Train Triceps or not?

**Drewski** · 12-13-2002, 11:01 AM

This question is stumping me a little bit.

Volume trainers believe that you need to train your triceps in order to improve your pressing movements i.e Bench, Militaries.

However, HITers believe that training triceps is a waste of time as they are getting enough of a workout from shoulder and chest training and to train them exclusively would OVER train them and slow progress.

After a 4 months hiatus I've gotten back into weightlifting in a 2 day per week pseudo HIT style training and everything is going well except for chest development and triceps.

What do you all think? To train them or not?

**amusclehead** · 12-13-2002, 11:24 AM

i like training them. Imho, they don't get enough work on chest to completely ignore them. Nothing beats some heavy dips, skullcrushers, or close-grip benches

**coreman** · 12-13-2002, 11:29 AM

To train them or not? There is no outright yes or no answer. It depends on your recovery ability and what type of workload you do for chest and shoulders. It also depends on when you work chest and shoulders.

**Sychokid** · 12-13-2002, 12:15 PM

As long as the triceps have time to rest from shoulders and chest. So you are saying i can't train biceps because it gets worked with the back and lats. Try telling any normal bb to stop training their biceps and tell me th response you get.

**Gethuge** · 12-13-2002, 02:55 PM

Ok...i don't train biceps directly. Triceps is the same. If my (or a clients) triceps are lagging i simply switch exercises to lean more towards triceps emphasis over chest/shoulders for a while.

For example on chest workouts i'd switch to weighted dips instead of bench for a while or move my hands slightly closer together when doing benches to place a little more emphasis on tris.

Likewise for back I always do pulldowns with a close supinated grip to give my biceps and lats an equal share of the work.

Carefull exercise selection can often avoid having to use many different exercises to work all the muscles of the body. That's the name of the game for HITers anyways......efficiency.

**Drewski** · 12-13-2002, 03:13 PM

Cheers GetHuge, I remember speaking to you a while back.

Is it okay to PM you?

BTW I do Upper Body on day 1 and Lower Body, Back and Biceps on Day 2.

Upper Body consists of just Shoulder Press, Shrugs, Upright Rows, Bench and Dips. 1 set to failure on each.

**Kane Fan** · 12-13-2002, 03:49 PM

the only tricep work I do curently is CG bench

with incline bench
flat bench
and military press
Close Grip is all I feel I need for tricep work
I might switch to extensions or skullcrushers or pressdowns at some point if I dont like how this works but I don't often do CG Bench so I decided to give it some time
I like it so far

**JeremyD** · 12-13-2002, 04:39 PM

Tricpes make up more of your arm than any other muscle.....

I train them HARD. I want size......

Totally depends on your workout though. If you do a lot of compound heavy lifts that involve them, you may already be hitting them enough....

**Farshid** · 12-13-2002, 05:08 PM

Hey body. U have to work on each single muscle to get a good result for your whole body. When you work on your chest you also work a little bit on your triceps, but you only concentrate on your chest, so it doesn't give a good result for triceps.

**HITKING** · 12-13-2002, 06:15 PM

Re: "HITers believe that training triceps is a waste of time as they are getting enough of a workout from shoulder and chest training"

What HITers have you been talking with? Just about every HIT routine I have done has used a tricep exercise. The only routine I did that did not use a tricep exercise was one where I did weighted dips. I personally love doing the tricep pressdown (cable and v bar). I think it is great exercise for triceps. There are also some tricep extension machines that work very well. I have have made great progress in the tri and that have gotten noticeably bigger over the last few months and stronger. The key to do triceps, shoulders, and chest togegher. Likewise do biceps, and lat exercises on the same day. This avoids training theses muscles twice. Do only one set to complete failure on arms and then do a breakdown set or two. Go heavy use a lower rep scheme (I use 5-7) than what you use for chest and lats. Your delts and arms muscle are faster twitch; therefore, they respond better to lower rep ranges.

