Written by Kiel DiGiovanni | Co-founder
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Your triceps play a significant role in growing serious arm muscles. And in order to fully develop your horseshoe-shaped muscle, you need to equally train your three tricep heads, which include the long head, medial head, and lateral head.
In this article, we're going to show you how to effectively target your lateral head, including highlighting the 9 best lateral head tricep exercises, how to program tricep exercises, and important training techniques for full tricep development (both in terms of strength and hypertrophy).
Table of Contents:
- 9 Best Lateral Head Tricep Exercises
- Programming & Training Tips
- How To Add Lateral Head Exercises To Your Routine
- Tricep Anatomy
- How To Isolate & Target The Lateral Head
- Benefits of Building Your Triceps Lateral Head
9 BEST LATERAL HEAD TRICEP EXERCISES
While all tricep exercises involve your lateral head (as they do the medial and long head too - we'll talk about this more later on in the article, under the anatomy section), some better target this portion of your triceps.
The 9 best lateral head tricep exercises are:
- Tricep Pushdowns
- Tricep Kickback
- Cable Crossbody Concentration Extensions
- Bench Dips
- Tricep Dips
- Close-Grip & Diamond Push Ups
- Decline Close Grip Bench Press
- Decline Neutral Grip DB Skull Crushers
- Cable Overhead Extensions with Rope Attachment
If you have been looking for ways to work out your outer (lateral) head tricep and add something new to your fitness routine, these different exercises can help you see the importance of this muscle group and the role it plays in amplifying your arm growth and overall physique.
1. Tricep Pushdowns (Overhand & Neutral Grip)
Tricep pushdowns are the best lateral head tricep exercise. The lateral head is best targeted with your elbows at your side and that’s exactly what the tricep pushdown provides.
If your goal is to increase your strength along with the size of your lateral head tricep, then all you need to do is use the right attachment and grip position.
The best attachments for hitting the lateral head for tricep pushdowns are the rope, the straight bar, and a v-bar. With all three, you will (or want to have) a more narrow grip, which is best for the lateral head.
Rope = hammer grip (neutral grip)
Straight Bar = overhand grip
V-bar = partly-pronated grip (like a mix between hammer and overhand)
Another great thing to note about the pushdown is that it’s a great exercise for pushing your triceps past failure. So, be sure to implement some sets past failure with this one!
How to do the tricep pushdown:
- Grip the attachment of choice for that particular day (using one of the three grips mentioned above).Keep your chest up and lean forward before beginning the exercise to ensure your body is in the correct position. Bring your shoulders directly over the handle.
- To begin, drive the cables down until your elbows are at a full extension. Be sure to keep your elbows fixed in place and your wrists straight throughout the entire process.
- Guide the handles back to at least 90 degrees of elbow flexion and then repeat.
- Be sure to lockout in full elbow extension with each rep.
Lateral Tricep One Arm Pushdown
This is a good variation of the tricep pushdown for the outer tricep as well. It's good to change up angles sometimes so you can stress the muscle differently.
2. Tricep Kickback
Tricep kickbacks are another great exercise for your lateral head. It’s also going to work your long head too depending on the variations (there are many ways to do a tricep kickback).
For the lateral head, the best option is the bent over position using a cable pulley or dumbbell. This has been proven to increase lateral head activation.
So, if you are trying to target the lateral head, do bent over cable or dumbbell tricep kickbacks as pictured.
How to do the tricep kickback for lateral head:
- Using one hand, grab the base of the cable handle. Use a neutral grip. You actually don’t need any handle for this, you can just hold the bottom of the cable just above the carabiner area.
- Bend at the hips, until your torso is parallel to the ground.
- Once in the correct position, you can begin with your elbow flexed at 90 degrees, then drive the hand back into complete elbow extension. Keep your elbow fixed in place throughout the exercise.
- To complete the rep, you will then need to bring your elbow back to flexion.
