You're here: Home » Articles » Women's Arms Exercises » The Guide to Real Women's Arm Toning 4 - the Triceps

The Guide to Real Women's Arm Toning 4 - the Triceps

This is part four of our five part series The Guide to Real Women’s Arm Toning. The full series is PART ONE, TWO and THREE.

This series has looked at women’s arm toning by looking at each muscle of the arm one post at a time. We have been focusing on the best weight training exercises for that muscle.

This post will be focusing on the best triceps exercises and a few tips for developing the triceps. Remember, this series talks about the best resistance exercises for the arms but if you want to get serious about toning you need to lose weight as well. This means cardio and diet. Arm toning is not a one dimensional equation. The aim of this series is to give women a basis for their arm toning weights workouts so they have a place to start.

Learn more about fitness -- Join our Women's Fitness Community

Introduction to Toning and Developing the Triceps

The triceps are probably the most important muscle to develop when you want to achieve firm toned arms. The reason for this is that the tricep muscle takes up 2/3 of the arm. If it is underdeveloped it looks wobbly and soft but when it is firm and lean it makes the whole arm look that way.

The good news is, it isn’t that hard to develop the triceps. They are quite easy to train and the exercises you use don’t take that much practice to master. There are some tricky ones but mostly they are not too bad.

Where exactly are the triceps

As always it is good to know exactly where the triceps are and how they work in relation to other muscles.

You can see from the image that the tricep is the horseshoe shaped muscle at the back of the arm. It is involved in pushing motions such as when you need to forcefully straighten your arm.

The Best Triceps Exercises

Now we need to get into the good stuff. To tone your arms you need a mixture of weight loss and muscle development so the better the exercises you have the better the progress you’ll make.

As always, technique is the most important thing when trying to develop a muscle. Make sure you read lots about how to do each exercise and talk to a trainer if you aren’t sure. The injuries you can sustain from poor weight lifting technique are substantial.

1. The close grip pushup
The humble pushup is one of the best exercises there is for developing the triceps. It is an excellent place for women to start working their triceps as it is not hard to do and teaches you the technique of contracting the triceps well.

The great thing about the pushup is you can change the muscle you target by shifting the position of your hands. A close grip targets the triceps while a wide stance targets the chest. If you put your feet up on a chair you can target your shoulders.

Do each pushup really slow and feel the tension in your triceps. Try to squeeze the muscle mentally as this will make the exercise more effective.

2. Triceps extension
This is a fab exercise if you can get it right. It is one of the more tricky triceps exercises because there is a chance you can stress your elbows and shoulders. For this reason it is very important that you start off weight a light weight and get your technique down. Women who start off with a heavy weight will end up damaging their shoulders and probably straining their elbows.

It is important that you keep your elbow close in to your head when you do this exercise. This helps you to contract the triceps muscles and get a deep stretch on the negative part of the motion.

3. Bent over triceps extension
This is my favorite triceps exercise but the problem is you need a cable machine. If you don’t have a gym membership then this one probably isn’t for you.

The great thing about this exercise is that it keeps your triceps under a constant tension. This is the main advantage of the cables; the cables are always working against you. When you bend forward and extend your arms out pulling the weight you get a deep muscle contraction and then as return the weight to the original position the cables pull and you get an amazing stretch. These are two important elements of triceps training (contraction and stretch) and I believe this exercise does it the best.

It is more effective than the standing pushdown because it allows you to lean forward and use more weight. This is hands down one of the best triceps exercises there is.

Tips for Toning the Triceps

When you train your triceps there are a few things you need to remember to make sure the session is as productive as possible.

1. Stretch and contraction
Try to stick to the exercises that provide a tight contraction and a deep stretch in the muscle. When you are doing your exercises make sure you make the most of the opportunity it provides for these things. For example, don’t rush out of the lower position just so you can get the set over with. Feel the stretch and let it do its work.

2. Big warm up
The triceps really benefit from being properly warmed up before you hit the weights. Make sure you aren’t one of those people who spend 10 minutes on the treadmill and then go and do upper body weights. Running isn’t a warm up for your arms! Do some rowing or boxing or skipping and then go and do some really light sets of the exercises you are about to do. Make sure your shoulders and elbows are not cold.

In the next post in this series we will be taking a look at the forearms as well as some final tips for toning your arms. Make sure your subscribe to the feed so you don’t miss out.

Comments on this article:

Add Your Comments Here: