How to Get Bigger and Stronger Triceps in Just 30 Days
The triceps are the unsung heroes of arm muscles.
They may not have the sex appeal of the biceps, but, ironically, they comprise about two-thirds of the overall size of your upper arms.
That’s why developing great triceps is one of the little-known “secrets” to building big arms.
The triceps are the unsung heroes of arm muscles.
They may not have the sex appeal of the biceps, but, ironically, they comprise about two-thirds of the overall size of your upper arms.
That’s why developing great triceps is one of the little-known “secrets” to building big arms.
Case in point:
A bit much, I know, but it illustrates the point nonetheless.
Here’s a shot of me that’s a bit more achievable for us mere natties:
So, if you want to know how I “made my horseshoes”, and how you can make more triceps gains in the next 30 days than you have in the last 3 months (or longer!), then you want to keep reading.
Whether you’re new to lifting and unsure of where to start, a seasoned gym rat looking to break through a plateau, or somewhere in between, if you want bigger and stronger triceps, you’re in the right place.
By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what the triceps are, the best exercises for training them, and how to program your training for maximal triceps gains.
Let’s get to it.
- What Are the Triceps, Exactly?
- Triceps Building 101 How to Get Bigger and Stronger Triceps
- 1. Most of us can’t get the triceps we really want through pressing alone.
- 2. Heavy dumbbell, barbell, and cable extensions are best for gaining triceps strength and size.
- 3. One heavy triceps workout per week is generally enough.
- Getting Bigger and Stronger Triceps in 30 Days The Diet
- Getting Bigger and Stronger Triceps in 30 Days The Exercises
- 1. Close-Grip Bench Press
- 2. Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Press
- 3. Dip (Triceps Variation)
- 4. Lying Triceps Extension (Skullcrusher)
- 5. Triceps Pushdown
- Remember That Progression Is the Key
- The Best Way to Get Bigger Triceps The Workouts
- What About Supplements?
- Creatine
- Protein Powder
- Pre-Workout Drink
- Want More Workouts?
Table of Contents
What Are the Triceps, Exactly?
The triceps, aka the triceps brachii, is a three-headed muscle located on the back of your upper arm.
Here’s how it looks:
As you can see, when each of the heads are properly developed, they form a distinctive upside-down horseshoe on the back of the arm.
You probably also noticed that the lateral head is the largest of the three, which means it’s also the part of the muscle group that both develops the fastest and most determines the overall look of your triceps.
In short, when people think of “big triceps,” they’re thinking of big lateral heads.
Triceps Building 101How to Get Bigger and Stronger Triceps
There are a lot of theories out there about how to best train your triceps.
Some people say you have to focus on high-rep training and really “feel the burn.”
Others say you should be training them multiple times per week.
Others still say you don’t have to do triceps exercises at all and should focus on compound pressing movements instead.
Well, I’ve tried all the above and more, and I’ve worked with thousands of people, and here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Most of us can’t get the triceps we really want through pressing alone.
Hitting your chest hard and heavy will help you build bigger triceps, but this isn’t enough to get the type of arm size and strength that most of us desire.
The reality is most people have to directly train their triceps in addition to pressing to get the tris they want.
2. Heavy dumbbell, barbell, and cable extensions are best for gaining triceps strength and size.
Many people think that the triceps won’t respond well to heavy (80%+ of one-rep max) weightlifting — that you have to focus on getting a pump.
They’re wrong.
The triceps are mostly composed of type 2 muscle fibers, which respond well to heavy loads.
As you’ll see in the workouts I provide later in this article, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do any higher-rep work on your triceps.
You should, but you shouldn’t do what most people do in their triceps training: chase a pump week after week.
3. One heavy triceps workout per week is generally enough.
A big part of getting big triceps is optimizing your weekly volume, which is the total amount of reps and weight that you do every week.
Here’s a good rule of thumb for weightlifting volume:
The heavier the weights are, the fewer reps you can do each week before you start experiencing symptoms of overtraining.
This is particularly true of compound exercises like the deadlift and squat, which are fantastic whole-body muscle builders, but are also very taxing. Thus, the heavier you pull and squat in your workouts, the more time your body and muscles need to fully recover.
I’ve tried many different workout splits and frequency schemes, and what I’ve found works best lines up with two extensive reviews on the subject.
When your training emphasizes heavy weights (80 to 85%+ of 1RM), optimal volume seems to be about 60 to 70 reps performed every 5 to 7 days.
This is true for every major muscle group that you train, not just your triceps.
Now, before you rush off to bang out a workout of just skullcrushers and kickbacks, don’t forget that the triceps are also involved in pressing movements.
If you’re doing, let’s say, about 60 reps of pressing per week for your chest and shoulders, adding another 60 reps of triceps work might be overkill.
That’s why I think that something closer to 30 to 40 reps of direct triceps work per week (in addition to the heavy pressing) is a better place to be for general training purposes.
Now, you’re going to be doing more than this for the next 30 days, but that’s only because we’re looking to temporarily push your tris to their limits (and then give them a break).
Getting Bigger and Stronger Triceps in 30 Days
The Diet
You probably know that exercise alone isn’t enough to build muscle and lose fat.
Ultimately, your progress will largely be determined by your diet.
Think of it this way:
If your body were a car, exercise is the gas pedal and diet is the fuel in the tank.
You have to step on the gas (exercise) to get moving (improve your body composition), but you won’t get far without the right fuel.
It comes down to this:
If you know how to manage your diet properly, building muscle and burning fat will be simple and straightforward.
If you don’t, it will be absurdly difficult …if not impossible.
That’s why it’s not enough to just give you a 30-day workout plan. We need to set up your diet properly as well.
I break it all down in this in-depth guide to meal planning, which I highly recommend you read and implement alongside these workouts.
If you don’t, you simply won’t get as much out of them as you should.
Getting Bigger and Stronger Triceps in 30 Days
The Exercises
Unfortunately, the bulk of the information you can find online about building muscle is wrong, misleading, or even dangerous.
You don’t have to continually change up your routine (”muscle confusion” is a lie), heavy lifting doesn’t merely build strength and not size, and isolation exercises aren’t the key to building a great physique.
And in the case of the triceps, you don’t need to do thirty different movements or work them from eighteen different angles. Out of all of the triceps exercises you could do, a small handful will deliver most of the results.