The triceps are involved in pushing and pulling movements and stabilizing the shoulder, so it’s not hard to hit them with exercises like bench presses and overhead presses. But if you want real growth in your arms, you’ve got to include exercises that directly target the long head of the triceps.
The 11 best long head of the tricep exercises are:
- Close-grip bench press
- Barbell JM press
- Dumbbell Tate press
- EZ bar pullover to extension
- Dips
- Diamond push-ups
- Neutral-grip dumbbell press
- Rolling DB tricep extension
- EZ bar incline skull crushers
- Cable tricep pushdown
- Dumbbell tricep kickbacks
If you want to build arms that’ll turn heads, stick with me because we’ll dive into the best long head of the tricep exercises. We’ll go over how to do these exercises, why we do them, and when you should use them.
Table of Contents
What Is the Long Head of the Triceps?
Your triceps are the muscle on the back side of the upper part of your arm. Their anatomical name is the triceps brachii, and there are three heads to this muscle.
You have the lateral head, the medial head, and the long head. Their main function is extension of the elbow, or straightening of the arm. The long head of the triceps also happens to cross the shoulder joint, which means it’s involved in shoulder extension and shoulder stability as well.
The long head of the triceps sits closest to your body (it touches your lats when your arms are by your side) and is the largest and most functional head of the triceps.
Check out the best exercises for the lateral head of the triceps if you want to train another important part of the triceps.
Why Should You Strengthen and Grow the Long Head of the Triceps?
As I stated above, the long head of the triceps is the largest head of the triceps. If you want aesthetically pleasing arms, you need to train the long head of the triceps directly.
The long head of the triceps also crosses the shoulder joint. This means that it assists in shoulder extension in exercises like row variations, such as Pendlay rows, and pull-ups. Because it crosses the shoulder joint, it also helps to stabilize the shoulder in exercises like the bench press.
And let’s not forget this muscle is responsible for elbow extension, so it will be the rate-limiting factor in every push exercise you perform. From the bench to overhead presses and push-ups, you’ll need a strong long head of the triceps to excel.
If you also want healthy shoulders and aesthetically pleasing arms, or all three, you will have to train the long head of the triceps directly.
Compound Exercises for the Long Head of the Triceps
This first series of exercises will consist of the best compound exercises for the long head of the triceps. A compound movement is an exercise that involves more than one joint, like the squat or bench press.
These exercises don’t isolate the triceps but will still effectively target the long head when done correctly.
1. Close-Grip Bench Press
The close-grip bench press is the best exercise for the tricep long head. The close grip and “elbows tucked” position place most of the emphasis on the triceps themselves. This is an exercise you can load heavy for low volume or go light and hammer a bunch of reps.
How To Do It
- Lay flat on your back on a bench press setup. Bend your knees to 90 degrees and keep a slight arch in your low back and your shoulder blades squeezed together.
- Place your hands right around shoulder width on the bar. A good landmark is the edge of the knurling (the sandpapery part), which is shoulder width for most people.
- Unrack the bar and hold it right above your chest.
- Start the descent by bending your elbows and allowing the bar to travel downward in a straight line.
- As the bar descends, keep your elbows close to your body and avoid flaring them.
- Let the bar touch your chest just below your nipple line.
- Press the bar up in a straight line towards the ceiling.
Pro Tip
To really get the most out of your triceps in this movement, you want to try to “break the bar.” Pretend the bar is a giant handful of dry spaghetti, and you’ll try to break it like you would before you put it into the boiling pot. This will cause you to externally rotate your shoulders, putting them in a safer position and allowing the long head of the triceps to be in an optimal position.
2. Barbell JM Press
The JM press is kind of like a skull crusher and a guillotine press. It’s a very tricep-heavy exercise designed for light loads and high volume.
How To Do It
- Start off with the same setup as the close-grip bench. Maintain the same body position, and take the same hand placement on the bar.
- Unrack the bar, and with straight arms, hold it over your throat.
- To start the descent, unlock your elbows and keep them close to your sides. There is no elbow flare in this movement.
