If you’re looking to tone and strengthen your upper arms, you’ll want to focus some attention on the triceps muscles to sculpt a balanced and powerful physique.

The barbell is the bar where weight plates are added. They can be used in conjunction with other equipment or on their own.

Bear in mind that barbell workouts do require a certain base level of strength. If you’re a complete beginner or someone who has known strength imbalances, start with resistance bands, dumbbells, or bodyweight for triceps training before graduating to the triceps workout with a barbell.

In this article, we’ll go through how to work out the triceps with a barbell and five triceps exercises that can be implemented into a 5-day workout routine or used as a standalone workout. We’ll also discuss tips on how to get the most out of your tricep barbell workout.

Best Barbell Exercises For Triceps

As a general rule of thumb, any upper body exercise with an overhand grip will work the triceps more.^[1] Dumbbells will give you a greater range of motion (ROM) for working triceps, but a barbell will allow you to lift more weight. Here is some inspiration to craft an effective tricep barbell workout.

Babrell Close-Grip Bench Press

This move is exactly as it sounds. Set up for a normal bench press, but narrow your grip. This will prevent you from lifting as much weight, but it targets the triceps more than a normal bench press.

How To Do

1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet planted firmly on the ground and your back, shoulders, and head in contact with the bench.
2. Grip the barbell with your hands closer together than shoulder-width apart, using a supinated (palms facing up) or neutral grip.
3. Lift the barbell off the rack and hold it above your chest with your arms fully extended.
4. Lower the barbell slowly to your lower chest while inhaling, keeping your elbows close to your body.
5. Pause for a moment when the bar is close to your chest, then push it back up to the starting position while exhaling.
6. Lock your elbows at the top without fully extending them.
7. Complete the desired number of reps.
8. Safely re-rack the barbell when you’ve finished your set.

Tips

• Keep your elbows in towards your ribcage as much as you can as you lower the bar.
• Practice with an empty bar first to get your grip placement right to effectively target the triceps without placing unnecessary strain on the wrists or shoulders.

Optimal Sets And Reps

Barbell Bench Press

The barbell bench press isn’t just for your chest, it works nearly every muscle of the upper body including the pecs, deltoids, serratus anterior, biceps, and triceps. The triceps are more so assisting with this exercise rather than the active movers.

But just because triceps aren’t the star of the show doesn’t mean they aren’t important in building strong triceps, specifically the lateral head. They are especially used at the top of the press towards lockout when the elbows are extending.

How To Do

1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your back, shoulders, and head in contact with the bench.
2. Grip the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, palms facing forward.
3. Lift the barbell off the rack and hold it above your chest with your arms fully extended.
4. Lower the barbell slowly to your mid-chest while inhaling, keeping your elbows at a 90-degree angle.
5. Pause for a moment when the bar is close to your chest.
6. Push the barbell back up to the starting position while exhaling, fully extending your arms without locking your elbows.
7. Complete the desired number of reps.
8. Safely re-rack the barbell when you’ve finished your set.

Tips

• If you want to feel it more in your triceps, don’t fully lock out your arms at the top before lowering the bar back down. This will keep tension on the triceps muscles.
• Use a spotter to perform this move safely, especially if you are a beginner.

Optimal Sets And Reps

Overhead Barbell Triceps Extension

This move specifically targets the triceps. Grip the bar with an overhand grip with hands shoulder-width apart then place the barbell to where it’s behind your head and your elbows are pointed toward the sky, then extend the arms until you’re back to the starting position to complete a rep.

How To Do

1. Sit on a bench and grip a barbell with both hands using an overhand grip, hands placed close together.
2. Hold the barbell above your head with your arms fully extended, keeping your elbows close to your ears.
3. Inhale, engage your core, and slowly lower the barbell behind your head by bending your elbows and keeping your upper arms stationary.
4. Continue lowering the bar until your forearms are parallel to the floor, or you feel a stretch in your triceps.
5. Pause briefly at the bottom of the movement, then exhale and extend your arms to raise the barbell back to the starting position.
6. Fully extend your elbows without locking them at the top.
7. Complete the desired number of reps.
8. Safely rack the barbell when you’ve finished your set.

Tips

• These can be done sitting or standing, but standing will engage the core more. 
• If doing them sitting, do the same movement while sitting on a flat gym bench. 
• Make sure to keep the elbows stationary so that the only movement is in extending the arms.

Optimal Sets And Reps

Skull Crusher

Skull crusher is a popular addition to any workout routine for women looking to tone the upper arms, but that’s not to say that both genders can’t benefit and build strength from this unique movement. They are commonly done with dumbbells, however, they can be done with a barbell to isolate the triceps for optimal muscle growth.

Skull crushers are another name for a lying barbell triceps extension.

How To Do

1. Lie flat on a bench with your feet planted firmly on the ground and your back, shoulders, and head in contact with the bench.
2. Hold an EZ curl bar or dumbbell with both hands, extending your arms fully above your chest.
3. Inhale, engage your core, and slowly lower the bar or dumbbells towards your forehead by bending your elbows, keeping them stationary.
4. Continue lowering the weight until it’s just above your forehead or you feel a stretch in your triceps.
5. Pause briefly at the bottom of the movement, then exhale and extend your arms to raise the weight back to the starting position.
6. Fully extend your elbows without locking them at the top.
7. Complete the desired number of reps.
8. Safely return the weight to the starting position when you’ve finished your set.

Tips

• Keep your elbows in and don’t let the weight drop fast.
• These can also be done on an incline bench if this is more comfortable.
• Similarly to the triceps extension, make sure to keep the elbows as stationary as possible.

Optimal Sets And Reps

Barbell Floor Chest Press

This exercise is essentially a barbell chest press on the ground. Since the range of motion is limited, it targets the triceps more. This is also a modification for those who have a shoulder injury. Bear in mind, that you may not be able to lift as much weight from the floor since you won’t have the same lower body help as in a standard bench press.

How To Do

1. Lie flat on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
2. Hold a barbell with an overhand grip, arms fully extended, and the bar positioned above your chest.
3. Inhale and engage your core, then lower the barbell to your chest by bending your elbows.
4. Continue lowering the bar until your upper arms touch the ground, or your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
5. Pause briefly at the bottom of the movement, then exhale and push the barbell back up to the starting position.
6. Fully extend your elbows without locking them at the top.
7. Complete the desired number of reps.
8. Safely rack the barbell when you’ve finished your set.

Tips

• You can either keep your legs straight or bend them so that your feet are placed on the ground.
• This is a particularly good move to help improve lockout strength (which you especially need if you do bench presses often). Ultimately, the lockout is the last part of the press when the move is complete.

Optimal Sets And Reps

Anatomy And Functions Of The Triceps

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^[2] 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^[3] 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.^[4]
• 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.