This is the key to horseshoe triceps

Summary

This video script delves into the complex anatomy of the triceps muscle and its impact on training for muscular arms. It explains that while the long head of the triceps is crucial for size, it's often under-stimulated due to its bi-articulate nature conflicting with pressing exercises. The script advocates for isolation exercises like skull crushers and overhead extensions, which better target the long head and promote balanced triceps development. It also suggests modifying chest and shoulder workouts to minimize triceps involvement, allowing for more focused triceps training.

Takeaways

• 💪 The triceps muscle is more complex than it seems, with three heads: medial, lateral, and long head, with the long head being the largest and most critical for arm size.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Traditional pressing exercises like bench presses may not be the best for triceps growth due to the bi-articulate nature of the long head, which can conflict with shoulder movement.
• 📊 Research indicates that skull crushers are more effective for triceps growth, particularly the long head, compared to bench presses.
• 🔄 The long head of the triceps is a bi-articulate muscle, crossing both the elbow and shoulder joints, which affects how it should be trained.
• 🚫 Pushdowns are less effective for triceps growth compared to overhead triceps extensions, which provide more stretch and tension on the muscle.
• 🤔 The long head's involvement in pressing exercises can be limited due to its dual function, which can hinder shoulder flexion needed for these exercises.
• 🏋️‍♀️ To balance triceps training, consider exercises that isolate the long head without overtaxing the medial and lateral heads, such as lat prayers or straight-arm pulldowns.
• 📉 Training volume for the long head should be considered separately from the other triceps heads due to its unique biomechanics and response to different exercises.
• 💭 The concept of stretch-mediated hypertrophy is discussed, suggesting that training muscles at longer lengths, like in overhead extensions, can stimulate greater growth.
• 🔄 Using dumbbells instead of a barbell in pressing exercises can reduce triceps activation, allowing for more focus on the chest and shoulders.

Q & A

What is the primary function of the triceps muscle?

The primary function of the triceps muscle is to straighten the arm.

Why are traditional pressing exercises not ideal for building big arms, according to the script?

Traditional pressing exercises are not ideal for building big arms because they do not sufficiently activate the long head of the triceps, which is the largest part of the muscle and key to building bigger arms.

What does the term 'triceps' mean and how many heads does it have?

The term 'triceps' means 'three heads' and it has three heads: medial, lateral, and long head.

Which part of the triceps is the largest and why is it important for arm size?

The long head of the triceps is the largest part and it is important for arm size because it is the most significant contributor to the overall mass of the arm.

How does the long head of the triceps differ anatomically from the other two heads?

The long head of the triceps differs anatomically because it originates on the scapula, making it a bi-articulate muscle that crosses both the elbow and shoulder joints.

What is the 'bi-articulate conflict' mentioned in the script and how does it affect triceps training?

The 'bi-articulate conflict' refers to the functional conflict that occurs during pressing exercises where the long head of the triceps, which is meant to extend the arm, also pulls the elbow back due to its involvement in shoulder extension, thus reducing its effectiveness in these exercises.

What was the conclusion of the study comparing triceps gains from barbell bench presses versus barbell skull crushers?

The study concluded that the skull crusher group achieved approximately double the rate of total triceps growth, with significant gains in the long head of the triceps.

Why should training volume for the long head of the triceps be considered separately from the other heads?

Training volume for the long head of the triceps should be considered separately because it is active during triceps isolation exercises but not during pressing exercises, which primarily activate the lateral and medial heads.

What are two ways suggested in the script to balance the training volume between the heads of the triceps?

Two ways to balance the training volume between the heads of the triceps are: 1) Modify chest and shoulder workouts to minimize triceps activation, and 2) Use exercises like straight arm pull downs or lat prayers that specifically target the long head without overloading the other heads.

Why are overhead triceps extensions considered more effective than push downs for triceps growth?

Overhead triceps extensions are considered more effective because they stretch the long head of the triceps more, allowing for greater stretch-mediated hypertrophy, and they maintain tension throughout the entire range of motion, unlike push downs.

What is the author's perspective on the term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' and its application to triceps training?

