Strengthen your biggest little muscle with these targeted moves.
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Fact: Your triceps make up more of your arm than your biceps do. Yet they often get shortchanged at the gym.
Before you can give them the attention they're due, you need to know that they're made up of three different parts—the medial, long, and lateral heads. This trio works together to bend the elbow. The best way to make them stronger is to do exercises that isolate each head.
"Compound movements like pushups and bench presses recruit larger muscle groups, too, so the triceps don't work as hard," says Holly Rigsby, a personal trainer in Elizabethtown, Ky.
These exercises work each part of the muscle to exhaustion. Do this workout two non-consecutive days a week and you'll notice a very sexy back-arm bump within four weeks.
Pull-Over and Press
Works: All three heads
Grab a 20- to 30-pound EZ Curl bar and lie faceup on a bench with your feet flat on the floor.
Hold your arms straight and position the bar directly above your chest.
Bend your arms and, in a slow, controlled motion, lower the bar past your head, toward the floor, until your arms are aligned with your ears.
Bring the bar back up above your chest, then slowly lower it to your upper chest.
Do three sets of 10 to 12 reps, resting for up to 30 seconds between sets.
Note: It's ideal to work with a spotter when performing this move.
Stability Ball Pushup
Works: Medial head
Get in pushup position with your hands on the center of a stability ball.
Bend your elbows, lowering yourself toward the ball.
When your chest comes within an inch or two of the ball, press back up. That's one rep.
Do three sets of 10 to 12 reps, resting for up to 30 seconds between sets.
Trainer tip:
Play nice with your joints: Never lock your elbows at the top of a pushup.
Kneeling Cable Extension
Works: Long head
Position a flat bench four to six feet away from a cable machine set at 10 to 20 pounds.
Clip the rope attachment to the cable. Grab each end of the rope and, facing away from the machine, kneel on the floor about a foot in front of the bench.
With your arms bent 90 degrees, lean forward from the hips and rest your elbows on the middle of the bench, shoulder-width apart.
Slowly straighten your arms until they're almost completely extended.
Gently release the weight back to start. That's one rep.
Do three sets of 10 to 12, resting for up to 30 seconds between sets.
Elbows-Out Extension
Works: Lateral head
Set an incline bench to 45 degrees.
Grab a pair of 5- to 20-pound dumbbells and sit on the bench.
With your palms facing away from you and your elbows out to the sides, position the dumbbells over your chest, with an end of each touching so the dumbbells form a V.
Press the dumbbells toward the ceiling. Return to start.
Do three sets of 10 to 12 reps, resting for up to 30 seconds between sets.
from msn health
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