Build the tricep with a push down for the mid range, an overhead extension for the fully lengthened position, and a JM press or dip as the compound. Because the long head crosses the shoulder, you have to train the tricep at different points of shoulder flexion rather than only extending the elbow. Do not chase individual heads with grip rotation, since all three come to one insertion point. Chase alignment and output instead.
Triceps make up two thirds of the upper arm, so they are the largest part of what you are displaying in a side chest, a front double and a rear double. If arm size is the goal, this is where the size is.
There are three heads, all inserting down at the elbow. The lateral head wraps around the lateral portion of the arm, the medial head comes up more in the middle of the humerus, and the long head attaches over to the scapula. All three function in elbow extension.
The long head is the one that changes your programming. Because it crosses the shoulder, it also aids in shoulder extension, and with the arm in shoulder flexion it acts to bring the arm back down toward the body. So you have to train the tricep at different points of shoulder flexion, not just extend the elbow from one position.
What you should not do is try to bias individual heads. These muscles come to one insertion point, so it is really hard to preferentially hit one. A grip that internally rotates hard to chase a head just costs you output. Put yourself in a position to produce good force for the tricep and build the whole thing.
| Movement | Shoulder position | Where it loads the tricep |
|---|---|---|
| Push down | Neutral, at the side | Mid range |
| Overhead extension | Flexed, overhead | Fully lengthened |
| JM press | Flexed, supported | Lengthened, under load |
| Dip | Extended | Shortened, into elbow flexion |
A push down is a great starting pattern because its resistance profile fits the muscle. Anytime the cable forms a 90 degree angle you get the greatest tension, so a push down loads the mid range well. As you push down and the cable starts aligning with the arm, tension drops off, which is exactly where the tricep can no longer produce as much force.
Then people undo it with the attachment. The common bar makes it hard to get the elbow in far enough with enough external rotation to line the wrist up with the elbow. The force vector runs straight down, so as you push, the hand wants to travel back, when what you want is the elbows locked in place and the hand extending back from there.
A variable width bar solves it, because you can align the handles so the shoulder to elbow sits in a more stacked position, which is where the tricep can actually act. Cue driving the elbows into the side. For the hand, sit slightly away from full pronation, almost neutral, and drive the bottom of the palm into the handle.
If you do not have an adjustable attachment, single arm is your next best bet. You can put your torso wherever you need and stay in the natural path, and for stronger lifters there is a bracing bonus: on a dual handle, staying braced over the top of it is often the rate limiter, whereas single arm you can use the frame to help you brace and get more output.
The cross body tricep extension is the setup I keep coming back to, because it adapts to the individual. You pick cable height and the plane of pull based on how wide or narrow your shoulders are and what your carry angle is, which matters when you are accumulating high volumes of tricep work and want to avoid elbow problems.
To set it up, grab the handle, then pull the shoulder back and down so it is fully braced. You are locking a slightly pulled back, extended shoulder joint in place, and then letting the action happen at the elbow only. Keep a neutral hand position as you come across the body.
The check is the plane of the cable. It should run through the shoulder joint, which also aligns it with the elbow, so you are not getting torque or binding at the elbow that turns into pain.
That setup loads maximally at 90 degrees to the forearm, then tapers off as you extend into the shortened position, which is where the tricep is weakest anyway. It is a movement built around your structure rather than the machine's, which is the whole idea: make the cable move around your structure instead of your structure moving around the handle.
For a bilateral version, use bilateral ropes at shoulder width with a neutral hand, or a cable crossover with adjustable width where the line of pull runs in that same plane through the shoulder.
This is where you move the tricep into the fully lengthened position, which puts emphasis on the long head and gives you the greatest potential for stimulus, because you get full loading at almost a fully stretched position. You do not get that opportunity from a push down or from your pressing.
The loading pattern is worth understanding. Fully lengthened, the tricep is near active insufficiency and cannot produce a lot of force, so the cable lets off there. As you come up you reach full loading where the cable creates the most resistance, then it lets off again as you reach full elbow extension.
A lot of people struggle to get overhead. Do not force it. Find your natural path, the position you can move through comfortably without any load, and set the cable to that. Then keep the elbow locked in place. What you do not want is the elbow travelling back around, which is how an overhead extension quietly turns into a shoulder press.
Single arm overhead is a good option if you have real shoulder flexion and external rotation. Many people do not, and a dumbbell will limit them, so a cable stack is usually the better answer.
One thing to avoid: the pronated straight bar skull crusher. It puts a lot of torque on the wrist to hold that position, and the pronated grip creates a large moment arm that binds the elbow. Keep a neutral wrist to drive extension through the tricep.
