The ULTIMATE Guide to Building Triceps (63 Studies)

0:00 Introduction
0:20 Anatomy & Physiology of the Triceps
2:32 Heavy Weight Is Better for Triceps Hypertrophy?
5:18 The Medial Head May Be Harder to Hypertrophy
6:32 Role of Each Triceps Head During Various Elbow Extension
9:20 How Good Are Compound Exercises for Triceps Hypertrophy?
12:03 Why Isolation Exercises Are Likely Necessary For Triceps Hypertrophy
21:09 High vs Low Volume for Triceps Growth
29:40 High vs Low Frequency for Triceps Growth
38:34 Hypoxia Methods Can Enhance Triceps Hypertrophy?
43:02 Summary

Music:
Song 3) Xander - Oldschool Summer

[HouseofHypertrophy]

0:00​ Introduction
0:20​ Anatomy & Physiology of the Triceps
2:32​ Heavy Weight Is Better for Triceps Hypertrophy?
5:18​ The Medial Head May Be Harder to Hypertrophy
6:32​ Role of Each Triceps Head During Various Elbow Extension
9:20​ How Good Are Compound Exercises for Triceps Hypertrophy?
12:03​ Why Isolation Exercises Are Likely Necessary For Triceps Hypertrophy
21:09​ High vs Low Volume for Triceps Growth
29:40​ High vs Low Frequency for Triceps Growth
38:34​ Hypoxia Methods Can Enhance Triceps Hypertrophy?
43:02​ Summary

Additional notes:
In this video, we assessed volume and frequency from research done on the triceps. However, the research at this current moment does not display any strong evidence indicating different muscles should be trained with different volumes or frequencies (I'm not saying for certain they shouldn't be trained with different frequencies or volume, it's just the research does not display any observable patterns to my knowledge).

Also, we mentioned the medial head may be harder to grow. After making this video, I realized the Brandao et al. study did demonstrate pretty good growth of the medial head from bench press and skull crusher training, somewhat opposing the notion the medial head may be harder to grow.

Anway, I hope all of this was useful and informative! :)

[Hitmanshiner]

It's crazy how information like this is freely available. Amazing job dude. Thank you so much for sharing the research with us!

[JamesJackson-hefs]

As a weightlifter for 25 years in my experience as individuals we do respond differently to various exercises, loads and reps however it seems mechanically that raising the elbow up, the higher up the more the long head is activated. So to sum it up overhead triceps extensions are used to develop long head, triceps push downs work more medial and lateral head.

[zicko]

Highly underrated channel. Keep up the good work mate!

[LatestBytesYT]

Very detailed and you don't get bored with the visuals! I see huge success in this channel one day. Keep it up!

[yoshineitor]

I love Triceps because they are probably top 3 most resistant muscles, they aid you during your presses and they are ready for 3-6 sets after you complete your push day, I dislike the notion of "don't train your triceps bruh, compounds do it" because they CAN handle more than that, they also recover very fast due to their relatively small size yet they can look monstrous if you train them well. They are also responsible for making your arms look thick as the biceps dont cover much area.

[robertspence]

My favorite new evidence based bodybuilding training channel for sure. Well rounded discussion with take-aways.

[leopaz]

this is by far the best muscle channel in yt, the effort you put in this is amazing, thank you

[cv]

appreciate the amazing work and thank you for including a summary - Triceps are something I feel I will always want to work on

[kellykizer]

This is why to cover all your bases you should pick an exercise from each elbow position and try to incorporate a compound conjoined exercise a conjoined single joint exercise and a independent single joint exercise and also varying your hand position neutral pronation supination.

[ptimal]

For me, my Tris exploded when I found a superset type workout for them. It's 4 sets in quick succession, of 4 different movements, 10 reps each. Using only the ez curl bar, while laying on flat bench.

The exercise is called "40s". Use a weight that feels too light at first, but by then end of the first set your tris are pumped and burning. We used to use 25s-35s on each side of the bar, but starting w 10s or two 10s would be good to see where you are w it then adjust.

1st movement: 10 skull crushers.

2nd movement: 10 skull crushers but go all the way behind your head, almost touching the ground.

3rd movement: move the bar from your sternum to the top of your forehead, back n forth, keeping the bar close to your body the whole time. 10 rapid reps.

4th movement: 10 rapid reps of bench. Straight up and down quickly.

Do all reps quickly. Whole exercise takes about a minute. W the right weight you will feel white hot fire in your triceps at the end of the last two sets and your tris will be pumped beyond belief, seriously. Last set will be torture. Best workout ever. I often used that as my entire triceps workout, it's that good. (Oh, as far as rest we'd take a few minutes between, you need it. Not too long tho, 2-3 mins, there's a sweet spot where ur tris are still pumped/inflamed but energy is regained for another complete set. And we'd typically do these every other tricep day, because they're so taxing)

[Sebastiaopedro]

The quality of the work in this channel is over the top. Already helped me so much since I first found about it. Thank you!!

[Anonymous-yhol]

I would love to watch a video of this for every muscle.

[ptjww]

This channel really is a gem for anyone taking hypertrophy seriously!

[anotheryoutubeuser]

This explains my favorite tricep exercise. I do 10-12 cable push downs, then turn around and basically do standing skull crushers with the same weight.

[gordonchristophertubo]

I never did any triceps isolation before, but my tris grew significantly because I bench press using a closer grip (approx 1.5 shoulder width, even less i.e. my thumb just outside the lateral border of my delts in the saggital plane). However, the only head that had seen significant growth is the lateral head. Shiet. Now im trying to neurologically access my long head. When I do overheads, only my right arm can access it, because it has a weak lateral head (significantly less fuller than the left).

Edit: i don't know why very little research is done to take into account not just the shoulder angle, but how externally rotated the shoulder is during elbow flexion. I actually feel more activation of my long head if i extend my elbows with my shoulder rotated more externally.

Edit: btw, if Duchenne is a legend. His work contributed much to out understanding of electrophysiology, muscle diseases, and human expression.

[imwalt]

Much of the research indicates what we all know; everyone responds differently. However, I find the long versus short rest interval research interesting. It would seem to indicate that the time the muscle is "pumped" is important. If you do 10 sets in 30 minutes or 20 sets in 30 minutes the time the muscle has more blood flow is constant. The amount of stress on the related joints may become the deciding factor for some. It would be a decision of lighter weight for more reps or less sets with the heavier weight the extra rest time allows. Thank you for doing this

[beyond_the_infinite]

Very informative. I've been doing lots of compound exercises on my Soloflex machine for 3 years and have nicely grown all my muscles especially my legs and chest. A few months ago, I added tricep and bicep isolation exercises with dumb bells and my arms are significantly bigger already.

[tristanlasley]

I learned, Time under Tension is king again 💎

[Edgycoo]

brah your stuff is absolutely fantastic. Well done. I love scouring through studies and tinkering with my workouts but I have never seen a more comprehensive overview of studies on the topic of hypertrophy ever. Not even close. I would love some strength only editions also. Perhaps for the bench press. I currently hope to increase strength without getting any bigger.