- Then, repeat this with the other hand, to work both arms equally (if you are using dumbbells, you can do both at the same time, but most people find focusing on one side at a time is best).
3. Cable Crossbody Concentration Extensions
You’ve definitely heard of bicep concentration curls, but did you know you can do tricep concentration extensions? For this one, you will need to use either a cable machine or a loop resistance band.
The goal here is to keep your elbow pinned to your inner thigh and have the cable (or band) coming from the contralateral side. Essentially, you are extending your arm in a diagonal manner from the opposite side of the working arm. This will allow you to really hone in on the lateral head.
How to do the cable crossbody concentration extension:
- Set up the cable pulley at the highest level of the cable tower. Position your body so your working side is opposite to the cable tower (the cable should be crossing your body). A great set up for this exercise is to get into the kneeling position, placing the elbow of your working arm on your front inner thigh (similar to where you'd place your elbow when performing concentration curls).
- You can use a handle or no handle at all and just hold the cable at the bottom near the carabiner. You want a neutral or overhand grip either way.
- Pin your elbow into your thigh then extend at the elbow until your arm is completely straight.
- Really squeeze the heck out of your tricep then very slowly return it back up toward the opposite shoulder.
- Repeat for the desired reps and then do the same with the other arm.
Love training on the cable machine? Check out the Best Cable Arm Exercises!
4. Bench Dips
This is a classic bodyweight tricep exercise that is great for working your lateral head tricep.
This is especially helpful for those who are new to strength training and want to build up strength to execute tricep dips (parallel handles with body suspended in air) with ease - that’s the next exercise on this list.
How to do bench dips:
- Sit down on the bench and position your hands so your palm is fully on the bench and your fingers pointing behind you.
- Come off the bench with your butt and position your body so it is perpendicular with the floor. You don’t want your body coming out at an angle.
- You can either place your legs with your knees at 90 degree (easy), straight out (medium) and up on another bench or platform (hard).
- From here, bring your body down as low as you can flexing at your elbow.
- When you reach your bottom range, press up through the palm of your hand until your arms are as straight as possible.
- Squeeze, hold and then repeat.
- Be sure to keep your core tight and engaged throughout.
If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, do this with a weight plate on your lap.
Note: You don’t need a bench to do bench dips, you can easily do these just as well with a chair!
5. Tricep Dips
While parallel bar lifts are commonly used to work the pecs, they can also help you increase the mass in your tricep, and more specifically the lateral head when positioning your body properly. Plus, almost every gym has a dip machine.
To place emphasis on your triceps, and naturally your lateral head, you need to position your body so you are dipping with your back upright (for the chest, you want to lean forward).
Now, if you don’t have the strength for this exercise, you can just focus on bench dips, albeit this dip is not exactly the same.
If you don’t have the strength to perform this, you can two options:
- You can either use a resistance band to assist you by looping it on the handles and then putting your knees on top of it. The wider the band, the more help it will provide.
- You can just use the assistance platform that comes with most dip machines at gyms. As you progress, you can use less and less weight assistance, which is controlled by the weight stack pin system near the bottom of the machine.
At some point, you'll be able to do tricep dips without any assistance.
When you are able to do more high reps for multiple sets, it’s time to take things up a notch. To do this, you just need a dip belt. With that, you can attach plates to the belt and then dip with added weight.
A make shift option is to just hold onto dumbbells with your feet by crossing them and having someone place the dumbbell in the crease of your two calves.
How to do tricep dips:
- Step up onto the feet platforms (if it has them) and then place your hands on the handles so your palms are facing in.
- Using your strength, lift your body off of the floor and allow yourself to balance upright with straight arms.
- Keeping your torso upright, lower down flexing at the arms as far as you comfortably can (you want to go to or a little past parallel).
- Then, press up until your arms are fully extended.
Check out our article on the Best Dip Exercise Alternatives for more great variations.
Tricep Pressdown Machine
If you have access to a tricep pressdown machine, which many gyms have, this is another great way to work your lateral head tricep. The mechanics are similar to a tricep dip, but you can easily control the resistance using the pin weight stack system.
