The back of the arms, the tricep muscles, are a common complaint for a lot of women and men. The problem is that with modern day life being less manual and more sedentary, we often don’t get enough work to maintain or grow any arm muscles.
Arm muscles are what give arms definition and shape. Consequently, most of us end up with either just very skinny arms with no real shape or larger arms that appear more flabby than we would like!
The good news is that the arms respond very quickly to strength work and for many, it is the first noticeable muscle they see after only a few weeks on a new exercise regime.
When people talk about arm muscles, they talk mainly about biceps (the muscles on the front of your upper arm) and triceps (the muscles on the back). Often people give more attention to the muscles on the front of the body and overlook the triceps. This is a big mistake as triceps take up 2/3 of your potential arm mass! You have much more to gain training triceps than you do biceps.
What to do!
Here our awesome PT Martin Browne is showing us his two favourite tricep exercises. These can be done in the gym or at home and consist of:
a) Tricep dips: these can be made easier by making the range of movement smaller (start small and work up!)
b) Tricep presses: these can be made easier by placing your hands on a higher surface (like the kitchen counter) or by putting your knees on the floor.
Here is my wife, Amandine, showing how they can be modified for home workouts too 🙂
What quantity gets good results?
In order to build muscle, you want to be doing 3 – 5 sets of each exercise, with each set consisting of 8 – 12 reps. In the last few reps, you should feel like you are working really hard so your muscles may be shaking or burning a little 🙂 Rest for at least 1 minute between each set. Remember to modify and rest whenever you need to. Be sure to warm up thoroughly and mobilise your body by circling all your joints.
However you work out, choose to make yourself strong, make your body one that you can feel proud of!
If you need some help and guidance from our fantastic coaches then get in contact today and book yourself some PT sessions to get you this Spring off to a great start.