The author believes the term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' is appropriate to use for growth from emphasizing longer muscle lengths, including training at longer muscle lengths, until evidence suggests distinct mechanisms for these phenomena.

Outlines

00:00

💪 Understanding Triceps for Maximal Growth

The paragraph emphasizes the complexity of the triceps muscle and its importance in arm development. It explains that the triceps, which has three heads (medial, lateral, and long head), is often incorrectly targeted through exercises like bench presses and pushdowns. The long head, in particular, is crucial for building bigger arms due to its size and bi-articulate nature, crossing both the elbow and shoulder joints. The paragraph highlights the 'bi-articulate conflict' during pressing exercises, where the long head's involvement can hinder shoulder flexion. Research is cited to show that skull crushers are more effective for triceps growth than bench presses, with a focus on the long head. The paragraph concludes with advice on training volume distribution for the different triceps heads, suggesting that the long head should be trained separately from the other two heads due to its unique function.

05:02

🏋️‍♂️ Balancing Triceps Training Volume

This paragraph discusses strategies for balancing the training volume for the triceps' three heads to prevent overtraining of the lateral and medial heads while under-stimulating the long head. It suggests reducing the activation of the triceps during chest and shoulder exercises by using dumbbells and focusing on isolation exercises for the triceps. The paragraph also introduces the concept of using straight-arm pull-downs or lat prayers to specifically target the long head without overloading the other heads. The importance of selecting the right isolation exercises is highlighted, with research indicating that overhead triceps extensions are more effective than pushdowns for triceps growth. The paragraph concludes with a technical note on the term 'stretch-mediated hypertrophy' and its applicability to training at longer muscle lengths.

10:04

📚 Practical Applications for Triceps Training

The final paragraph provides practical takeaways for training the triceps based on the biomechanical insights discussed earlier. It advises focusing on isolation exercises, particularly overhead triceps extensions, to effectively target the long head. The paragraph also suggests using cable or dumbbell exercises for chest and shoulder training to minimize triceps involvement and balance the training volume across the triceps heads. Additionally, it recommends straight-arm pull-downs or lat prayers to isolate the long head and balance the volume from pressing exercises. The paragraph ends with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content, subscribe, and consider the presenter's online courses for both fitness professionals and individuals looking to optimize their lifestyle and decision-making.

Keywords

💡Triceps

The triceps are a group of three muscles at the back of the upper arm that extend from the shoulder to the elbow, responsible for straightening the arm. In the context of the video, the triceps are the primary focus for building bigger arms, with an emphasis on the long head of the triceps being the largest and most impactful part for overall arm size.

💡Bi-articulate Muscle

A bi-articulate muscle crosses two joints, which allows it to influence movement at both. The long head of the triceps is highlighted as a bi-articulate muscle in the video because it crosses both the elbow and shoulder joints, complicating its activation during certain exercises like bench presses.

💡Horseshoe Triceps

The term 'horseshoe triceps' refers to the aesthetically pleasing, well-developed appearance of the triceps muscle when it is large and distinct. The video aims to provide guidance on how to achieve this look through targeted training of the triceps' different heads.

💡Pressing Exercises

Pressing exercises, such as bench presses, involve pushing a weight away from the body and are commonly used to train the chest and shoulders. However, the video explains that these exercises are not ideal for triceps development due to the bi-articulate conflict involving the long head of the triceps.

💡Skull Crushers

Skull crushers are an isolation exercise that targets the triceps by placing the arms in a position that stretches the long head, leading to greater activation and growth. The video suggests that skull crushers are more effective for triceps growth compared to bench presses.

💡Stretch Mediated Hypertrophy

Stretch mediated hypertrophy is a concept referring to the growth of muscle that occurs when it is trained at longer lengths, such as when the shoulder is flexed overhead during triceps extensions. The video discusses how this concept applies to the long head of the triceps during overhead exercises.

💡Lateral and Medial Heads

The lateral and medial heads are two of the three heads of the triceps muscle. While the video emphasizes the importance of the long head, it also acknowledges the need for balanced development of all triceps heads. The lateral head is more visible, while the medial head is smaller and located deeper.

