THE POWER OF THREE
Your triceps have three “heads”, and working each of them is the key to building bigger, stronger and more defined arms. Here, strength coach David Otey breaks it down
“The triceps’ three heads – medial, long and lateral – attach to your elbow and the back of your upper arm bone. The long head connects to your shoulder blade, too. The medial and lateral heads are what make up the coveted ‘horseshoe’ look. When you do a triceps push-down, you’re mostly attacking these two. Once your upper arm starts moving overhead, you’ll start hitting that long head.
“Not only do the tris make up more of the muscle mass in your upper arms, they’re also more involved in your day-to-day life than your biceps. You spend more time pushing your arm away from your body than you do pulling.
“Your triceps are a secondary mover in almost every upperbody pushing movement, because they’re responsible for straightening your arm. Most of the time, in my experience, your triceps are the reason you can’t progress past a certain weight on the bench.”