6. Close-Grip & Diamond Push Ups
If you are in search of a simple yet effective exercise that will target your lateral head tricep, diamond push-ups are one of the best options out there. Plus, this exercise doesn’t require any equipment so anyone can do it, whether you are working out at home or in a gym.
If you have issues with your shoulder joint, then you can spread your hands a little bit, using a close grip instead. Both are good for the lateral head.
How to do diamond push ups:
- To begin, you will need to create a diamond shape with your index fingers and your thumb, hence the name diamond push-up.
- You will then need to get on the ground in preparation for a push-up with your hands under your lower chest or abdomen, in a high plank position.
- Keeping your body straight, you can lower down to the ground by bending your elbows. Then, you can push up from the ground while fully extending your elbows and repeat.
- Remember to keep your hips level so that they do not drop or shift and your core is tight at all time. Your body should be like a straight, solid board.
7. Decline Close Grip Bench Press
Whether you are an aspiring bodybuilder or you are simply looking to bulk up your triceps, the close grip bench press is one of the best exercises you can do. This is a pure mass builder.
You’ll want to start your workouts with this one as it involves heavier weight and higher energy levels.
In regards to the triceps, while the close grip bench press is truly an all around tricep exercise, it can be done in a way that better emphasizes the lateral head.
To shift emphasis from the long head, which the close grip bench press is great for, do it on a decline bench. The decline bench will better target the lateral head.
How to do decline close grip bench press:
- Set the bench to a -15 degree decline.
- If you have a squat rack or a specific decline bench press you can do this with a barbell, if you only have the bench and dumbbells, that’s fine too.
- Lie on the bench and retract your shoulder blades so they are pressed into the bench.
- While keeping your shoulders down, lower the db or barbell and then press back up to full extension. Don’t let your shoulders come up. Try to keep the movement strictly at the elbow.
8. Decline Neutral Grip DB Skull Crushers
If you are in search of a tried and true tricep exercise, look no further than EZ bar or barbell skull crushers. But, if you want some lateral specific work, then use dumbbells and hold them with your palms facing in. And, to take matters even more into the lateral heads “hands”, use a decline bench at about -15˚.
How to do decline neutral grip dumbbell skull crushers:
- Set the bench to a -15 degree decline.
- Lie on a bench with the dumbbells held firmly in an hammer grip, palms facing in, with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Next, stretch your arms overhead with your wrists stacked to take the pressure off of them while you flex through the movement.
- Be sure to keep your elbows tucked and your upper arms still, lowering the weight toward your head until you are at a 90-degree angle.
- Pause and squeeze the triceps before extending back into the starting position.
Pro tip: Make sure you start with a lighter weight until you are comfortable with this exercise. Focus on good form first and foremost.
9. Cable Overhead Extensions with Rope Attachment
While the overhead tricep extension is more of a long head exercise (because it stretches the long head due to its attachment point on the shoulder), you can make it long-lateral head focused by using a rope extension with a narrow grip.
You’ll be hitting both the lateral and long head effectively at the same time.
How to do cable overhead extensions with rope:
- Set the cable pulley to the bottom most position. Attach the rope attachment.
- With your arms shoulder-width apart and your core tightened, bring the rope overhead with your elbow pointing straight up. You can do this from a kneeling position if it's better (and if you are tall). Face away from the machine.
- From here, allow your elbows to flex so your hands come down behind your head.
- When you arms go past 90 degrees (you can flex your elbow even more for a greater stretch), extend at the elbows until your arms are completely straight, raising them above your head.
- Slowly return to the starting position and repeat. Keep your core tight and elbows fixed in the overhead position at all times. Your upper arm should not have much movement at all, it’s your forearms that are moving.
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Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
Programming Lateral Head Exercises: WHAT TO DO IF Your LATERAL TRICEP HEAD IS NOT GROWING?