Start with why a flat dumbbell version does not work. Lying on a flat bench with the arms straight out, there is a lot of joint stacking at the top, with hand, elbow and shoulder perfectly aligned. A dumbbell can only exert force straight down into the bench, so at that point the force is aligned in a way that is not really challenging the tricep.
The JM press fixes both halves of the problem. Having the load over the shoulder joint gives you structural stability, so you are not spending your effort stabilising, and bringing the hand in creates a moment arm at the elbow, which is what causes real tricep demand. The result is that you can output while the tricep is loaded in a lengthened position.
It works well in a Smith machine, and it is the answer for anyone who struggles with the overhead position, myself included. There is some front delt action as the arm moves across near the front delt plane, but treat that as auxiliary stimulus rather than delt training.
There is an in between option too. If a dumbbell skull crusher causes you pain, scoot further down the bench so the line of force comes down close to in line with the shoulder joint. You keep a lot of the tricep bias, with some front delt and a bit of sternal pec involvement.
Close grip bench press is the default answer everywhere, and it is not a great one. With that grip the hand sits wider and stacked over the elbow, so you do not get much more tricep demand than you already get from normal chest pressing.
It also fights you when you try to narrow it further. Bringing the grip in causes binding at the wrist, and the force vector runs straight through a bent wrist, which is uncomfortable and becomes a recurring problem. Find your hand position by coming to the bottom and bringing the grip in only until just before lateral deviation of the wrist, where the hands start trying to pull off the bar.
There is a cueing myth attached to it as well. People say tuck the elbows in, but when the elbow sits directly underneath the wrist you are not creating a moment arm from the wrist to the elbow, so you are not biasing much tricep. If anything you create a bigger moment arm from the upper arm, which puts the stimulus into the shoulder.
My preference is simpler: set up as well as you can for your chest pressing volume, let that count as tricep volume, and add isolation work if you need more. Where a compound is genuinely wanted, investigate the dip.
The dip gets you into shoulder extension while extending the elbow, so the tricep is fully shortened at the top and then flexes at the elbow. Keep the torso mostly upright to bias triceps. Do not go to excessive depth, where the shoulder tips up and puts you in a precarious position for a joint issue. Your bottom is a 90 degree elbow or slightly above, so you keep tension in the tricep, and then own that transition point rather than bouncing it.
In general you want a shortening pattern like a push down variation, then a lengthening pattern, which might be an overhead single arm, an overhead dumbbell version, or your JM press.
If a compound pressing movement is in the session, put the higher output movement first. I would not train the tricep in a shortened position before a close grip bench press, because you have just pre fatigued the muscle you are about to ask for output.
There is a programming trap worth naming. If you push tricep volume up through pressing and it starts eating into your chest work, or you have to pull all your tricep volume out later to make the session sustainable, the structure was wrong. Bias with isolation work you can add and remove, not by distorting the press.
No single one, because the long head crosses the shoulder. You need a push down for the mid range and an overhead extension or JM press for the fully lengthened position. If you only push down, you never load the range where the long head is stretched.
Not as good as its reputation. The hand sits wider and stacked over the elbow, so there is not much more tricep demand than your normal chest pressing, and narrowing the grip further binds the wrist. Let your pressing count as tricep volume and add isolation work if you need more.
Check that the cable's plane runs through the shoulder joint, which lines it up with the elbow so there is no torque or binding. Keep a neutral wrist rather than a pronated straight bar, and use an attachment that lets the elbow sit in with the shoulder to elbow stacked.
Barely. All three heads come to one insertion point, so it is really hard to preferentially bias one, and rotating hard to try mostly reduces your output. What does change the emphasis is shoulder position, which is why overhead work matters for the long head.
Yes, as your compound. They put you into shoulder extension with elbow extension, so the tricep works through a range the other movements miss. Stay mostly upright, and stop at a 90 degree elbow or slightly above rather than dropping deep and letting the shoulder tip up.
Applied Hypertrophy Optimization covers tricep and bicep training in the same detail as this page, muscle by muscle, with the setup and execution standards behind every exercise choice here.
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John Jewett is an IFBB Professional bodybuilder and physique coach, and the founder of J3 University. He has spent his career competing at the professional level while coaching competitors and everyday lifters through the same training, nutrition, and recovery principles he uses himself.
J3 University exists to make that process teachable. Every course is built on the reasoning behind the method, not just the method, so you can make better decisions about your own physique long after the program ends. The article above is drawn directly from the J3U course curriculum.
