Do you want to have huge arms?
You MUST have a complete tricep workout to grow your arms.
Many people fall into the trap of looking to biceps to get bigger arms.
Most people don’t realize the tricep makes up 2/3 of the arm.
The best part is, complete tricep workouts with dumbbells can be easily done after reading this article!
Information out there on triceps can become super complicated fast, as the muscle has three different areas, or heads, to train. (Did the name tricep give it away?)
We’ll go into detail on the differences between the three, but for most people this information is unnecessary.
For 99.99% of the population, 1-2 tricep workouts is all you’ll need, regardless of the head each movement biases.
Only top level body builders need to be concerned with biasing the correct head of the tricep with each movement.
But if you’re an exercise nerd (like us) feel free to read this next section breaking down each one and ensure that you’re hitting every head of the tricep.
If that level of breakdown doesn’t interest you, briefly read up on the tricep basics and then proceed to read about the exercises.
Just know that by following these 3 exercises, you will completely hit every head of the triceps.
Tricep Basics
As we touched on above, there are 3 different segments, or heads, that the tricep has.
Each one can be sufficiently hit in this tricep workout with dumbbells.
The 3 different heads the tricep has are:
- Long head
- Lateral head
- Medial head
All of these heads will be covered in these exercises to create a complete tricep dumbbell workout.
The Long Head
As you can see by the picture, the long head of the tricep is located on the back of the arm.
This head is vital to train for the triceps due to it’s size. It’s the largest of the 3 heads naturally.
Growing the long head of the tricep will give a natural, full look to your arm, similar to what the rear delts do to the shoulder.
If you’d like to learn how to effectively hit the three heads of the shoulder, including the rear delt, click here.
A study was just released the day before writing this article tricep head activation that identified the best elbow position to maximize growth in the tricep and bias the long head.
This study published on July 23rd, 2023 found here, discovered that tricep movements that involve an overhead position increase muscle growth of the triceps, even if the weight is less than tricep exercises performed with the elbow in a neutral position.
This also places less strain on the joints and ligaments surrounding muscle leading to a best of both worlds, which is unfortunately uncommon in the fitness world.
Overhead tricep movements are proven to bias the long head of the tricep again in this study.
To put these findings into action, any movement where your elbows are above your head will grow every head of the tricep better than neutral positions, and the overhead is particularly great for the long head.
The Lateral Head
While the long head of the tricep may technically be the largest of the tricep, it is completely tucked behind the tricep and only visible from the side.
This completely subjective and opinion-based, but from an aesthetics standpoint, the lateral head is the most important head to grow.
Having a large lateral head will really get your triceps to pop.
The lateral head can make your arms look wide from the front and also make them appear very defined from the side.
It can be difficult to strictly bias the long head of the triceps, as many movements will favor the long head naturally, perhaps due to its size.
That said, it is important to remember all of these tricep workouts with dumbbells will hit every head of the tricep. A movement biasing a certain head only means it’s being used more than the others.
So which movements in general are best for the long head?
Any kind of cable extension will be the best way to target this head. Unfortunately, since this is a tricep workout with dumbbells, we can’t use any cable machines.
Don’t worry, we will still hit plenty of the long head with other movements that will target it!
Medial Head
As you can see in this image, the medial head is by far the smallest head of the tricep.
Other images may do the head more justice than this one, but it still is the most insignificant head of the tricep.
I would highly recommend not expending any energy to directly bias the medial head. We will go over ways to do so, but the medial head will be hit plenty in the recommended tricep workouts with dumbbells.
This study found some interesting notes about the activation of the medial head of the tricep.
The study found that the medial head was activated the most when the tricep was in a 90, 135, and 180-degree position relative to the ground.
In other words, any overhead triceps get the most medial head activation.
This is contradictory to what we saw in studies about the long head of the tricep. Chances are this means that the long and medial head get the most activation with an elevated tricep angle.
A fantastic study from ACE Fitness measured the activation level of each head in the tricep while performing various exercises. Their findings can be summed up in the table below. It is important to note that their numbers do not exactly correlate with muscle growth and hypertrophy, but they can be a good indicator.
There are more transferable fundamentals that need to be covered before getting into the exercises themselves.
Things like sets per week, reps per set, and rest times are all critical points to master.
These areas can be applied across most muscle groups throughout the body and should be covered in depth (which you can find here), but for the purposes of this post, we will cover them briefly.
Sets Per Week
The number of sets per week is one variable that can differ for muscle groups in the body.
Unfortunately, little research exists to determine the optimal number of working sets to perform in a given week for the triceps.
With many muscle groups in the body, this is down to your personal recoverability.
What does that mean? It means you need to listen to your body. Most studies would recommend hitting each muscle group twice a week. So that means that your muscles need to be fully recovered to hit that muscle twice a week.
For triceps, that would look like starting with a number as low as four sets a week and gradually increasing that number until you find the maximum number of sets you can do without your triceps feeling fatigued for the second time you hit that muscle group in a week.
The most important thing to do is to listen to your own body. We all have different levels of recoverability.
Reps Per Set
The next item to cover would be the amount of reps per set.
Many research studies have been conducted on this topic, with them all coming to a similar conclusion. Similar muscle growth is seen from sets performed with 5 reps all the way to 35 reps. Research for this can be found here.
What conclusions can be drawn from this? Do as little as reps as possible to achieve the maximum amount of muscle growth, while expending the least amount of energy possible. This means to perform your sets in a 5-10 range, getting close to muscular failure each set.
