You use your triceps whenever you extend your arms or push with your arms. They are the largest muscle group in your upper arm, situated opposite your biceps. The secret to developing big arms is building your triceps, not your biceps. By focusing on the best exercises for working out your triceps, you can build stronger, wider arms that are functional and attractive.
Dips
You can do dips two ways: you can do basic triceps dips by leaning back on a chair or bench or you can do bodyweight dips using a dip station or a couple of high stools or chairs. Triceps dips will put more emphasis on your triceps but won't offer a lot of resistance. Body-weight dips will place less emphasis on your triceps but provide more resistance. For the best results, you can superset triceps dips and body-weight dips by doing one set of body-weight dips followed immediately by a set of triceps dips, or vice versa.
Close-grip Bench Press
By moving your hands closer to the center of the bar, more of the weight is placed on your triceps instead of your pecs. However, you shouldn't approach this exercise like an ordinary bench press because the focus is on your triceps, not your chest. When you're doing a close-grip bench press, don't let your elbows flare -- keep them in tight to your body. Also, don't try to do this exercise with as much weight as you can bench press. Your triceps are not as strong as your pecs and they won't be able to handle the same amount of weight.
Upright Row
An upright row is just like a shrug except you also bend your elbows and shoulders to bring the barbell or dumbbells up as high as you can. Try to focus on contracting your triceps and bringing the bar up just above your shoulders on each rep. You can also do one set of upright rows and then immediately go into one set of shrugs, or vice versa.
Triceps Extensions
Triceps extensions are an isolated exercise for your triceps. They are like bicep curls for your triceps. You can do them standing or sitting and you will need a dumbbell. Hold one dumbbell with both hands directly over your head. Inhale as you bend your elbows to lower the dumbbell down to your shoulder blades. Exhale as you extend your arms back up to the starting position.
Diamond Pushups
Diamond pushups are a variation on regular pushups that put almost all of the load on your triceps. These are hard to do if you don't have strong triceps. Diamond pushups are performed by getting in a regular pushup position and then bringing your hands together under the center of your chest so that fingers and thumbs touch to make a diamond shape. Perform as many pushups as you can and repeat for a total of three to five sets.
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