer, you can always finish your routine with bench dips or machine dips for higher reps.
HORSESHOE FEEDER
Combine these supplements when trying to add size to your tri’s.
Supplement Dose/Timing
Whey Protein: 20 g pre-workout, 20-40 g post-workout
Casein Protein: 10-20 g post-workout
BCAA: 5-10 g pre- and post-workout
Creatine: 2-5 g pre- and post-workout
Beta Alanine: 2-3 g pre- and post-workout