STOP, You’re Training Your Triceps Wrong!

Are you training your triceps wrong? You are about to find out in this video on how to get bigger triceps by implementing a triceps workout strategy that may be completely new to you. We look to the teachings of the late goat Mike Mentzer to give us clues as to how we may want to switch up the way w

[Video clip] Dips are by far, without a doubt, they’re unparalleled. They are the best  exercise for triceps. [End clip] Well, now, what am I supposed to do? You might  be thinking the same thing, especially if you’re a current tricep workout looks like this. A hefty dose of Tricep Pushdowns, if you’ve been watching this channel for any length of time,  definitely some Lying Tricep Extensions or any other tricep exercise that’s been shown to be  effective that happens to work for you.

Well, maybe it’s time to change it up. Especially if  you’re listening to Mike Mentzer, who is somebody I actually listened to a lot growing up. See,  Mike Mentzer’s heavy duty training program was something I adopted as a young teenager, and  it gave me great results because it told me how to trade in workout length for intensity. That being said, he didn’t just stop at triceps. Mike was a huge believer in the value of the Dip  for building your entire upper body, your chest, your shoulders and your triceps.

But is there  merit in what Mike is saying for you? Should you be prioritizing the Dip in your triceps  training? Well, I actually have a personal story that I want to share with you that certainly  made me a believer. But before I get to that, I want to share with you what Mike’s original  inspiration was that convinced him that this is such a powerful triceps builder, not to  mention for your entire upper body overall. [Video clip] There were three American gymnasts  who worked the parallel bars that possessed pecs, shoulders and arms, like those of an advanced  bodybuilder, literally.

Not just, you know, kind of beginning bodybuilders, but advanced  bodybuilders. One of my recent phone clients happens to be deeply involved in the world of  gymnastics, and he knows those three gymnasts. He told me that people ask them all the time if  they lift weights, and they don’t. They develop those big upper bodies doing Dips. [End clip] And so there you have it.

But of course, we’re not all Olympic gymnasts. I know, I certainly am not. But I mentioned to you that story that I wanted to tell you, because that is what actually convinced  me about the value of the exercise. You see, in 2008, I tried to throw a baseball for the  New York Mets and quickly realized I’m not a baseball player either. And what I had to show  for it was this MRI report that I had done years later that encapsulated just how much damage  I did to my shoulder by trying to throw that baseball.

I had a 50% tear of my rotator cuff,  a complete tear of my labrum and degeneration of my shoulder that pretty much aged me out to  be about 80 years old. Not a good combination when you’re trying to make some gains. Well, that being said, a lot of the pressing exercises were off the table for me, or at least a  lot more difficult. Bench pressing caused me pain, Overhead Shoulder Presses caused me pain. But  the one exercise I was able to maintain that didn’t cause me as much pain, ironically,  was the Dip.

And I figured maybe I’ll have a lot less exercises in my arsenal, but if  I could just have one that did a really good job of hitting the chest, shoulders and  triceps, then I’d be in a good spot. Like Mike Mentzer said, it’s the upper body squat. [Video clip] Think of the Dips is the upper body Squat. Dips are by far without a doubt, they re  unparalleled, they are the best exercise for pecs, delts and triceps. [End clip] But like others have said, it could be a pretty not so great exercise, especially if  you do have shoulder issues unless you know how to do it right.

And that’s where I applied  my knowledge as a physical therapist. So, I did the exercise, but I made sure to do one very  important thing, keep my shoulders pulled down. In other words, on shrug my traps throughout the  entire exercise. Because what tends to happen when you don’t do that is as you lower yourself down,  you will roll your shoulders forward or almost throw the humerus into the front anterior capsule,  which could cause additional shoulder irritation. By doing what I’m talking about here, though, that  is avoided making it a much safer exercise.

Now, in regard to triceps, though, I also know  something about body position. The more forward I lean during the exercise, the more I’m  essentially turning this into a suspended pushup. I don’t want that if it’s the tricep  development that I’m trying to target here. So, what I do is the opposite, instead of leaning  forward so much, I stay more upright. And by staying upright, more of the focus is on  flexion and extension of the elbow, which will place more of that load on the triceps.

Another little tip I’ve found helpful is making sure I get to full extension at the elbow. And one  of the things that we know assists in that is by getting full extension through the wrist too. So,  I did that by not focusing on gripping through the hands because that almost promotes a little bit  of wrist flexion. I almost want to feel like I’m getting extended through the wrist, so I almost  use a false grip and push myself through the palm of my hand into that slight extension at the wrist  that actually promotes that good full extension at the elbow, again, really good contraction on  the triceps. Now, as Mike would require, it’s not about even the exercise.

If you can’t apply the  intensity to the exercise, again, trading in all that volume for the intensity. So, what did I do  here? Well, I just set up a nice easy drop set, and I understand that that’s not the super  set pre-exhaust set that Mike used to do, but it still is incredibly effective. So, what I would do is a regular Dip, and I could do it either with weight or if you  can’t handle the additional weight, you just do it in bodyweight. But you do a good 6 to 10  repetitions to failure.

And at that point, as soon as you reach failure, you’re not done. You can  hang a band over the dip station and at that point simply perform assisted Dips to allow yourself  to not just go to that failure mark, but through failure where Mike would want you. And at that  point you rep out once again. But you still have one other step that would make Mike really proud,  and that is, some negative only repetitions. And on a dip station, you’ve got no excuse than to  be able to perform them because you simply just step yourself up to the top and then apply the  resistance on only the negative portion of the exercise.

And when you get down to the bottom,  you step yourself right back up again and perform another negative only Dip until you can’t really  control the speed of the descent on the negative, at which point, you know, you pretty much toast  and you’ve done exactly what Mike wanted. But now, of course, dealing with a limited  exercise array. I wanted to do more, and I would often find myself asking the question,  is one more set really bad if I did one? [Video clip] On occasion, I’ve had a phone client  ask, Mike, would it make a difference? Would it be the mistake to do a second set, you keep  making such a big deal about doing one set.

And I respond something to the effect that. Doing  a second set is neither necessary nor desirable. In fact, it would be the biggest mistake you can  make. Going from one set to two sets is literally the biggest mistake you can make. Because going  from 1 to 2 audience is not merely a linear increase of one unit.

1 to 2, it represents a  doubling. A 100% increase in the volume of the exercise. And remember, that’s a negative. Even  once that represents a negative, because insofar that you train at all, you make an inroad. Well, some people might say, Well, Mike, if