There’s two likely reasons that your triceps, and more specifically, your lateral head of the tricep is not growing.
- It’s quite possible that your diet is simply not on point. Without eating right, you will not grow your muscles. But that’s a whole other topic so we will just leave it at that.
- In terms of exercising, it’s important that you are overloading the muscle when working out. This comes down to rep schemes, weight load, and total volume.
So, let’s go over each of those points.
Best Rep Range & Load for Lateral Head Tricep:
This might surprise you, but the triceps respond very well to low reps and heavy weight. This is because they have a higher ratio of fast twitch muscle fibers. About 67% of the muscle fibers are fast twitch.
That said, you still need to work through various rep ranges. You can’t just do heavy weight with low reps. But, if you aren’t doing heavy weight for low reps, then you need to start. A lot of people think of the triceps as a muscle that best responds to high reps.
This is how you should split up your rep ranges for lateral head triceps training:
- 50% in the 10-20 rep range
- 25% in the 5-10 rep range
- 25% in the 20-30 rep range
In regards to the weight load, use a weight that challenges you in the given rep range, meaning brings you near or to failure. For most tricep exercises, you can bring yourself to failure without much concern for safety or injury.
PRO TIP: Push past failure sometimes. Your triceps can handle it. When you feel you reached failure, try your best to get one or two more reps in, even if it means a little sloppy of form (but take this with a grain of salt, as you don’t want to do anything that will get your injured...this generally applies to exercises like pushdowns and extensions, which are relatively injury risk free.
Best Volume for Triceps:
In terms of volume, it is going to depend on where you are at in your fitness journey.
- Beginners: 10-12 sets per week.
- Intermediate: 16 sets per week.
- Advanced: 20 sets per week.
So, if you are doing 20 sets per week, remember to do about 50% of those sets in the 10-20 rep range, 25% in the 5-10 rep range, and 25% in the 20-30 rep range.
Now, it needs to be understood that you do not and ideally should not do all of these sets in one training session. These can be split into 2-4 training session per week. The triceps typically recover quickly, so this should be no problem. Just remember that you’ll have to juggle your tricep training with your chest and front delts, as if your triceps are not recovered, it can impede your chest and delt training.
Give this a try for 8-12 weeks and then see how you’ve progressed.
TRAINING TIPS & TECHNIQUES FOR TRICEP GROWTH:
Here are some more training tips for you to grow your lateral head tricep.
1. Prioritize the Lateral Head Tricep
If you want to prioritize your lateral head tricep in your workout, it is essential to include different exercises like kickbacks or overhand-grip pressdowns in your routine, but there are other ways to make sure you are targeting this muscle successfully.
To start, it can be extremely helpful to train your triceps after a rest day. With this strategy, you will need to arrange your training split to fit a new routine, but by taking a rest day before you work your triceps, you can prepare your body to work hard at the gym.
One of the worst feelings is being unmotivated and tired when heading to a training session, but with the right amount of rest days, a good night’s sleep, and a well-rounded diet or nutrition plan - you will be more than energized when heading back to the gym. While working out is important, rest days are what keeps your body going, to become stronger and healthier over time.
2. Start Your Triceps Routine with a Multi-Joint Movement
Multi-joint exercises, also known as compound exercises, are performed at best when your energy levels are high, which will usually be at the beginning of your workout routine. Multi-joint exercises will have two sets of joints working, such as a close-grip bench press where the shoulder and elbow joints are moving together.
Once you start to tire out, you can then utilize single-joint movements to continue your training.
3. Include Multiple Lateral Head Exercises in Your Routine
Oftentimes workouts are created to work all different parts of a muscle or area of your body, but if you are trying to focus on your lateral head tricep then it can be helpful to incorporate multiple exercises into your routine that targets this muscle especially.
Remember to mix it up and utilize exercises that differ from one another, to make sure you are taking the proper steps to achieve your fitness goals.
