Anatomy Of The Triceps
Located in the back of the upper arm is the triceps brachii. It is made up of three heads: long, medial, and lateral heads. Each of these triceps brachii heads plays an important role in stabilizing joints and establishing arm movement.
The triceps medial head is involved in all types of elbow extensions, including forearm extension at the elbow joint. The triceps lateral head’s main job is straightening the arm, and the largest of the heads is the long head. Attached to the scapula (shoulder blade), it establishes arm adduction and extension from this joint.
Arm adduction is the arm moving towards the body’s midline. When the arm moves backward from the body’s position, this is called arm extension. The long head contributes the most to elbow extension at shoulder elevation compared to the other heads.
Prioritizing health in the triceps brachii is vital for improving functionality in everyday life. Humans use the triceps daily to perform various movements, like opening and closing doors or changing clothes. Strengthening this muscle can enable better performance in daily and athletic activities while reducing injury risk
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.
Benefits Of Tricep Dip Alternatives
Builds Strength
The goal to build strength is a common one for many aspiring lifters. There are many benefits of building strength through exercise, including increased lean body mass.
Incorporating these tricep dip alternatives into your routine can provide strength improvements in the upper body. The chair or bench tricep dip can be performed at home or while traveling to maintain your training routine. Other options like the ring dip or tricep pushdown machine exercise are all great alternatives to encouraging strength gain.
Tones Muscles
Many lifters aspire to increase their muscle definition by toning their muscles through exercise and diet. Using these tricep dip alternatives in your workout routine can produce muscle growth and help tone muscles.
To obtain muscle tone progress, lifters must understand that certain variables can determine the quality of results. If a person’s body fat percentage is too high, it can hide muscle underneath the fat. Someone with a lower body fat percentage will find their muscle growth and definition easier to see.
Many lifters enter a bulking or cutting phase to see more prominent results. This is done by decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass.
Reduces Risks Of Injuries
Many variables can increase the risk of injury, including muscle weakness, poor joint stability, and low bone density. In the world, a shocking 43.1% of adults aged 50 and over have low bone mass.
Bone mineral density, or bone density, references how much calcium and other important muscles are available in bone tissue. The more dense a bone is, the less susceptible it is to breaking and reducing the risk of injury. Unfortunately, factors like physical inactivity and aging can lead to osteoporosis, a condition resulting in weak bones.
Incorporating resistance exercises like these tricep dip alternatives is beneficial for reducing injury risk. Exercise can increase bone density, improve joint stability, and reduce injury risk.
Expert Training Tips
Understanding the importance of form and technique, plus how it can affect results, can make or break your fitness journey. Here are some expert training tips to improve form and technique, reduce injury risk, and enhance progress:
- Perform a warm-up before your workout session to warm up the joints and muscles. This helps prepare the body for training and reduces potential injury from a tight muscle or joint.
- Begin your workouts with a warm-up, followed by compound lifts and then, isolation exercises. Since compound lifts incorporate multiple muscle groups, more energy is required to perform these lifts. Do these lifts first when energy stores are full to get the most out of your training session.
Frequently Asked Questions
This greatly depends on your health and fitness goals. If your aim is hypertrophy, you will need to perform 3–4 sets and 8–12 reps each set. Repetitions and sets will vary based on your goal.
Dips are a compound exercise that recruits multiple muscle groups to perform the movement pattern. This helps promote strength and muscle growth in more muscles engaged in the exercise.
No exercise should be performed every day. The muscles need time to rest and recuperate to grow stronger without risking injury to the muscle. Instead, focus on hitting a muscle group 2–3 times weekly to promote progress.
Yes, muscles can be built using just dips. However, it’s recommended to use more than one exercise to effectively target all muscle groups. We want to avoid causing muscular imbalances, with some muscles being overtly stronger than others.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
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- Hong, A.R. and Kim, S.W. (2018). Effects of Resistance Exercise on Bone Health. Endocrinology and Metabolism, [online] 33(4), p.435. doi:https://doi.org/10.3803/enm.2018.33.4.435.
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