- As the bar travels down, your elbows are going to move forward instead of to the sides like they would in a bench press.
- Continue the downward path of the bar until your upper arms are parallel to the ground and the bar is about two inches over your throat.
- Press the bar in a straight line towards the ceiling while keeping your elbows from flaring out to the side.
Pro Tip
Since this movement is designed for higher volume and lighter loads, control the tempo by squeezing your triceps during the negative (the downward phase). It will create more damage and metabolic byproduct (like lactic acid), so you’ll be primed to grow.
3. Dumbbell Tate Press
This is an exercise that is pretty pec heavy, but it will light your triceps up. This is a higher volume and lighter load exercise, so think light to moderate weight with high reps.
How To Do It
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and a bench.
- Lay down on the bench with your arms straight up in the air and your palms facing forward.
- Bend your elbows out to the side and allow the dumbbells to come down toward your chest.
- Keep flaring your elbows to the side as you let the dumbbells travel down toward your chest.
- When the sides of the dumbbells touch your chest, press up toward the ceiling.
- Think of yourself doing tricep extensions with both arms as you press up.
Pro Tip
Don’t lose tension at the bottom of this movement. When the dumbbells are touching your chest at the bottom, you may be tempted to relax because of the way the dumbbells sit on your chest. Fight this urge and try to touch and go while maintaining tension in your triceps.
4. EZ Bar Pullover to Extension
This movement combines the best parts of a skull crusher with the best parts of a pullover. This is a moderate load, moderate to high volume exercise.
How To Do It
- Holding an EZ bar, lay on your back on the bench with the top of your head hanging off of the bench.
- With a close grip, start with your elbows locked, holding the bar like you would if you were bench pressing.
- To start this movement, bend the elbows as if you were doing a skull crusher. Be careful not to let your shoulders move as you bend your elbows.
- Bend your elbows until the bar is about 2 inches above your forehead.
- Maintaining the same bend in your elbows, reach back as if you were doing a pullover.
- When you hit the end of your range of motion reaching back, drive your elbows towards the wall in front of the bench and follow through by straightening your arms at the top.
- Be careful not to straighten your arms until your elbows have cleared your head on the way up.
Pro Tip
This movement also involves the lats, which attach at the lumbar spine (low back vertebrae) through the thoracolumbar fascia (a tendon-like structure that attaches to the vertebrae in the low back).
As you reach back, you may feel your lower back start to arch. Fight this by engaging your abs and trying to keep your lower back flat on the bench. This will make sure all the tension stays in the shoulders and triceps.
5. Dips (Weighted or Unweighted)
Dips are excellent long head tricep exercises. They’re great for beginners and seasoned vets alike. You can load them fairly heavily with moderate volume or do them with body weight for high volume. They’re a really good option for bench press lockout strength in beginners as well.
How To Do It
- You will need a dip bar attachment/machine.
- Start by placing your hands on the dip bar. The closer the grip, the more tricep recruitment you’ll get.
- While maintaining a “proud” and big chest, bend your elbows and keep them tucked in (close to your body) as you descend.
- Go down until you hit your end range and push yourself back up towards the ceiling.
Pro Tip
Some people have shoulder pain when performing dips. If this is you, make sure to keep your shoulders pulled back as you go down. You may also need to shorten the range of motion, or not go down as far, to keep it pain-free, which is more than okay. Partial range of motion reps are still very beneficial for growth.
Wondering whether dips or push-ups are better for the triceps? Check out Dips vs Push Ups: Pros, Cons, Which Is Better?
6. Diamond Push-Ups
The diamond push-up is a push-up variation that really targets the triceps. By placing your hands in a diamond shape, you minimize elbow flare. That places much more tension in the triceps, making it one of the best long head tricep exercises.
Since this exercise is a bodyweight triceps exercise, your abilities will dictate the volume. When you’re first starting out, it may be difficult to do more than 5-10 reps. As you get stronger, you can up the reps to the 20-25 range.
