Continuing on muscles post (covered Calf in last post) TRICEPS is another complex muscle as per me. Complex because it is rare to see a well defined triceps in athletes. And nobody can doubt the use of triceps muscles in cricket, baseball or any racket sports.
The 3 headed muscle inserts into Olecranon process (the bony notch on elbow) via a tendon. Olecranon is a part of Ulna bone which is a stable bone.
Therefore when muscles contract, the tendon pulls on the bone and extend the elbow.
Learning 1: Changing the grip doesn’t offer you any advantage. All 3 heads work together regardless of the grip. (Although changing the grip does work on your finger flexors or grip strength in general)
Like Calf muscle, we often see a lump of muscle as triceps in people. Why could it be difficult to see the heads separately whereas, as you can see, they are miles apart?
Learning 2: Triceps is a very important functional muscle. Therefore, instead of size/hypertrophy, we should focus on the movement more, to involve all three heads of triceps. Proper form is more imp for this muscle than weight for sportsmen.
Why are we not able to work properly on the triceps?
Long head of triceps attach to scapula/shoulder (plays a role in adduction) and therefore, we end up using shoulder when we try to go heavy in lieu of size.
Learning 3: We must pay attention to the usage of shoulder muscles when we are working on our triceps. We should be extra careful in progressing load (going heavy) when it comes to triceps.
Remember a muscle gives its best output when it is grown structurally/uniformly because that’s when maximum number of motor units (responsible for contractile strength in a muscle) are recruited.
Simplifying training…..
Umesh Chhikara
Movement Specialist I S&C trainer I Relaxation therapist
Umesh Chhikara 