Remember to vary your triceps training if your goal is big arms❗ . The triceps brachii actually has 3 different heads! The long head, lateral head, and medial head. The long head is the only one that actually originates from the shoulder - specifically the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula.What this means is that altering your shoulder position can potentially put more load on the long head of the tricpes in comparison to the lateral or medial heads. . ➖Tricep Pulldown. When performing exercises like rope pull downs, the shoulder is in an extended position and all 3 heads are working on concentrically moving the elbow into extension (straightening) while also eccentrically controlling the elbow into flexion (bending). . ➖Skullcrushers. In this exercise, the shoulder is in about 90 degrees of shoulder flexion. This does NOT change what the lateral and medial heads of the tricpes do - as they only control motion at the elbow joint. However, because the long head is lengthened to a greater degree with more shoulder flexion, it means it is now working harder in this exercise relative to the rope pull down when the shoulder is in a neutral position. Remember, for hypertrophy we need eccentrically lengthen tissues. . ➖Overhead Tricep Press. Now, the shoulder is in a fully flexed/overhead position meaning there is even greater lengthening of the long head of the triceps. This exercise would represent the highest demand on the long head. . � Moral of the story: vary your tricep exercises and make sure you're performing tricep/elbow extension exercises in various degrees of shoulder flexion!
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