3 Best Long Head Tricep Exercises for Strong Arms

Sometimes it pays to play the long game.

At least with your triceps, that is.

This article will help you uncover the best long head tricep exercises for isolating and strengthening your triceps’ long head. It’s a great way to achieve better arm aesthetics and strength.

Refine your workout routine by incorporating exercises that specifically enhance the long head. This will help you get a more balanced muscle development.

Read on for guidance on proper form and techniques to maximize the effectiveness of each exercise and prevent injury.

Best Long Head Tricep Exercises

Narrow or Dimond Push-Ups

• Set-Up: Start in a plank position with your hands slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart (narrow variation) or with your right index and thumb finger touching your left index and thumb to form a diamond (diamond variation). Make sure your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels. Extend your arms fully.

• Push-Up: Bend your elbows and lower your body toward the ground. Be sure to keep the elbows pointing backwards as you do this. This will help you prevent shoulder injuries. Make sure to hold your body straight. Don’t let your hips sag below the rest of your body or stick your butt up in the air. Doing either takes away from your core engagement. Lower yourself until your chest is just above the ground.

• Reverse: Push through the palms of your hands to extend your arms and bring your body back to the starting position using your strength. Keep your body straight throughout the movement.

• Reps: Repeat for as many reps as you need. Aim for 3 sets of 10 reps for beginners.

Skull Crushers

• Set-Up: Grab one medium-weight dumbbell or pre-loaded barbell. Lie on your back on a flat-weight bench.  With arms extended, hold the weight up over your head.

• Action: Lower your weight towards your forehead or slightly behind your head.

• Reverse: Press your weight back up and overhead to the starting position.

• Reps: Repeat for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Tricep Bar Pushdown

• Set-Up: Attach a V bar, straight, or EZ bar handle to your cable pulley. Make sure the cable is anchored to a high point on the pulley.

• Body Position: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Grab one side of your V bar with each hand using an overhand grip. Keep your core braced and your chest proud, with your elbows at a 90-degree angle.

• Pushdown: Keep your upper arms pinned to your sides as you use your tricep strength to push the bar down, fully extending your elbows.

• Reverse: Slowly and with control, resist your weight to bring your arms back to the starting position, resuming their 90-degree bend. Make sure to keep your elbows an upper arms glued to your sides as you reverse your movement.

• Reps: Aim for 3 sets of 10-12 reps if you are new to this movement. For more advanced or intermediate weightlifters, you’ll probably want to lower your set range but use more weight. For example, you may prefer working at 2 sets of 8-12 reps with a heavier weight. This will help you to build up your strength.

Why focus on the long head of the triceps?

Most of the tricep is made up of a long head, so it covers more surface area.

In fact, about ⅔ of your tricep is a long head. Putting more focus on growing this area will give your arms a more fleshed-out look.

If you want to fill out your T-shirts this summer, building up the long head sides of your triceps is the easiest way to ensure the backs of your arms look as full as can be.

Does hand position affect triceps activation?

There’s evidence to suggest that hand position may activate muscle activation.

In a study on the effect of the push-up exercise at different palmar width on muscle activities, researchers found that at least during push-ups (one of the best long head tricep exercises), muscles were 10% more active when using a narrow hand placement than a wide one.

The same study found that a narrower hand position resulted in more pectoral (chest) muscle activation too.

During pushing exercises, where you put your hands may make a major impact on your tricep activation.

Narrow hand position

Narrowing your hand is the best way to help your triceps and pectoral muscles (your chest) fire and activate more rapidly.

You can take advantage of this hand position for triceps in moves like:

• Diamond push-ups

• Narrow push-ups

Wide hand position

Conversely, moving your hands further apart is less effective for targeting those “tris.”

Why?

Wide grip push-ups redirect more of the muscular work to your shoulders. If you want a great front delt workout, widening your hand position, for push-ups at least, may be the best way to do it.

So there you go.

Where you place your hands can determine if a move is one of the best long-head tricep exercises vs. emphasizing other muscles.

Keep in mind, this research is mostly pulled from studies on push-ups. To evaluate whether a narrow grip is better for hitting your triceps in other moves would require more investigation.

Anatomy of the triceps

So what are your triceps and how do they work?

The triceps are the large muscles on the backs of your upper arms. They often take on an arcing or horseshoe-like shape, depending on whether or not you work to increase your muscle mass.

If you perform regular tricep training and aesthetic workouts, these muscles can enhance the look of your arms as well.

What do your triceps do?

The triceps extend your arms at the elbow joints so you can straighten your arms. In many movements, the triceps will serve as antagonist muscles to your biceps, the muscles on the insides of your upper arms. That means they are the muscles that serve the opposite function.

For instance, if you contract your biceps to bend your elbows in a bicep curl, the triceps would then fire to bring your arms back to a straight position.

See this article to learn more: Muscle agonist-antagonist interactions.

The tricep is made up of the long head, the lateral head, and the medial head. Take a look at where these tricep heads sit within your body.

Long Tricep head

• This tricep head comes from the infra glenoid tubercle of your scapula. This is a part of your shoulder blade.

Tricep medial head

• This tricep head comes from the back of the upper arm bone (dorsal humerus) below the radial groove. This can factor into how your triceps look.
• The triceps are typically known for forming an arch or horseshoe shape on the back of your arm. If you work to develop the medial portion of these muscles, it can help to give your muscles a fuller, more rounded-out look.
• The medial head of your tricep originates from the humerus, which is the main bone in your upper arm. The medial head is the smallest of your three tricep heads but plays a powerful role in elbow extension.
• The medial head also isn’t as resistance-dependant as the other two. Any time you extend your elbow, whether you’re applying resistance to the muscle or not, the medial head steps in to power the muscle. Your lateral and long tricep heads work mostly when more direct force is involved.

Tricep lateral head

• The lateral head of the triceps sits above the radial groove, so this groove separates these two heads of your triceps muscle along the humerus bone.

Which tricep exercises hit which head?

To separate and refine the best exercises to target each head of your triceps, here’s a quick breakdown of which exercises hit which head the most effectively.

You can try working these moves into your workouts independently or choose one from each category to build out a total tricep development plan.

Long-head tricep exercises

If you’re looking for some long head tricep exercises, you can try:

• Skull crushers

• Close grip bench press

• Weight plate standing overhead tricep extension

Medial head tricep exercises

For the medial head of your triceps here are a few moves you’ll want to work on:

• Bench bodyweight dips

• Reverse grip cable pushdowns

• Diamond push-ups

Lateral head tricep exercises

To target the lateral tricep head, these exercises are the best moves to start with:

• Tricep kickbacks

• Cable pushdown

• Decline close grip bench press

How do you hit all three heads of triceps?

There are a few exercises that are effective for hitting all three heads of the triceps at once.

These are:

• Diamond push-ups

• Tricep V bar pushdowns

• Tricep kickbacks

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References

Cogley, R. M., Archambault, T. A., Fibeger, J. F., Koverman, M. M., Youdas, J. W., & Hollman, J. H. (2005). Comparison of muscle activation using various hand positions during the push-up exercise. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 19(3), 628–633. https://doi.org/10.1519/15094.1

Kim, Y. S., Kim, D. Y., & Ha, M. S. (2016). Effect of the push-up exercise at different palmar width on muscle activities. Journal of physical therapy science, 28(2), 446–449. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.28.446

Gorkovenko, A. V., Sawczyn, S., Bulgakova, N. V., Jasczur-Nowicki, J., Mishchenko, V. S., & Kostyukov, A. I. (2012). Muscle agonist-antagonist interactions in an experimental joint model. Experimental brain research, 222(4), 399–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3227-0