💡Volume

In the context of the video, 'volume' refers to the total amount of work done for a particular muscle group during a training session or program. The video discusses the importance of balancing the training volume for the long head with that of the lateral and medial heads to achieve optimal triceps development.

💡Lat Prayers

Lat prayers are an exercise that involves pulling down with a straight arm, which can effectively target the long head of the triceps. The video suggests that lat prayers can be a good way to train the long head without over-activating the other triceps heads.

💡Push Downs

Push downs are a common triceps exercise that involves pushing down on a bar or rope attachment. The video explains that push downs may not be as effective for triceps growth as overhead extensions due to the lack of stretch on the long head and less tension in certain positions.

💡Overhead Triceps Extensions

Overhead triceps extensions are exercises where the triceps are worked with the arm positioned overhead, which can help to stretch and activate the long head of the triceps. The video suggests that these exercises are superior for triceps development compared to push downs.

Highlights

Triceps are often trained with pressing exercises and push downs, but these may not be ideal for building big arms.

The triceps muscle is more complex than it seems, with implications for training for maximum growth.

The triceps has three heads: medial, lateral, and long head, with the long head being the largest and key to bigger arms.

The long head of the triceps is a bi-articulate muscle, crossing both the elbow and shoulder joints.

During pressing exercises, the long head's dual function creates a conflict, leading to less activation.

Skull crushers are more effective for triceps growth than bench presses due to better long head activation.

Training volume for the long head should be counted separately from the other triceps heads.

Pressing exercises may overtrain the lateral and medial heads while under-stimulating the long head.

Using dumbbells in chest and shoulder exercises can reduce triceps activation and focus on the target muscles.

Straight arm pull downs and lat prayers are effective for isolating the long head of the triceps.

Overhead triceps extensions are superior to push downs for triceps growth due to better muscle stretch and tension.

The term 'stretch mediated hypertrophy' is used to describe growth from emphasizing longer muscle lengths.

Practical application includes focusing on triceps isolation work and balancing training volume for all triceps heads.

Cable exercises and dumbbells can help balance out triceps volume by reducing their activation during pressing exercises.

Lat prayers are an excellent exercise for isolating the long head of the triceps without overloading other heads.

The video provides evidence-based fitness advice for those looking to develop horseshoe triceps.

Transcripts

Many lifters primarily train their triceps with pressing exercises and push downs.

Neither is ideal to build big arms.

At first glance the triceps might seem like a simple muscle.

It straightens the arm

so we do exercises that straighten the arm like push downs and bench presses.

However, in reality, the functional anatomy of the triceps

muscle is a little bit more complex, and this has profound implications

for how you should train the triceps for maximum muscle growth.

So let's go into how to build a horseshoe triceps based on its biomechanics.

The word triceps means three heads.

You have the medial and the lateral head.

The medial has being very tiny and mostly underneath the other muscles.

The lateral head being the part on the outside that you see

very well, it’s the part when you flex and there’s this chunk that comes up.

That's the lateral had.

And then you have the long head on the back.

The long head is very large.

The long head is in fact the largest part of the triceps by far.

And it's also thereby the biggest part of the arms.

The long head of the triceps is key to build bigger arms.

And it's precisely the long head that is a little bit more complex.

The long head originates not on the humerus, but on the scapula,

on your shoulder blade.

That means it is a bi-articulate muscle.

It crosses not just the elbow joint, but it also crosses the shoulder joint.

And it means it's active at the shoulder specifically for shoulder extension.

The long head essentially helps the lats to pull down your elbow to your sides.

It's also weakly active as an adductor like in a wide grip

pull down, especially if your shoulder is externally rotated.

So if your arms like this, then the long head can also

pull the elbow back down to your side again from that position.

This dual function of the triceps creates a bi-articulate conflict

during pressing exercises.

During pressing exercises you want to extend the arm,

so the body would want to activate the long head of the triceps

along with the other heads.

However, activating the long head of the triceps

would also cause the triceps to pull your elbow down back.

And that's disadvantageous because you want to flex the shoulder.

So if you create a moment for shoulder extension, it's sabotaging

what the delts and the pecs are doing to raise your arms up.

