Happy Motivation Monday!!! Let’s keep focused on our goals as we enter a new week. Lots of women are restarting the Transform 30 Challenge. Print one from the link below and join us!
In March, we are focusing on strengthening our bodies, pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones with heavier weights and challenging exercises! Today, we want to talk about triceps how important they are to the arm. All the hype follows the biceps, but the tricep makes up for HALF of your entire arm!!! When strengthening a muscle group is important to engage muscles that counteract each other, so when working out biceps, the triceps should be right there with them in the workout.
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Why Train Triceps?
Triceps are the most important muscle in the arms to train.
The triceps muscle makes up 60% of your upper arm, making it a crucial part of the body to exercise regularly, and one that you really ought to pay attention to if you’re looking to tone, define, and strengthen your upper body.
The triceps muscle lies along the back of your upper arm and is twice the size of your bicep muscles, with more muscle fibers per square inch.
The triceps start at the top of the shoulder blade and the arm bone, running down the back of the arm bone, crossing the elbow and inserting into the back of one of our forearm bones. These muscles help stabilize your shoulder joint, and they act as an extensor of the elbow and shoulder.
As your triceps become stronger, the strength and stability of your shoulders and elbows also increases. This in turn will increase the functionality, flexibility and range of motion of your arm, improving your performance in everyday tasks, as well as sports which require arm movements and upper-body strength like tennis, swimming, and basketball.
Most, if not all upper-body exercises will recruit the triceps in some way.
4 Reasons to Train Triceps More
1. Triceps make up 2/3 of your arm
Triceps are the largest muscle group in your arms, running from the elbow to the shoulder. With a main role to straighten the elbow, triceps are made of three bundles of muscles - which means they have more potential to grow. The most prominent are the lateral and long heads which run from the
shoulder to the elbow. The last head, known as the brachialis or medial head, is under the lateral and long heads. It is usually only visible when looking at the arms from the side. Therefore training these three bundles of muscles will make your arms appear much larger and toned.
2. To help with complex weight training exercises
The triceps are involved in many complex weight training exercises that target different muscle groups (e.g. Military presses, half presses, bench presses, dips). Despite having a strong chest or back, weak triceps can cause imbalanced muscle growth and risk injury, With stronger triceps, you can perform and progress better.
A simple anatomy of the triceps
3. Shoulder stability and functional movements
The triceps are often overlooked when it comes to shoulder stability. In fact, it is attached to the shoulder blades and is involved in rotation and adduction of the arm. Having strong
triceps can help stabilize the shoulder joint at the top of the humerus (bone of the upper arm).
The triceps also fixate the elbow joint when the forearm and hand are used for fine movements like writing. More specifically, the three bundles of muscles have different functions - the long head for force generation, the lateral for movements requiring high-intensity force and the medial for more precise, low-force movements.
4. Isolation & Convenience
This is much less of a reason but more of a fun fact: Triceps muscles can be worked out individually from any other muscle group on your body. Specifically, the tricep extension targets only the triceps without any assistance from other muscle groups. This can help strengthen the tricep muscles and even out any unbalances between sides. The tricep extension exercise can also be done with different types of resistance and in various positions, making it a convenient exercise to incorporate into your workout routine
Favorite Tricep Exercises:
Diamond Pushups
To execute a Diamond Pushup correctly, begin in the high plank hold position with your hands placed close enough so that your thumbs and index fingers are touching, forming a diamond shape.
Then, lower your body to your hands slowly while keeping your elbows tight to the body and explode up, lifting your body off the ground and returning to the Diamond Pushup position.
Side Dips
Side Dips are an effective way to isolate the tricep muscles. This exercise requires no equipment and can be performed by athletes of varying fitness levels.
Start by laying down in a straight line on your right side. Place your left hand on the ground in front of you, and push your upper body up off the ground. Your hips and feet should remain touching the ground at all times.
More Tricep Exercises to LOVE:
Tricep extensions
Tricep Dips
Tricep press downs
Skull crushers
Close grip press
Tricep Kickbacks
Avocado Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado
1/4 cup chopped onion
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tbsp cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Cook chicken breasts and let cool.
2. Shred chicken.
3. Chop up and cream avocado with a mixer.
4. Combine shredded chicken, avocado, and all other ingredients.
Want to be a part of something amazing? Consider helping with the RISE TOGETHER 5K!
We are so excited to have our annual Rise Together 5K again this year! This is a special 5K benefiting ESP and is a great way to meet a goal and run with family and friends. Sign up today! Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com with any questions!
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Let us know how we can help you reach your goals and dreams! Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to schedule a one-on-one.
Blessings,
Team TransFit