4. Try Something New
Even if you are working on targeting a certain muscle group, it will still be important to switch up your routine by adding in new lateral head exercises you may not have tried before. This will not only save you from getting bored by the same routine but it will allow you to work your muscle in a variety of ways which will be slightly different than you were used to previously.
Avoid a mundane, boring routine - have fun with your workouts, try new things, and make your training sessions even more energizing and beneficial to your body.
To successfully work toward strengthening, stabilizing, and bulking up your lateral head tricep, it will take persistence, motivation, and resilience. By utilizing all the best exercises and following these training tips, you will be prepared to take on your new training routine and reach your goals with ease.
5. Use Various Exercises and Equipment
If you want to achieve optimal results with your training routine, it can be beneficial to implement different types of exercises and equipment into your workouts. Even though you may favor one exercise over another, be sure to switch things up and find different ways to target the tricep throughout your routine.
To make sure your workout is productive and never boring, mix things up or try something new.
The best equipment to use for the triceps are dumbbells, cable machine, barbell, kettlebells, and resistance bands.
6. Improve Form
While doing lateral head exercises, having the proper form will be crucial. By keeping your elbows tucked to the side and staying in control of your movements, you will be able to maintain the perfect form during your workouts.
Pro tip: Use a mirror or find a workout partner to help you make sure you are using the right form and doing everything correctly to target your lateral head.
7. Allow Time For Rest and Recovery
With intense training, you are breaking down your muscles so that they can grow back even stronger than before, but this can only happen if you allow your body adequate time to rest afterward. While working out plays a key role in bulking up and gaining muscle, recovery is just as important too.
HOW TO ADD LATERAL HEAD TRICEP EXERCISES INTO YOUR ROUTINE
If you want to maximize your workouts and gain muscle in your arms at the same time, then you need to add lateral head tricep exercises to your current workout routine. While it is important to work on different parts of your body to develop your ideal physique, having an arm day or hitting the triceps multiple times per week will be essential.
Remember what we said about volume...
- Beginners: 10-12 sets per week.
- Intermediate: 16 sets per week.
- Advanced: 20 sets per week.
with...
- 50% in the 10-20 rep range
- 25% in the 5-10 rep range
- 25% in the 20-30 rep range
At least a third of the above volume applies to the lateral head. But, if you feel your lateral head tricep is lagging, you can increase that.
As for how you split up that volume, there are many ways to go about it.
If your arms are a priority, then you will want to do a split as follows:
Split Option 1:
- Chest/Tri Day
- Back/Bi Day
- Leg/Ab Day
- Shoulder/Tri Day
- Rest for two days and repea
Split Option 2:
- Chest/Back Day
- Leg/Shoulder Day
- Arm Day
- Rest one day and repeat.
Note: For the above, you will want to throw ab exercises in where you can.
Split Option 3:
- Chest/Shoulder Day
- Back/Bi Day
- Legs/Tri Day
- Rest one day and repeat.
All of the above options will allow you to really bring up some lagging triceps. Notice that none of these splits include a specific lateral head tricep workout, but instead, give your tris more attention through chest workouts and arm days.
Find a schedule that works for you and your lifestyle, to create a workout routine that will keep you motivated and dedicated as you progress on your fitness journey. Always use a workout split that allows you to recover and feel refreshed for the muscles you will target during your next workout.
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
WARM UP YOUR ELBOWS BEFORE WORKING OUT
When you are performing isolation exercises such as diamond push-ups, tricep kickbacks, or overhead extension, it can be tough on your elbows. To prepare your joints for the workout ahead, it can be helpful to warm up your elbows at the beginning of your routine.
To start, do a couple of very light sets of any tricep exercise you want before you start to work on this muscle group.
This Dynamic Warm Up is also great for warming up your entire body!
TRICEP ANATOMY
We've covered the best exercises, programming tips, and splits, so now let's take a closer look at your triceps. The triceps, more formally known as the triceps brachii, is a three-headed muscle that is located in the back side of the upper arm.
