Huge hanging triceps give your arms a shocking appearance, as legendary bodybuilder Mike Mentzer shows here at a “Where’s Waldo” audition…
So what’s the “ideal” exercise to get Hindenburg dirigibles on the backs of your arms? It is a popular one: Lying extensions, or “skull crushers.”;
But to make it better than the flat-bench barbell version, do it on a slight incline with a dumbbell or cable handle in each hand, your palms facing…
Either of those provides less hand restriction and a bit more stretch…
And the cable version pictured above also give you continuous tension—the resistance doesn’t go to zero at the top. That’s why cable extensions get the slight nod over the DB version…
What about pushdowns? When you stand back away from the pulley to get more resistance at the straight-arm, weak contracted point, you create the opposite of an ideal strength curve—resistance should tail off as you straighten your arms to flex; that means…
A pushdown variation is a good add-on after the ideal for that contracted-position torque curve….
Many trainees like close-grip bench presses or dips, but there are a few problems:
1) The range of motion and resistance curve are not great
2) The line of force makes both of those exercises front-felt dominant with only secondary triceps involvement.
3) Both neglect the triceps’ long head to a degree.
What about overhead extensions? That stretch-position move does involve the long head more, but like pushdowns, it’s best as an add-on after the ideal. You could even do it on a different day than pushdowns.
So incline cable extensions, is the ultimate ideal. Add pushdowns (contracted) and/or overhead extensions (stretch), and you’ll blow up your Hindenburgs. “Oh, the humanity.”
NOTE: The ideal exercise identified and described in the past few newsletters—and ones coming up—are NOT the result of my genius. They come from Mr. America and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole…
His analytic brilliance helped me understand how these exercises are the best of the best for getting the most mass bang for your effort buck…
To prove it, he won the 2019 AAU Drug-Free Mr. Universe at age 59, using only ONE IDEAL EXERCISE for each muscle group…
For more on his training and how it evolved—including sets, reps, ideal exercises and more—see Never Stop Growing.
For more on his training and how it evolved—including sets, reps, ideal exercises and more—see Never Stop Growing.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
X-Rep.com
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