A muscle can only contract or it cannot contract.

The triceps cannot decide to be active only at the arm but not at the shoulder.

Therefore, the body does not seem to activate the long head of the triceps

as much during a bench press as during, say, a skull crusher.

We have a direct study on this that compared the triceps gains people got

when they trained their triceps with barbell bench presses versus barbell

skull crushers.

The skull crusher group

achieved approximately double the rate of total triceps growth

and this growth was specifically attributable

to significantly greater gains in the long head of the triceps.

The big impact of greater growth in the long head also exemplifies, again,

how important it is to build the long head because it's the biggest part

of the triceps.

The logical implication of this, for your training programing,

is that you need to count the training volume of the long head

and the lateral and the medial head separately.

The medial and the lateral head,

you can combine those and they will be activated

during all types of triceps exercises and barbell bench presses.

However, the long head is active

during triceps isolation exercises, but not during pressing exercises.

So you would count it either partially or, for simplicity sake, perhaps not at all.

means five sets of barbell bench presses count as five sets for the lateral

and the medial head, but they don't count towards volume for the long head.

Now, when you start designing a training program

this way, counting the volume for the long head

and the other heads separately, you will notice a problem.

It is very difficult to design a training program the does not overtrain

the lateral and the medial heads, while also sufficiently training the long head.

Indeed, the way most people design

their training programs results in unintentionally

training the lateral and the medial had far, far more than the long head.

There are many people that essentially overtrain the other heads

while still having the long head under-stimulated.

This is because of doing a lots of pressing exercises

that train the triceps, but not the long head,

and then doing a lot of push downs that train both of the heads.

There are two ways you can solve this problem.

First: You can make your chest and your shoulder work

not activate the triceps as much.

Pressing exercises are not ideal triceps builders anyway,

so if you have the time

it's better to do the triceps work separately and then use your delt

and your chest work primarily to train the delts and your chest.

So, you could do more lateral raises, for example,

instead of overhead presses, more flies...

You can also do cable chest presses and importantly, you can use dumbbells.

I’m a big fan of dumbbells because they allow for

greater range of motion, both for overhead presses

and for dumbbell bench presses as opposed to using a barbell.

So you get more raise motion, which is probably better for the pecs

and the delts and using a dumbbell significantly reduces

the influence triceps have on the movement.

When you're using a barbell there is lateral force production.

So if you're holding the barbell, any force that you produce from triceps

goes like this, right?

Because the triceps straightens the arm,

but the barbell is fixed, so it produces lateral forces, forces that go outward.

Since the barbell cannot move that helps you push the weight up.

I explain the physics of this in more detail in this video.

With a dumbbell you don't have this.

So with a dumbbell, if you are pushing up and now you activate the triceps a lot,

you will throw the dumbbell out to the side.

Therefore, dumbbell exercises

have very little triceps activity and they are very poor triceps builders.

They will grow the lateral and the medial has a little bit.

You can probably even just not count the volume.

And it will have almost zero effect on the long head.

So I wouldn't count that at all for a long head.

This is a benefit because this allows you to do more triceps isolation work

which trains all of the heads of the triceps

so that you can get balanced total development.

And again,

noting that the long head is by far the most important to get bigger arms.

So it's most important to train the long head

well then to train the other heads well.

The second way to balance out the volume between the heads is to use

straight arm pull downs, or lat prayers.

Lat prayers are great for the long head of the triceps because when you're

doing a straight arm type of pull down, the long head helps the lats.

It will both help straighten the arm as a stabilizer

just to keep your arms straight,

but it will also help the lats with shoulder extension.

So putting your elbow down back at your side.

Many people view the activity of the triceps during lat prayers

as kind of an unintended side effect, but it's actually very much a targeted

muscle group during the exercise, and it's ideal that we can train the triceps

and train the long head without overloading the other heads,

so that balances out the volume, because we have a lot of other exercises,

maybe our pressing exercises that already train the medial

and lateral heads without training a long head very well.

So having an exercise that trains the long head very well,

but not the other hands helped balance this out

and make sure you get balanced total triceps development.

The unique biomechanics of the long head versus the other heads

also influence how we should select our triceps isolation exercises.

