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Triple-Size TTri’sri’s Build Your Triceps to Monster Proportions by Greg Zulak Photography by Michael Neveux f you’ve got flat, puny triceps, your arms Don’t throw in the pushdown rope just yet. won’t look impressive, no matter how well You can build very impressive triceps even if developed your biceps and torso muscles your long heads are a bit short. Albert Beckles are. To quote my friend Gunnar Sikk: “Thick has short triceps long heads as well as short Itriceps are to an upper body what wide tires biceps, but that didn’t stop him from developing are to a race car. They impart a powerful and an incredible pair of guns, with ice cream cone serious look when viewed from the front. Almost peaks for biceps and massive horseshoe triceps. mean. When viewed from the side, they bal- You may also have problems building big ance out pec thickness and make the waist ap- arms if you’re an ectomorph—tall, long and pear smaller.” skinny with a scarcity of muscle cells in your Genetics, as always, plays a role in what kind upper arms. Nevertheless, it can be done. of triceps you can eventually develop. If you Three-time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane, an ecto- have short—or high—triceps, you’re mesomorph, had arms that probably didn’t mea- handicapped because you can’t develop muscle sure 18 inches, but he had wicked triceps, where there are no muscle cells. Just about every especially the rear and lateral heads. He beat big-armed champion over the past 60 years has men who outweighed him by as much as 50 had long, full triceps, especially the long head, pounds and whose arms measured two or three the head of the triceps that hangs down under inches more than his because his arms were the biceps when you hit a front double-biceps beautifully shaped and developed and his pose. Sergio Oliva’s are so lengthy that they physique was so symmetrical and well- actually appear to attach a couple of inches balanced. below his elbows. Unbelievable! As Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia and On the other hand, my own long heads stop owner of one of the greatest pairs of arms ever, several inches above my elbows, which severely says, it’s not enough to build big arms. If you restricts how large I can ever get my triceps. It’s want to look impressive, you have to develop a sad fact of life—just as it is for bodybuilders beautiful big arms—arms that make the behold- who have short, high calves and will never be er gasp with amazement and turn green with able to build impressive lower legs. envy. 98 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 99 CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE Triple-Size Tri’s Indirect Effect and Its Relation to Big Arms Not many bodybuilders are aware that there’s a direct relation- ship between the size of their legs and the size of their arms. Vince Gironda, the famous Iron Guru, maintained that 15 percent of arm size comes from leg training. To un- derstand why that’s so, you have to understand the idea of indirect ef- fect. Simply put, when one muscle group in the body grows, the rest of the body grows too. The bigger the muscle, the bigger the indirect effect, and since the legs contain the biggest muscles in the body, the bigger they get, the more influence they have on the size of your arms. Just as a large rock creates a bigger splash and waves than a tiny pebble when thrown into a pool of water, hard leg training will bring you big waves of upper-arm growth. Even if all that weren’t true, you’d work your legs to develop the most The legs contain the biggest muscles in the symmetrical and proportional body, so the bigger they get, the more size physique you can. Having big arms influence they have on your arms. with skinny legs just doesn’t cut it in Model: George Farah \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008 the impress-the-ladies department anymore. You have to have the parts of the long head. traps and lats, that they train arms whole package. Generally, you work two triceps directly only once a week. Ronnie heads with any given compound Coleman does that in the off-sea- Triceps Physiology movement, but one head more son, and his guns aren’t exactly strongly than the other. So it takes hurting for size. As its name suggests, the triceps more than one exercise to fully is a three-headed muscle. Its three develop your triceps. Many basic sections are 1) the long, or scapu- triceps movements mostly target lar, head; 2) the external, or long the long head, which is a good Heavy vs. Light humeral, head; and 3) the internal, thing: The long head is the one on Training or short humeral, head. Just as the underside of the upper arm bodybuilders refer to upper pecs that when developed properly Some people say you must train and lower pecs to describe their hangs down like the belly of a well- your triceps with heavy weights if chest muscles when, in fact, it’s all fed great white shark. Even so, you you hope to develop size. Heavy one muscle, the pectoralis major, must keep a careful eye on your and light are relative words, how- they also refer to upper and lower development so you build the three ever. If you use 300 pounds for 15 triceps, inner and outer heads, or heads evenly. repetitions on close-grip bench lateral and rear heads. Although When triceps lack size or shape, presses, that can hardly be de- those are anatomically incorrect, it’s usually not because they’re scribed as light training. I generally the terms are part of the bodybuild- underworked. On the contrary, the advise bodybuilders to train in a ing language because some sec- triceps are used in so many upper- heavy/light style; that is, one or two tions of particular heads may grow body exercises—bench presses, exercises with heavy weights for faster or slower than other sections. inclines, declines, dumbbell sets of six to 12 repetitions com- They belong to the same head presses, behind-the-neck presses, bined with some type of high-rep but react as if they were different dips, cross-bench pullovers and technique—supersets, tri-sets, heads—or even different muscles. bent-arm barbell pullovers—that drop sets, extended sets or single For example, your lower triceps (on we know volume alone isn’t the high-rep sets of 12 to 20. That way the long head) may grow slower answer to beautiful, shapely and you work a variety of fiber types than your upper triceps (also on the massively muscular triceps. In fact, and promote good triceps innerva- long head), so you can choose exer- many champion bodybuilders do tion and a great pump to take ad- Monster Proportions cises that target the upper or lower so much work for their pecs, delts, vantage of the blood principle: The 100 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE Triple-Size Tri’s elbows that protect his triceps. The The best exercises for triceps triceps is an extremely strong mus- mass include these: cle group, but you must be choosy •Close-grip bench presses about where you decide to use that •Reverse-grip Smith-machine strength. You want to do exercises bench presses that work your triceps hard without •Weighted dips excessively stressing the elbows. •Bench dips You want to place your arms in a •Power pushdowns (pushing position that puts the biomechani- the bar straight down and cal overload on the triceps muscles away from your body, not in and not the joints because while a an arc) weight may not be too much for the •Flat, incline or decline power triceps, but it might be too much lying triceps extensions (low- for the joint. As a rule, always err ering the bar to your throat on the side of caution. Be a little and pushing the bar straight conservative in your poundage up, not in an arc) increases. Never do fewer than six •One-arm dumbbell French reps on triceps exercises, and eight presses to 12 is nearly always better, espe- cially for extension movements, on which your elbows are in a precari- Heavy bench presses and other ous position. forms of pressing will add to your triceps’ strength and mass as well. Keep your elbows back on There are also several manufac- dips, not flared out. Here are some of the safest turers who make good triceps- triceps exercises: building machines that target the Model: Andre Nielsen \ Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008 important long head (the head that •Close-grip bench presses better a muscle pumps, the faster gives the most mass). •Reverse-grip Smith-machine and easier it grows. Incidentally, the cross-bench bench presses One of the obstacles to trying to dumbbell pullover is a fantastic •Pushdowns (pushing straight work the triceps really heavy is joint exercise that works pecs, lats and down and away from your problems, especially problems with triceps. If you use it as part of body, not in a semicircle, or the elbows. Bouncing the weight your chest workout along with arc) and cheating excessively can cause bench presses, incline presses •Weighted dips major joint trauma. Heed the warn- and dips, your triceps get a great •Bench dips ing: There are no awards given to workout before you do a single set •Behind-the-back pushdowns the guys who use the most weight of triceps work.

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