This can be difficult for tricep workouts with dumbbells as there may be a lack of equipment. Without heavy enough weights, you may not be able to fully exhaust the muscle within 5-10 reps. As the study showed, anywhere from 5-35 reps per set is ok, as long as you are getting close to muscular failure.
Rest Times
The final fundamental that goes into creating perfect tricep workouts with dumbbells is the rest time between sets.
A graph put together from the results in this study clearly shows that 3-minute rest periods are significantly better than 1-minute rest periods.
To sum up the tips for the ultimate tricep workouts only using dumbbells:
The Best Tricep Workouts With Dumbbells
1. Dips
Overview
What’s better than an exercise with little equipment?
An exercise with no equipment!
Tricep dips in one shape or another should be a stable in any tricep workout. They are a great compound movement that primarily hit the triceps if done like the picture above shows.
The picture shows a person using a bench, but any elevated surface you can find will do. This could be a step, a couch, a chair, a bed…the list goes on and on. Everyone can find something to do tricep dips on for their tricep workouts with dumbbells.
Tricep dips hit both the long and lateral head just about the same.
If you’d like a workout that hits the chest further while hitting the triceps, try the dip variant shown in the video below. This is not meant for our tricep workouts with dumbbells plan, as this movement will require a pretty specific piece of equipment, you’d most likely only find in a gym.
Tips
The triceps can be a difficult muscle to feel, especially in a movement like this.
Similar to how we would push with our heels while deadlifting, push with the “heel” or bottom of your hand. This will activate the tricep while performing these dips in the best way possible.
Your natural reaction may be to avoid placing tension on the triceps and attempt to use the chest as much as possible to do more reps, but you cannot do that.
Try to place as much body weight on the triceps to increase the load they are under.
If you are unable to complete 5 reps of bodyweight tricep dips, try doing them on the ground, not on an elevated surface.
Work to eventually be able to perform them on an elevated surface.
2. Overhead Tricep Press
Overview
The overhead tricep press is a great exercise to isolate the triceps.
As we talked about in the long head of the tricep section, overhead movements with the tricep promote more muscle growth.
Unfortunately, there are very few movements that train the tricep in an overhead position, especially in tricep workouts with dumbbells.
This means that an overhead tricep press is essential in tricep workout that claims to be the best.
Other similar movements like a skull crusher can take the place of this one if you prefer that, but they are essentially the same.
Tricep Overhead Extensions/Press mainly target the long head of the tricep.
Tips
The biggest thing with any tricep workouts with dumbbells is elbow position throughout the full range of motion.
The elbow needs to stay locked in place the entire time. No rotating, raising, or lowering.
To start, it is ok to flare your elbows out into a natural position where they feel comfortable, but once you start the exercise, lock them into place.
Focus on only using the tricep to raise and lower the weight, achieving a full range of motion in a slow and controlled fashion.
If your equipment doesn’t allow you to successfully overload to muscle within 5-10 reps, consider trying to do the movement single-handed.
Still rest for the entire 3 minutes in between sets even if they are single-handed. It is not just the muscle that needs to recover in between sets, you need to be able to expend enough energy to drive the muscle to failure. You should be out of breath after completing even one handed sets.
3. Dumbbell JM Press
Overview
The JM Press is the king of all tricep exercises.
As you saw in the table in the tricep overview section about tricep activation, each head is fully activated in the triangle push up.
The triangle push-up is difficult to progressively overload and can be extra difficult to start.
The Dumbbell JM Press is a very similar movement and can activate the tricep in the same way, while providing some additional stability.
For tricep workouts with dumbbells, this is the best option.
For those who have access to gym equipment, try moving a bench to a smith machine and performing the movement there instead of using dumbbells.
Tips
The JM Press is a very difficult movement to execute properly, especially when just using dumbbells.
As you can see in the video, the dumbbells are lined up right with his eyes/chin. This is a good cue to aim for with your hands.
Try to keep the weights on a line, going straight up and straight back down.
With a skull crusher your hands go behind your head. With a close grip press/push up your hands are by your chest. This should almost be a mixture of both.
Let your elbows flare naturally again. If doing it in a certain way is putting too much tension on your elbow and causing pain, adjust your elbow angle by flaring them out more or less. You want to feel the tension on your tricep.
Summary
The triceps are one of the most important muscles to grow.
They make up about 2/3 of the arm.
If your goal is to grow your arms, hitting the triceps effectively and efficiently is a necessity.
Following this tricep workout with dumbbells, you’ll be walking away feeling like your triceps will explode.
To put these workouts into action, pick 2 out of the three and start with that.
Any combination of the 2 tricep workouts with dumbbells that we covered will do the trick, just find which ones will work best for you.
All 3 heads of the tricep will be covered in these tricep workouts with dumbbells.
Just like we talked about in the beginning, start with just 2-4 total sets of triceps for the session and observe if your triceps are able to fully recover before the next day you have planned.
Everyone’s workout splits can be different, but workout out chest and triceps on the same day is a great idea.
This is due to movements involving these muscle groups complementing each other, meaning they can primarily target the chest or triceps while secondarily hitting the other.
We saw a great example of this with the tricep dip exercise.
This is why you commonly see people incorporating “Push Days’ into their workout split, which includes hitting the chest, triceps, and shoulders all in one session.
All in all, the most important thing to take away from this article is to practice these dumbbell tricep workouts while listening to your body.
Find the different exercises and number of sets that works for you and you’ll be well on your way to growing your triceps.