Many people do a lot of push downs.

However, we have direct research showing that push downs result in approximately

40% less triceps growth compared to overhead triceps extensions.

I have long been a proponent of overhead triceps extensions because when you

train the triceps with your arm overhead, the triceps is now,

the long head specifically, is stretched because the shoulder is flexed.

So when your arm is overhead, shoulder flexed, long head becomes stretched

because it stretched out at the shoulder,

and you can get more stretch mediated hypertrophy.

And that's indeed what the research shows.

You get more growth in the long head when you're training it overhead.

Interestingly, in the best study we have on this,

it wasn't just the long head

that grew more when training the triceps overhead.

The other heads also grew more from the overhead

extensions versus the push downs.

Why is this?

Well, my theory is that during a push down, it's

not just the fact that the long head is not stretched,

it's also that in the stretched position, so the top position of push down,

like this, there is very little tension.

The top position of a push down is very, very easy.

When you fail to lock out the weight at the bottom,

you can still probably do many repetitions.

That's also why many people intuitively don't quite fully lock out the elbows

during push downs, because it just limits how much weight you can lift so much.

During overhead triceps extension the problem is not nearly as bad

because by definition, forearm is quite literally the moment arm.

So there's maximum tension in this position at 90 degrees.

So this whole range is loaded quite well.

And even the very bottom position of the movement

still has quite some tension on the triceps.

So it's not just that the long head is more stretched and therefore experiences

more stretch mediated hypertrophy,

there is also more tension in the lengthened position

with an overhead triceps extension compared to a push down.

So the overhead triceps extension wins on both fronts.

And it's probably why

in this study they found greater growth in all the heads.

On a technical note, there is some debate about whether the term stretch mediated

hypertrophy is appropriate to use for these types of findings.

my view it is.

The term stretch mediated hypertrophy is not being properly defined in research,

and I use it to denote any type of growth from emphasizing longer muscle lengths,

whether that is from literally stretching the muscle, like yoga style, or

with some other apparatus, or weighted stretching,

or whether that's from training at longer muscle lengths.

An argument can be made that those are different things.

That growth you get from

stretching, literal stretching, like yoga type stretching,

might be different from the growth

you get from training a muscle at longer muscle lengths.

If there is indeed a distinct mechanism of action there,

it might be useful to use separate terms for those.

As it stands, though,

we don't have a term for the growth we get from training muscles

at longer muscle lengths.

So I think it makes sense to call that stretch mediated hypertrophy.

After all, a muscle that is at a longer muscle length is stretched more.

Therefore, the term stretch mediated hypertrophy to me makes a lot of sense

to refer to both phenomena

until we have clear evidence that there are distinct mechanisms of action

for both of these terms.

All right. So practical application.

There are a few takeaways you can get from this video.

First: For the triceps you want to do a lot of isolation work.

Most pushing exercises don't train the long head of the triceps

well because of the bi-articulate muscle conflict.

So it's best to do a lot of triceps isolation work,

specifically overhead triceps isolation work.

So I'm a big fan of skull overs, skull crushers, if your elbows like that...

In general, any type of overhead triceps

extension, whether it's a rope, a dumbbell,

anything is probably a pretty good exercise.

Push downs are not bad, and they can be good on the elbows

for some people, but they're also not ideal.

Kickbacks, similarly, are not that great.

Another application is that you can balance out the volume for your triceps

by not stimulating the lateral

and the medial heads with your pressing exercises as much.

You can do this by using cables or dumbbells or convergent machines,

so that you focus more on your delts and your pecs

when you're training your pecs and your delts,

and then you focus more on your triceps with triceps isolation exercises.

Moreover, you can balance out the volume from all the work that you get

from the lateral and the medial head from the pressing exercises that you do,

because you're probably going to do something

with straight arm pull downs or lat prayers.

Lat prayers will train

and isolate the long head of the triceps in a very good way.

So that balances out the volume that you get from your pressing exercises,

which doesn't stimulate the long head very well,

but does stimulate the lateral and medial heads.

I hope you'll find this info useful in your quest for horseshoe triceps.

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