This muscle, which makes up around 60-70% of your upper arm mass (move aside biceps!), is a biarticular muscle, which means it acts on two joints. The two joints being the elbow and the shoulder.
In regards to the three tricep “heads”, this simply means the muscle has three separate attachment points, which are called the long head, medial head, and lateral head.
The triceps is only a biarticular muscle because of the long head’s attachment, which crosses the shoulder joint. The medial and lateral head only act on the elbow joint. This is an important aspect of the tricep brachii to note as it helps you to understand the function of the tricep as a whole and how the different heads are emphasized during certain tricep exercises.
TRICEP FUNCTION
All three heads work together to fulfill the muscle’s primary function - extension above the elbow.
As for the long head of the tricep, it also acts on the shoulder, so it will assist in movements that involve shoulder adduction and extension. It also helps to stabilize the shoulder joint.
Since this post is about the lateral head, we will now focus mainly on the lateral head.
LATERAL HEAD OF THE TRICEP:
The lateral head tricep is considered to be the strongest tricep head, contributing to a big portion of the strength in your upper arms when working against resistance, and is located on the outside of the upper arm.
The lateral triceps brachii muscle, along with the long head, form what is commonly called the horseshoe look of the tricep. That is, if the two heads are well-developed. The lateral head makes up the outside portion of the horseshoe-like shape.
Having a well developed lateral head will make your triceps very aesthetically pleasing.
The great thing about the lateral head (and the long head) is that it has a lot of growth potential, unlike the medial head. This doesn't mean the medial head isn't important (because it is for strength and stability at the elbow), it's just that the lateral head and long head deserve more attention in terms of aesthetics due to their greater potential for growth and the fact the medial head often gets enough work from compound pressing exercises alone.
The lateral heads main job is to perform elbow extension (meaning straightening your arm from a flexed position). However, the lateral head only becomes active to a significant degree when the triceps push against resistance. If not going against resistance, it’s really just the medial head making elbow extension happen.
All in all, anytime you extend your elbow against resistance, your lateral head is activated and helping to power the movement. This means any tricep exercise (elbow extension exercise) you do in the gym or at home will activate the muscle fibers of the lateral head.
CAN YOU ISOLATE THE LATERAL HEAD OF THE TRICEP?
It is literally impossible to isolate a single head of the tricep. This applies to the long, medial, and lateral head. However, you can emphasize a certain tricep head by selecting certain exercises (like the lateral head tricep exercises we went over earlier in this article) or altering how you do an exercise. Essentially, certain exercises, arm positions, and grip positions will shift emphasis to certain tricep heads, but all three will be activated to some degree no matter what you do.
IMPORTANCE OF EMPHASIZING THE THREE TRICEP HEADS:
For beginners, it may not seem important to worry about emphasizing the different heads. Just do some tricep exercises and that’s it right?
Actually, that’s kind of true. As a newbie, you will see good gains no matter what. But, as you become more advanced, and you really want to build big, well-defined triceps, it’s vital that you hone in on each the three heads of the tricep. By doing so, you can develop some seriously impressive looking triceps. Moreover, you build the greatest and most well-rounded strength in your triceps, which will help you in other exercises like bench press and overhead press, or your respective sport. This means better gains in other areas of your body too!
For beginners, we still recommend that you learn this now, as you can obviously see even greater newbie gains than if you didn’t.
HOW TO BEST TARGET THE LATERAL HEAD OF THE TRICEP
To give your triceps the greatest strength potential and see the best possible development, you will first need to know how to specifically target each head of the tricep. So, let’s go over the ways you can emphasize your lateral head tricep, and then briefly touch on the other two heads as well.
Lateral Head:
To target the lateral head using lateral head tricep exercises, you will want to do the following:
- Perform tricep exercises that keep your arms at your sides.
- Using an overhand grip and neutral grip when doing tricep exercises will allow you to emphasize the lateral head more. If you combine the two (elbows at your sides with an overhand or neutral grip), you will be giving your lateral head the best possible activation.