**Lats McGee** · 12-13-2002, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by HITKING
Re: "HITers believe that training triceps is a waste of time as they are getting enough of a workout from shoulder and chest training"

What HITers have you been talking with? Just about every HIT routine I have done has used a tricep exercise. The only routine I did that did not use a tricep exercise was one where I did weighted dips. I personally love doing the tricep pressdown (cable and v bar). I think it is great exercise for triceps. There are also some tricep extension machines that work very well. I have have made great progress in the tri and that have gotten noticeably bigger over the last few months and stronger. The key to do triceps, shoulders, and chest togegher. Likewise do biceps, and lat exercises on the same day. This avoids training theses muscles twice. Do only one set to complete failure on arms and then do a breakdown set or two. Go heavy use a lower rep scheme (I use 5-7) than what you use for chest and lats. Your delts and arms muscle are faster twitch; therefore, they respond better to lower rep ranges.

bump on everything this guy said.

**amusclehead** · 12-13-2002, 08:22 PM

Jm presses are greeeeeeeeeeeeat

**Gethuge** · 12-13-2002, 08:29 PM

Originally posted by Farshid
Hey body. U have to work on each single muscle to get a good result for your whole body. When you work on your chest you also work a little bit on your triceps, but you only concentrate on your chest, so it doesn't give a good result for triceps.

ah ha....yeah....right.

**Farshid** · 12-13-2002, 10:07 PM

Originally posted by Gethuge
ah ha....yeah....right.

I am serious.
you have to focus on some specific area, not working on chest to get a result on triceps.

**Complete Muscle** · 12-13-2002, 10:17 PM

Well I guess I'm in the minority here, but I don't train tris directly (i.e. isolation exercises). They get hit plenty with compound pushing movements, esp weighted dips. And while it's true that bis get worked with pulling movements, for whatever reason my pulls always lag compared to my pushes. So I do throw in a set or two of curls. My tris totally out perform my bis at this point.

**Buff_Daddy** · 12-13-2002, 11:25 PM

the poll results speak for themselves

**coreman** · 12-14-2002, 04:09 PM

Originally posted by Buff_Daddy
the poll results speak for themselves

and prove absolutely diddly pooh

**P.T.B.W** · 12-14-2002, 04:21 PM

I am of the opinion that dbs limit tricep involvement in any bench press(be it flat, incl, or decl) so if you use mostly dbs tricep work is a must. Barbell benching involves tris more(at least for me) so you might use a different volume of tri work depending on what you use.
Also, many sports require strong triceps. If you are in one of these sports, direct tricep work is, IMO, a must.

**Buff_Daddy** · 12-14-2002, 06:04 PM

Originally posted by coreman
and prove absolutely diddly pooh

no $hit , its a poll, it doesnt literaly prove anything

you go and exclude direct tricept workouts, in fact exclude direct work for all minor muscles, well see how balanced a physique you develop

**Sweetness** · 12-15-2002, 03:00 PM

I dont think there is a 1 size fits all formula to bodybuilding you need to find what works for you. If your not getting any results then you need to modify something, be it rest, nutrition or the program itself.

**wannagetbig** · 12-16-2002, 07:32 PM

I believe it was Arnold who said that one of the biggest mistakes he made early in his career was neglecting to train his triceps. Triceps are a large muscle and if you want to have big arms you need big triceps. Everybody has their own preference though.

**Ibanez** · 12-16-2002, 07:37 PM

Yes, Definitely Train your Triceps. I would rather have impressive tris than with decent bi's. Than excellent bi's and pretty much no exsistent Tri's. Got to love the Close Grip Bench, Skull Crushers, Pressdowns, etc.

It always amuses me when I talk to some of the football players at my school about training. I really found it funny when the one TE told me that your bicep is pretty much your whole arm and train them and train triceps every once and a while. I had to laugh at him.

**JeremyD** · 12-17-2002, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by Ibanez
I really found it funny when the one TE told me that your bicep is pretty much your whole arm and train them and train triceps every once and a while. I had to laugh at him.

ahahahahaha

sorry, just had to laugh at that one

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