Workout 50: Triceps & Abs
Tricep Exercises
1. Skull Crusher
- Lie back on a flat or slightly inclined bench. Using an overhand grip, grasp the innermost grips on the EZ bar. Hold it with your elbows tucked in and your arms perpendicular to the ground.
- Keeping your upper arms stationary, lower the bar by unlocking your elbows to a flexed position. Pause once the bar is directly above your forehead.
- Reverse the bar back to the starting position by extending your elbows while flexing your tricep.
2. Tricep Rope Pulldown
- Secure a rope attachment to the high pulley at its highest position. Stand in front of the pulley, hinge at your hips, and grab the rope with your palms facing each other.
- Keep your elbows close to your torso, while using your triceps to pull the rope downwards toward the outside of your thighs. At the most contracted point of the motion, your arms should be fully extended and perpendicular to the ground. Your forearms should be the only part moving.
- After reaching the contracted position, slowly bring the rope up to the starting point.
3. Dip
- Hold your body above the bars with your arms fully extended and nearly locked into the starting position.
- Inhale and slowly lower yourself downward. Your torso should remain upright and your elbows should stay close to your body to help to better work your triceps. Lower yourself until a 90° angle is created between your upper arms and forearms.
- Exhale and push your torso back up using your triceps (feeling a slight stretch in your shoulders) to bring your body back to the starting position.
4. Tricep Kickback
- Start with a dumbbell in each hand and your palms facing your torso.
- Keep your back straight, with a slight bend in the knees, and bend forward at the waist. Your torso should be almost parallel to the floor. Make sure to keep your head up. Your upper arms should be close to your torso and parallel to the floor. Your forearms should be pointed towards the floor as you hold the weights. There should be a 90-degree angle formed between your forearm and upper arm. This is your starting position.
- Now, while keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale and use your triceps to lift the weights until the arm is fully extended. Focus on moving the forearm.
- After a brief pause at the top contraction, inhale and slowly lower the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
- Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
*You can also do this exercise one arm at a time.
5. Crossbody Tricep Extension
- This is similar to the ordinary single arm tricep extension you’ve been doing, only here you’re extending across your body rather than straight down and back. The crossbody extension focuses on the lateral head while the ordinary tricep extension hits the long head in the back of the arm (although both exercises work the entire tricep!
- Lift a cable pulley all the way up and make sure there’s a single arm handle on it.
- Grab the handle, and stand horizontally in relation to the the cable like the picture above.
- Keeping your elbow in place and your wrist still, pull down and out until your tricep is completely flexed, hold for a moment, and slowly go back to the starting position.
- Switch sides when you’ve finished.
Ab Exercises
1. Kneeling Cable Crunch
Caution: Do not choose a weight that is too heavy. This can result in straining your lower back.
- Find a cable station and attach a rope handle to the top pulley. Grasp the rope attachment at each end, and kneel down so your knees are bent at a 90° angle.
- Your arms should be stretched over your head. Your palms should be facing each other when holding the rope and your hands should be placed next to your face.
- Slightly flex your hips forward. There should be tension on the cable, and you should feel a stretch in your abs.
- Keep your hips stationary, contract your abs, and crunch your chest towards your hips until your head is between your knees. Your elbows should be approaching the middle of your thighs. After reaching this point, hold the contraction for a second.
- Slowly reverse back to the starting position. Keep as much tension in your abs during this whole movement.
2. Table Top Elbow to Knee Crunch
- Get in a tabletop position with your hands directly beneath your shoulders. Hold your body up off the floor in this position. Hold a light dumbbell in your right hand.
- From this position, extend your right arm out in front of you and extend your left leg straight out behind you.
- Next, crunch your abs by bringing your right elbow to meet your left knee in the middle of your body.
- Extend them again and repeat.
- Make sure to finish one side before switching hands and doing the other side.
3. Russian Twist
- Lie down on the floor placing your feet either under something that will not move or by having a partner hold them. Your legs should be bent at the knees.
- Elevate your upper body so that it creates an imaginary V-shape with your thighs. Your arms should be fully extended in front of you, perpendicular to your torso and with the hands clasped. This is the starting position.
- Twist your torso to the right side until your arms are parallel with the floor while breathing out.
- Hold the contraction for a second and exhale, moving back to the starting position. Now, move to the opposite side, performing the same techniques you applied to the right side.
- Repeat for 10-20 reps per side.
4. Plank
- Position yourself face-down on the ground and place your hands shoulder width apart. Keeping your back as straight as possible, push your body off the ground, through your hands.
- Inhale as you lower yourself downward, until your chest nearly touches the ground.
- Exhale and press your upper body back up to the starting position while squeezing your chest, arms, and abdominal muscles.