10 Best Lateral Head Tricep Exercises (Build Bigger Arms)

Close grip bench press follows the horizontal push movement pattern, a variation of the traditional bench press.

The goal of the close grip bench press is to modify the wideness of the grip.

It will cause your shoulder to take on the movement since there will be less abduction/adduction and more flexion/extension.

The close grip bench press will work the middle muscle fibers of your chest, anterior delts, and all three tricep heads.

How to Perform a Close Grip Bench Press:

1. Start by loading the barbell on the rack with the appropriate weight.
2. Lie on the bench directly below the barbell. The barbell should be in projection with a spot between your neck and collarbone.
3. Unrack the loaded barbell and place it right above your chest area with your elbows fully extended.
4. Start the exercise by lowering the barbell towards your chest and holding the bottom position for one second.
5. After that, push the barbell back to its starting position by reversing the whole motion of the exercise.

2. Tricep Pressdown

Tricep press down is another tricep exercise that primarily isolates your medial head tricep and lateral tricep head.

The long head of the tricep won’t be activated because your shoulder needs to be flexed to allow the long head to work.

You only need the tricep press-down attachment and a cable machine to perform this exercise.

How to Perform a Tricep Pressdown:

1. Set the cable machine properly by placing a tricep pressdown attachment. Pick the appropriate weight for the exercise.
2. Hold the attachment in both hands one step from the cable machine.
3. Your elbows are flexed, and your shoulders are in a neutral position.
4. Start the exercise by pushing down the attachment only from your elbows, and avoid extending or flexing your shoulder joint.
5. Press the attachment until your elbows are fully extended, then hold that position for a second.
6. Return to the starting position by reversing the whole motion of the movement.

Diamond push-ups represent an excellent variation of regular push-ups.

Same to the close grip bench press, the narrower position of your arms and hands will require your shoulder extensors to work more and be less taxing of adductors such as your pectoralis major.

This exercise mainly activates your long, lateral, and medial head, anterior delts, and pectoralis major.

How to Perform a Diamond Push Up:

1. Assume a regular push-up position with your back flat, your core braced, and your knees extended.
2. Take a narrower grip with your hands and make a diamond shape out of them to assume the starting diamond push-up position.
3. Start the exercise by lowering your body to the floor by extending your shoulders and flexing your elbows.
4. Hold that position for a second before reaching just above the floor's surface.
5. After one second in the bottom position, push yourself up to the starting position and repeat for the desired amount of reps.

4. EZ Bar Skull Crushers

EZ bar skull crushers are standard triceps exercises that work all three heads of the muscle.

You can progress your EZ bar skull crushers by adding more external resistance or performing more repetitions or sets with the same weight.

How to Perform Ez Bar Skull Crushers

1. Load the EZ bar with the appropriate weight to perform the exercise.
2. Lie on the flat bench and take the EZ bar to your chest.
3. Press the EZ bar up like you are performing a regular bench press to get into the exercise's starting position.
4. Start the exercise by only flexing your elbows and lowering the EZ bar towards your eyes.
5. When the bar reaches just above your eyes, reverse the motion of the exercise to return the bar to the starting position.
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.

The Dumbbell French press is another variation of the skull crushers.

The difference is that the French press is a more functional exercise than the skull crushers since it properly works your stabilizer muscles.

The dumbbell French press effectively targets all your major tricep heads to ensure maximum hypertrophy and muscle growth.

How to Perform a Dumbbell French Press:

1. Pick the appropriate amount of weight to perform a dumbbell French press.
2. Lie on the flat bench and pick the dumbbells so they end up in your hands, and your elbows extended right above your chest.
3. Start the exercise by only bending your elbows and lowering the dumbbells close to your ears.
4. When you reach the ear level, reverse the entire motion by only extending your elbows and returning the dumbbells to the starting position.
5. Repeat for the desired amount of reps.

6. Close Grip Dips

Dips are a great upper-body pushing exercise that targets the lower fibers of the pectoralis muscle.

They are excellent for developing your tricep since there will be a significant flexion in your elbow joint.

The close grip dip variation targets your triceps more than your pectoral muscle.

This is because the narrower grip limits abduction and adduction in your shoulder and force flexion and extension.

How to Perform Close Grip Dips

1. To perform close grip dips, you must set the parallel bars closer to each other.
2. Hold off the bars with your palms and propel yourself up until you are right above the bars.
3. Start the exercise by lowering your body towards the floor while maintaining a flat back and your knees extended.
4. Lower yourself until your armpits reach the level of the bars.
5. Hold that position for one second, then reverse the exercise's motion to return to the starting position.
6. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.

The Smith machine close grip bench press takes out control of the movement and requires less effort from your stabilizer muscle to complete the exercise.

It targets your tricep and pectoral muscles, but you can also load it with more weights.

This is due to fewer requirements for stabilization.

How to Perform a Smith Machine Close Grip Bench Press:

1. Set up the Smith machine, so the bar in the rack comes into the line with the lower chest or upper abdomen level.
2. Take a grip of about shoulder width apart or even narrower for more tricep activation.
3. Drive your hands through the bar, and wrap your thumbs around it.
4. Drive your shoulders into the bench using the Smith Machine's weight.
5. Create additional tension by pulling your traps down and pushing your chest up.
6. Unrack the Smith Machine, and control the lowering phase of the bar until it reaches just above your chest or upper abdomen level.
7. When you reach the bottom position, drive the Smith Machine back to its starting position and repeat for desired reps.

8. Tricep Cable Kickbacks

Tricep cable kickbacks are an excellent isolation tricep exercise that isolates the lateral and medial head.

Perform the tricep cable kickback with a cable machine to get the most out of the exercise.

Cables are more effective than dumbbells for isolating your triceps.

