Cable Tricep Extension Guide: Form, Common Mistakes, Benefits & More

If we do this our delts and pecs are going to get involved (see shoulder press guide and smith bench press guide). You see this a lot in the gym and you can guarantee that this isn’t the activation they’re looking for. When you look at this mistake you can see the similarities to a chest dip.

Keep those elbows in and make sure you’re torso is positioned that your hands can move as far away from your chest as possible.

[back to top]

What muscle pulls our humerus (upper arm bone) back to our torso when it’s out in front of us? That’s right, the lats. It’s common to see people recruit the lats in this movement without even knowing doing this mistake. Keep your elbows at your sides and don’t let them rise up.

We have the option here to train for hypertrophy or strength here. If you’re looking to build size and strength, follow a hypertrophy workout. If you’re only interested in low rep, explosive power and don’t want to increase triceps size, go for the strength workout.

For hypertrophy, aim for 10 – 12 reps, for 3 – 4 sets with a 1 – 2 minute rest time.

For strength, aim for 1 – 5 reps, for 3 – 4 sets with a 2 – 5 minute rest time.

[back to top]

Technically, whether the forearm is pronated (palms down) or supinated (palms up) shouldn’t affect the activation of the triceps in isolation. This is correct, however, we don’t perform this movement in isolation as our elbows and shoulders are also involved in the movement.

The triceps main function is to extend the elbow. When we’re talking about triceps extensions, we basically talking about exercises that focus on this one function. Therefore, it stands to reason that this exercise is perfect for building the triceps if done correctly.

There is also a range of variations and handles we can use to target the triceps in different ways. This is no-one trick pony.

There are plenty of triceps exercises that could be considered as inefficient as they include rest throughout reps due to their design. This is usually when a joint takes all the weight or gravity negates the need for muscle activation. A few of these exercises would be a bent over DB triceps extension or some variants of skull-crushers.

This cable variation on the overhand keeps constant pressure on the triceps, increasing time under tension, helping to work the muscle harder and stimulate growth.

[back to top]

The clue is in the name…

As mentioned, this is an isolation exercise for the triceps. The main function of the triceps is to extend the elbow joint.

With the correct form, this should be the one key movement of this exercise.

Lifting our humerus (upper arm bone) above our head is a great way to stretch the long head of the triceps, helping us to activate the muscle to a greater degree. It’s also useful to try different triceps extension angles to ensure we’re functional in different planes of motion.

The single arm triceps pushdown exercise is a great way to isolate and strengthen the triceps muscles. To perform the exercise, you will need access to a cable machine with a single handle attachment. Begin by standing facing the cable machine, with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Grasp the handle with an overhand grip, with your palms facing down. Keep your elbow close to your side and extend your arm, pushing the handle down towards your thigh. Make sure to keep your upper arm stationary throughout the movement.

As you push the handle down, squeeze your triceps muscles and exhale. Slowly release the handle back to the starting position as you inhale. Make sure to keep control of the weight throughout the movement. It is important to maintain proper form while performing the single arm triceps pushdown exercise to avoid injury and maximize muscle activation. You should also avoid locking out your elbow at the bottom of the movement.

The overhead tricep press, also known as the tricep extension, is a great exercise for isolating and strengthening the tricep muscles. It can be performed in a wide range of ways, with dumbbells, an EZ bar, a neutral grip bar or even a barbell. To keep your wrists in a comfortable position we would recommend using ropes or a neutral grip bar (palms facing each other).

Begin by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Grasp the dumbbell/rope/bar and hold it overhead, with your arms extended. Keeping your upper arms stationary, slowly bend your elbows and lower the weight behind your head. Exhale as you do this. Make sure to keep control of the weight and avoid swinging or jerking. Once your elbows are bent to about a 90 degree angle, straighten your arms and press the weight back up to the starting position as you inhale. Make sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and avoid locking out your elbows at the top of the movement.

The bent over tricep extension exercise, also known as the tricep kickback, is a great way to isolate and strengthen the triceps muscles. To perform the exercise, you will need a pair of dumbbells.

Begin by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Hinge at the hips and bend forward, keeping your back straight and your core engaged. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and let your arms hang down towards the ground, with your palms facing each other.

Keeping your upper arms stationary, bend your elbows and squeeze your triceps muscles as you lift the dumbbells up towards your hips. Exhale as you do this. Once your arms are parallel to the ground, slowly lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position as you inhale.

This is a brilliant exercise for keeping tension on the triceps throughout most of the movement. This is because the cable will be trying to get your elbows to bend at the top of the movement whilst you’ll be resisting this. In a lot of movements it’s easy to lock out the elbows at the bottom of the movement and give your arms a rest whereas the cable skull crusher isn’t so forgiving…

lie down on the floor or use a bench with your head closest to the cable. using a straight/EZ bar, have your elbows pointing to the ceiling with a 90 degree bend. Extend your elbow so that your arms are straight, pointing to the ceiling (or slightly forwards, towards the cable machine). From here, lower the weight in a controlled way, back to the starting position.

This variation can be helpful for a couple of reasons. You may use this to find imbalances between your arm and remedy these imbalances by focusing on one arm more than the other.

You may also use this so that you can really focus on the movement, ensuring the perfect form and contraction.

We’re looking to load the triceps with heavier weight over a shorter distance with this move. Be sure to keep your elbows by your sides and keep your scapular stable.

As we discussed earlier, an underhand/reverse/supinated (whatever you want to call it!) is going to help us keep our elbows in which leads to better long-head triceps activation.

This variation can be useful for improving our functionality in different planes of motion. Most cable triceps exercises that you see performed in the gym are some variation of a pushdown, either in front of us or overhead.

This variation is training the same muscle but in a different plane of motion. Incorporate different planes like this now and then to ensure for the maximum transfer to everyday life.

This variation is essentially a cable skull crusher.

The brilliant thing about this exercise is that you can maintain even more pressure on the triceps throughout the movement. This is because at the start of the rep the triceps are already working to stop the elbow from closing.

[back to top]

The great thing about using rope for the extension is that we usually get a more complete range of motion. This is because we’re more likely to fully extend our elbows in the middle of the rep. This is harder to do with some other grips.

The drawback is that we’re using a neutral grip, which isn’t quite as good as the underhand/supinated grip for long-head triceps activation.

The effectiveness of this grip will depend completely on your technique and grip type. Review the form at the top of this blog to ensure you’re getting it right.

We would recommend using a supinated (underhand) grip for maximum activation

Both the pronated and supinated grips can be taxing on the wrists. If you’re finding some discomfort during an extension with either of these, it may be worth trying the EZ bar as you may find a more comfortable grip.

To be honest, this is my least favourite handle for a few reasons. It’s harder to fully extend the elbows than other grips, reducing the range of motion.

If you can find a wide v bar like the one in the video, this can negate some of the range of motion issue.

[back to top]

If you’re looking for another brilliant triceps isolation exercise, look no further. The skull crusher is performed with an extremely similar technique to the overhead cable triceps extension.

Form tip: when performing this on a bench with free weights, make sure that your elbows are pointing slightly towards your head rather than directly upwards. This will keep constant tension on your triceps rather than allowing your joint to lockout and take the weight.

Moving onto a more functional movement, the triceps dip will be incorporating more stabilisation work than the other exercises we’ve been talking about.

Be sure to keep your torso upright and don’t lean forward. The more you lean forward, the more this will become a chest dip.

[back to top]