- Examples of exercises that follow the above parameters are: Tricep pushdowns with rope attachment, tricep kickbacks, and tricep dips.
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Another way to better target your lateral head is to extend your elbow at an angle that moves your forearm toward the lateral side. For example, crossbody pushdowns or extensions.
The lateral head works closely with the long head as well, so exercises that involve bringing your elbows out in front of you, behind you, or above you, while more so a long head tricep exercise, will do a good job of activating your lateral head too. If you use an overhand or hammer (neutral) grip, your lateral head will be even more emphasized. For example, neutral grip dumbbell skull crushers or close grip bench press.
Long Head:
The long head of your tricep will have the greatest activation when your elbows are overhead (because your long head will be working from a stretched position), out in front of you, or up behind you. i.e. overhead tricep extensions, skull crushers, prone incline kickbacks, bench dips. You can see more great long head moves in our article on the Best Long Head Tricep Exercises.
Note: Bench dips and tricep dips (parallel handles) equally work the long head and lateral head.
Medial Head:
The medial head of your tricep will receive the greatest activation when your elbows are at your sides and you are using an underhand grip. i.e. reverse grip pushdowns and reverse grip bench press.
It will also be activated during exercises that emphasize the long head and lateral head, but just at certain points in the movement. For example, the medial head kicks in more at the top of a dip. Check out the Best Medial Head Tricep Exercises for a better understanding of which moves best work this part of the triceps.
All in all, if you focus on these training variables, which include angles (how you position your body and where the resistance is coming from), grip position (underhand/overhand/neutral), and arm/elbow position, you can hone in on specific tricep heads.
BENEFITS OF LATERAL HEAD TRICEP EXERCISES
Here are a few great reasons why it's smart to train your lateral head.
- Aesthetics: The lateral head tricep adds a lot to the appearance of the arms due to its visibility from the back and the side. When this muscle is well-developed it will help your upper arm develop a better shape. After all, it makes up one half of the horseshoe look that a fully developed tricep creates. With a big lateral head, you will have triceps that can be seen even from the front! Sounds like reason enough to perform lateral head tricep exercises!
- Compound Pressing Exercises: The lateral head of the tricep plays a crucial role during the top range of motion when bench pressing. If your lateral head is weak, you will have trouble towards the lockout when doing bench press, especially when trying to use heavy loads. The same is true for other compound presses, like overhead press, jerks, and push presses. If you have a strong lateral head tricep, you will be much stronger in the lockout phase.
- Elbow Stability & Health: The lateral head plays a key role in the health and resilience of your elbow. The strong it is, the more stable your elbow will be during any activity.
Besides those three specific things, incorporating a lateral head tricep exercise or two into your program will lead to a stronger, bigger lateral head, meaning stronger, bigger triceps as a whole. This will allow you to increase your overall strength, stamina, power, muscular endurance, and injury resilience in weightlifting, sports, and life.
Lateral Head Tricep Exercises: Key Takeaways
Let's end with a few pointers that will help you take your triceps to the next level.
- You can’t completely isolate any one tricep head using lateral head triceps exercises, but you can emphasize a single head with certain exercises, arm positions, grip positions, and you should be doing this if you want the best possible development of your triceps.
- Tricep exercises that keep your elbow at your side and/or use an overhand or neutral grip will emphasize the lateral head.
- Incorporate various rep ranges and weight load for your triceps exercises.
- Aim for 12-20 sets of triceps per week with at least one third emphasizing the lateral head.
- You can split up the above volume (sets) in throughout the course of the week.
All in all, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try something new, adding what works best for you to your workouts. Also, push yourself. You need to train smart AND hard.
By taking advantage of these lateral head exercises, you will be able to see optimal strength and hypertrophy results in your triceps, which in turn will improve other areas of your fitness.
Don't neglect your other tricep heads. Target them using the best Medial Head Triceps Exercises and Long Head Triceps Exercises for serious horseshoe-muscle growth.
Kiel DiGiovanni
Author