How to Perform a Tricep Cable Kickback:

1. Pick the weight on the cable machine to easily perform up to 12 repetitions of the exercise.
2. Take a split position with your legs, left forward and right backward, while having the cable in your right hand.
3. Bend forward in your hips so that your body becomes parallel to the floor.
4. Start the exercise by only extending your elbows and keeping your shoulder fixed.
5. The end position is when your elbows are fully extended.
6. After reaching full extension in your elbows, reverse the motion and return to the starting position.

The overhead press is an upper-body vertical push exercise that is compound in nature.

It requires various joints and muscle groups to work synergistically at the same time.

The overhead press targets all your deltoid muscles, triceps, and pectoralis major.

How to Perform an Overhead Press:

1. Load the barbell on the rack with the appropriate weight.
2. Assume a standing position so that your chest is directly below the loaded barbell and your grip is the same as a pronated grip.
3. Unrack the barbell and step back to have enough space to perform the exercise.
4. Start the exercise by pushing the barbell towards the ceiling until your elbows are extended above your head.
5. When you reach the top position, slowly lower the bar to return to the starting position and repeat for desired reps.

10. Barbell JM Press

The barbell JM press is a multi-joint compound arm workout targeting your lateral head of the triceps and some other muscles.

This exercise is similar to the close grip bench press and skull crushers.

Master the skull crushers and close grip bench presses before trying this exercise.

How to Perform the Barbell JM Press:

1. Take a regular setup as with the normal flat bench press.
2. The grip should be shoulder-width apart or slightly wider.
3. Always have your elbows locked out over your shoulders.
4. Keep the tightness by externally rotating the shoulders.
5. Start the exercise by lowering the bar to your neck while flexing at the elbows.
6. When the bar reaches the bottom position, push it back to the starting position and repeat for the desired amount of reps.

Tricep is anatomically located on the back of the upper arm’s bone called the humerus.

It is built from three heads, long, medial, and lateral.

They are responsible for elbow extension, but the long head can assist and synergize shoulder extension.

The long head of the tricep originates on the back of the shoulder, while the medial and lateral heads have an origin on the humerus.

All three heads connect at the bottom and insert at the olecranon, the small bone on our elbow.

The primary function of the tricep is elbow extension.

All three heads of the triceps are responsible for extending the elbow, while only the long head can assist in shoulder extension.

Tricep also antagonists upper arm muscles, such as biceps brachii, brachialis, and brachioradialis.

The lateral head of the tricep extends the forearm at the elbow joint.

The extension often happens during vertical and horizontal pushing exercises such as overhead presses, dips, and bench presses.

4. Can You Isolate the Lateral Head of the Tricep?

Yes, you can isolate the lateral head of the tricep.

To isolate the outer head of the triceps, you must perform elbow extension from the anatomical stand, meaning your hands should be on the sides of your body.

5. How to Best Target the Lateral Head of the Tricep?

The best way to target the lateral head of the tricep is to perform isolated exercises only using elbow extension.

Some triceps exercises include cable press-down, rope push-down, and skull crushers.

If you prefer to holistically exercise your upper arms triceps, implement isolation and compound lateral head triceps exercises.

Compound exercises should be a building block of every workout [2].

These have the biggest carry-over to real-life activities and are the best for building a stronger and more muscular body.

3. Elbow Stability & Health

Building balance between flexion and extension muscles in the upper arms is crucial to maintain our shoulder and elbow joints' health and stability.

Tricep exercises perfectly counter flexion exercises, such as dumbbell curls or even chin-ups.

You can use many tips and tricks to grow your triceps faster, and below you may find the most useful ones that helped me on my fitness journey.

5. Prioritize the Lateral Head Tricep

The only way to significantly grow your lateral head triceps is to isolate it.

The best way is to perform elbow extension exercises when your shoulder is in the anatomical position [3].

This is because when your shoulder is flexed below 90 degrees, your long head isn’t as efficient as when the shoulder is more flexed [4].

Starting your workouts with multi-joint compound exercises would be best since they are the most demanding on your CNS and energy levels.

After that, you can perform isolation lateral head triceps exercises.

7. Include Multiple Lateral Head Exercises in Your Routine

The best way to hit all muscle fibers of your upper arms and tricep muscles is to include multiple exercises that will be performed with different loads, positions, and angles [5].

This will ensure all your muscle fibers get recruited and your triceps head grows faster than usual.

"The trick with triceps training is attacking the triceps from a variety of different angles so you can hit all three of its heads. Do this right, and you’ll craft well-rounded tris."

- David Otey, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist

When you perform one type of exercise or workout for an extended period, your body gets used to it and will spend less energy performing it.

This means you should change or incorporate new movements or exercises that will make your body harder to adapt and produce a bigger adaptation in your system.

Incorporate new exercises every other week so your body gets the best results from hypertrophy, and your upper arm and lateral head grow faster.

9. Use Various Exercises and Equipment

There are multiple ways to include new exercises into your workout routine.

One is to change your exercise, but you can also change the equipment you use to perform it.

Changing equipment will also trigger the necessary adaptations your body needs to start growing your muscles.

The best way is to use both these techniques.

Change exercises and equipment from time to time, and your muscles will adapt to different stimuli.

You can get bored of performing the same exercise repeatedly, so you start compromising the form.

This is dangerous, and you can quickly get injured if you don’t proceed with the proper form.

However, if you improve your exercise form, you can lift more weights, producing better adaptation in your neuromuscular system.

11. Allow Time for Rest and Recovery

It doesn’t matter how hard you train or how good your workout program is if you ignore exhaustion.

Rest and recovery are essential for letting your muscles recover and improve for the next workout.

Try implementing enough sleep, 6-8 hours daily, and eating the right foods to promote higher energy levels. It is also crucial to have enough rest between the sets [6].