How To Do It
- Start off in a push-up position with your hands making a diamond shape on the floor directly in front of your chest.
- To start the descent, bend your elbows and keep them in their path in line with your index fingers.
- Go down until you can’t anymore, then straighten your elbows by pushing yourself up toward the ceiling.
Pro Tip
Everyone’s range of motion will be different here. With the hands so close together, getting your chest to the ground may cause wrist pain. If this is the case, stay in a pain-free range of motion and try to get more and more depth over time.
7. Neutral-Grip Dumbbell Bench Press
This is a great dumbbell bench press variation that will really target your triceps. You can use this movement as a strength builder or high-volume muscle grower. You’ll need a pair of dumbbells and a bench.
How To Do It
- Lay down on a bench, holding dumbbells with your hands facing each other and your arms straight up over your shoulders.
- To begin the descent, pull your shoulders back and bend your elbows, allowing them to travel forward.
- As you go down, keep your wrists and dumbbells directly over your elbows.
- Keep going down until your elbows are just slightly below parallel.
- When you get to the bottom, push your hands up toward the ceiling until your arms are locked.
Pro Tip
A good mind trick for any pushing exercise is to envision pushing yourself away from the weight. While your goal is to push the weight up, thinking of pushing yourself away from the weight will make sure you keep your upper back and shoulders in a good position.
8. Rolling Dumbbell Tricep Extension
This is one of the best exercises for the long head of the triceps to do near the end of your workout. It is meant to be lightweight with higher volume. You’ll need a bench and a pair of dumbbells.
How To Do It
- Lay down on a bench, holding dumbbells with your hands facing each other and your arms straight up over your shoulders.
- To begin the rep, bend your elbows and allow them to travel forward like you would if you were doing a neutral-grip dumbbell bench press.
- While keeping your elbows tucked close to your body, lower the dumbbells until your upper arms are parallel to the ground.
- When you get to the bottom, reach the dumbbells back toward your ears by pushing your elbows up toward the ceiling.
- When the dumbbells are next to your ears, drive your elbows back to the bottom position and “punch” your hands up toward the ceiling in one smooth motion.
- The dumbbell path in this movement should make somewhat of a J pattern.
Pro Tip
To maximize tricep activation throughout this movement, squeeze your triceps the whole time. This will keep most of the tension in your triceps instead of your shoulders.
Isolation Exercises for the Long Head of the Triceps
The next series of exercises are isolation exercises.
Compound exercises are the “cake” and should make up the bulk of your strength pursuits. Isolation exercises are the “icing” on this cake and should be used to target the long head of your triceps more directly. You can do these exercises often, even when you want to train your triceps two days in a row.
These exercises should all be done for higher volume with light to moderate loads.
9. EZ Bar Incline Skull Crusher
This is an excellent skull crusher variation that places more tension on the long head of the triceps. The angle of your shoulders when at an incline places a greater stretch on the long head of the triceps. This turns them on to a greater degree than when you’re flat on your back.
How To Do It
- Set a bench to a 45-degree angle.
- Lay on the bench holding an EZ bar straight up towards the ceiling with a close grip.
- While keeping your upper arm pointed straight up towards the ceiling, bend your elbows until the EZ bar is about 2 inches from the top of your forehead.
- Without allowing your elbows to push forward, straighten out your arms until you’re back to the starting position.
Pro Tip
Performing this exercise on an incline makes your leverages significantly worse than laying flat on your back. This means you won’t be able to handle the same amount of weight. Make sure you start off with very light weights to asses your strength in this exercise.
If you need a bench to perform this exercise at home, check out our favorite weight benches for home gyms. Many of the benches on our list can be set to an incline.
10. Cable Tricep Pushdown
This exercise won’t add a ton of lockout strength to your bench, but it will definitely help give you that horseshoe look you want. This is an “end of the workout” high-volume exercise. You’ll need a cable machine and a triangle attachment. There are many variations of this tricep isolation exercise, but we will focus on the most common here.
How To Do It
- Set the cable to the top and attach the triangle attachment.
