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Exercise Triceps Using the Lying Triceps Extension Exercise

By , About.com Guide

Lying Triceps Extensions (with Dumbbells)

Lying Triceps Extensions (with Dumbbells)

Photo Credit: Lina Rivera
The lying triceps extension is one of the best bodybuilding exercises for isolating the triceps muscles.
Difficulty: Hard
Time Required: 30-40 seconds depending on amount of repetitions performed and setup time.

Here's How:

  1. Lie in a flat bench with either an e-z bar (my preference) or a straight bar placed on the floor behind your head and your feet on the floor.
  2. Grab the bar behind you, using a medium overhand (pronated) grip, and raise the bar in front of you with at arms length. The arms should be perpendicular to the torso and the floor. The elbows should be tucked in. This is the starting position.
  3. As you breathe in, slowly lower the weight until the bar lightly touches your forehead while keeping the upper arms and elbows stationary.
  4. At that point, use the triceps to bring the weight back up to the starting position as you breathe out.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Tips:

  1. This is an exercise that you need to be very careful with the weight selected and the form used. Too much weight and sloppy form and you could be looking at a head injury. Not to scare you off but the gym name of this exercise is “skull crushers”. So please remember to be safe.
  2. Also, if you suffer from elbow problems this exercise might be too harsh on your elbows so you may need to look for a substitute such as a close grip bench press.
  3. You can perform it on a decline bench as opposed to a flat bench.
  4. You can also perform it using dumbbells in which case the palms of the hands will be facing each other as opposed to facing forward.
  5. Also, you can try to do it using a revere grip (palms facing you) but this variation seems to strain my wrists.

What You Need

  • Adjustable bench
  • Bar (staight or ez curl)
  • dumbbells

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