Best Tricep Exercises With Barbell For Defined Upper Arms

Anatomy And Functions Of The Triceps

Triceps Lateral Heads

Muscles located on the back of your arm between your shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Medial Heads

Small muscles located at the back of your arms. Deep to the triceps long heads between the shoulder and elbow.

Triceps Long Heads

Large muscles located at the back of your arms between your shoulder and elbow. Most outside portion of the tricep.

The triceps brachii are muscles of the upper arm that attach from the scapula and extend to the elbow. The primary function of the triceps is to extend the elbow and straighten the arm. They also help stabilize the elbow and shoulder joints.

As implied in the name, the triceps are made up of three heads: long, medial, and lateral. The long head is the largest and is mostly used in overhead movements. The medial and lateral heads are smaller and mainly recruited for pressing movements. The lateral head gives the triceps a horseshoe appearance on the back of the arm.

Benefits Of Training The Triceps With Barbell

There are clear benefits to improving upper body strength, and the triceps are a large part of this. The main advantages of using a barbell are that, by design, it doesn’t allow for any strength imbalances and you can lift more weight with a barbell.

Elbow Health

The tendon of the triceps protects the capsule of the elbow joint, which is what gets inflamed when someone has tendonitis. To avoid tendonitis or tennis elbow, it’s important to maintain a healthy and stable elbow joint.

The triceps brachii have a large role to play in this since they are the primary movers of the elbow. Stronger triceps make for a stronger and more stable elbow joint that is less prone to injury. 

Shoulder Health

The shoulder joint has the largest range of motion (ROM) of all the joints in the body, making it relatively unstable and prone to injury. While it plays a smaller part compared to other muscles, the triceps help stabilize it because the long head attaches to the scapula and extends past the shoulder joint.

Upper body exercises can be straining for this joint. While it’s okay to isolate muscles like triceps, be sure to balance out your training with other muscle groups with front delt workouts, bicep exercises, and upper back workouts.

Strength Gains

The main advantage of training the triceps with a barbell is the ability to maximize the amount of weight used. With the stability provided by a barbell, you can lift more weight that simply cannot be achieved with dumbbells or other resistance exercises.

This is critical for weightlifters and athletes in sports that require power from the triceps such as a quarterback in football or a pitcher in baseball. 

Tips To Make Your Tricep Barbell Workout More Effective

If you’re taking the time to exercise, you’d probably like to reap the greatest benefits possible. Here are some things to keep in mind to have the best tricep barbell workout and stay safe while doing so.

Concentrate On Form And Technique

To avoid injury and protect shoulder and elbow joints specifically, it’s always best to avoid lifting more than you’re trained for, otherwise known as “ego lifting”. If you’ve never performed a tricep barbell workout before, start with just the bar to practice your form and get the movement pattern down first.

Taking the time, in the beginning, to focus on the mind-muscle connection will allow you to go up in weight much faster.  Once the form is established then start adding weight. You will get much more out of your training this way. 

Slow Progress

Employ progressive overload to build muscle effectively. All this means is to increase weight by 10% or less each week. This gradually loads the muscles over time, leading you to gain muscle mass while avoiding injury. 

As with any strength training routine, you should not train the same muscle group on consecutive days. Consider following a workout split routine that incorporates both training and rest days.

Warm Up & Stretch

A dynamic warm-up before any workout helps activate muscles for mind-muscle connection. It doesn’t take much, but stretching the upper body after a workout is a good way to prevent soreness and encourage muscle recovery. Set aside enough time for a workout that includes both a warm-up and cool-down stretch. 

How To Include Barbell Tricep Exercises In A Workout Routine

A barbell can be found in any basic set of gym equipment. As mentioned above, some are weighted so that they can be used without the need for bulky weight plates, which can be especially beneficial for a triceps workout at home with a barbell.

Sets

A set contains many repetitions of an exercise performed consecutively. You typically rest between sets. 

• For beginners, aim for 3-5 sets per workout by strength training twice a week. Ideally, this will total 6-10 sets per week.
• For intermediate exercisers, try to complete 4-8 sets in a workout depending if you strength train 2 or 3 times per week. This will total 12-16 sets per week.

Reps

Reps are the number of times you’ll do an exercise within a set. 

• Complete 6-12 reps for 3-5 sets to see muscle growth.
• Aim to do 12-20 reps for 1-3 sets to focus on muscle endurance. 

Compound And Isolation Movements

The best thing for overall fitness, strength, and stability is to diversify your strength workouts. This is why the five barbell triceps exercises described above are a combination of compound and isolated movements. 

Compound movements involve multiple muscle groups to complete an exercise and are typically more tiring. Isolation exercises specifically target one muscle group, in this case, the triceps. 

Conclusion

The tricep barbell workout is an excellent addition to any workout regimen to build muscle mass and enhance overall upper-body strength. Incorporating barbell exercises like the close grip bench press, bench press, overhead triceps extensions, skull crushers, and floor press can significantly impact your triceps development.

However, it’s crucial to remember that proper form and safety should always be a priority. Be patient with your progress and gradually increase your weight to avoid injury. With consistency, you’ll be well on your way to achieving strong and toned upper arms.