- Place your hands on either side of the triangle with the edge of your hand at the ends.
- Pull your elbows down to your side without straightening your arms. This is your starting position.
- While keeping your elbows by your side, push your hands down towards the ground until your arms are straight.
- Once you hit the bottom of this movement (straight arms), allow the weight to pull your hands back toward your chest without letting your elbows move forward.
- Repeat without letting your elbows move away from your body.
Pro Tip
If you want to hit the long head of the triceps more, have your start position be the same as above but with your elbows forward about 2 inches. This puts more of a stretch on the long head, allowing it to create more tension.
This is a move reserved for those with more experience because it is challenging to maintain that position throughout the movement.
11. Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks
This is one of the best tricep exercises for the long head because of the angle of the shoulder. By being in a bent-over position, you force the long head of the triceps to help stabilize the shoulder in addition to straightening the arm. This is a lightweight, moderate to high-volume exercise.
How To Do It
- Grab a light dumbbell and something to lean against.
- Set yourself up like you would if you were doing a single-arm dumbbell row somewhere between 45 degrees and parallel to the ground.
- To get into this position, stagger your feet, hinge back, and lean into a bench or dumbbell rack.
- While keeping your back flat, pull your arm back as if you were doing a single-arm dumbbell row. Hold this position.
- While in this position, straighten your arm by squeezing your triceps until your arm is completely straight.
- While still squeezing your triceps, slowly allow your hand to travel back to the starting position.
Pro Tip
This isn’t an exercise that needs to be heavy to give you benefits. Keep it light and keep the movement slow and controlled if you’re looking for nice and defined triceps.
Sample Long Head Tricep Workout Routine
Believe it or not, you can actually do an entire training session dedicated to your triceps — they’re that functional and important.
You’ll start with compound exercises to increase your strength. Then you’ll follow that with isolation exercises to really target the long head and finish up with bodyweight exercises to failure.
Compound and isolation exercises
- Close-grip bench press – 5 sets of 5 reps
- Neutral-grip DB press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- EZ Bar pullover to extension – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Cable tricep extension – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Finishers
Perform 2-3 sets of the following:
- Dips – Done to failure
- Diamond push-ups – Done to failure
If you’re really looking to bust out of your shirt, pair each exercise (with the exception of the close-grip bench press) with a bicep exercise. These are some great bicep exercises to include.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Isolate the Long Head of the Triceps?
You can’t truly isolate the long head of the triceps. Since all three heads of the triceps are innervated by the same nerve, when one fires, they all do. However, you can place the shoulder at different angles, like with the EZ bar pullover to extension, in an effort to emphasize the long head.
Do Tricep Pushdowns Target the Long Head?
Tricep pushdowns do and don’t target the long head. You can’t independently fire the long head. However, when you place your shoulder into slight flexion (move it forward), you can place much more tension in the long head of the triceps.
Do Diamond Push-Ups Work the Long Head of the Triceps?
Diamond push-ups target the triceps as a whole and are one of the best long head tricep exercises. The closer grip targets the triceps more effectively than standard push-ups.
Do Dips Work the Long Head of the Triceps?
Dips work the long head of the triceps. They’re one of the only bodyweight tricep exercises that put more strain on this part of the muscle, making them the best exercise for the triceps long head. Dips involve the shoulder joint as well, and the long head of the triceps is responsible for shoulder stabilization.
Final Thoughts
If you want arms that can’t be held in by your sleeves, you’ve got to focus on the triceps. They make up three-fifths of the size of your arms, and the largest head of the triceps is the long head.
Focusing your efforts on the best tricep long head exercises in this article will give you arms that are aesthetically pleasing and will also increase your pressing strength.
About the Author
ConnorLyons is a graduate of the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He spent the past 14 years as a strength and conditioning coach in both the NCAA setting and the private sector working with NFL, MLB, ATP, and NHL athletes. He is a former NCAA hockey player and was the strength and conditioning coach for USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Team which captured gold in 2018. He now owns The Lyons Den Sports Performance just outside of Tampa, Florida.
