A Short Post About the Long Head

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This Week’s Healthy Discussion

1. Long Head of the Triceps Brachii Explained

2. The Best Exercise For It

3. Coaching

Long Head of the Triceps Brachii Explained

Overtime the long head of the triceps has gotten a lot of attention with what could be the best way to train it.

Is it overhead? Is it through dips? What’s the answer?

It’s actually incredibly simple.

We know that when trying to find the best way to work a muscle, we must find where it has the best leverage to produce force from.

In this case for the long head, we see that it has the best ability to produce force when the shoulder is at 0 degrees of elevation.

So any movement where we extend our elbow while our arms are tucked at our sides will be great for this portion of the triceps.

Does it still work when doing overhead extensions, yes but the medial and lateral head will have better leverage to extend in that specific function.

The long head is the biggest of the 3 heads, so I definitely see a lot of value in biasing it to the best of our ability.

The Best Exercise for the Long Head

Since we know we want something that keeps our arms by our sides, we can make something up like this.

Using the frame of the cable machine can be a great support while also using whatever attachment that will be comfortable on your wrists.

After setting up, the exercise is as simple as extending the elbow.

Coaching

If you’re thinking about getting a coach, I highly recommend emailing and we can book a free call to see if we’d be a good fit!

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