7 Best Triceps Lateral Head Exercises – For Bigger & Stronger Triceps

Triceps Anatomy

Triceps are placed at the backside of your upper arm. The full name is triceps brachii, which means your arm is the three-headed muscle.

The triceps are built up of three different heads, namely:

• Long Head
• Medial Head
• Lateral Heads

Among these three heads, the Triceps Lateral head is the biggest muscle. The triceps lateral head is located furthest out towards your side when standing in a natural position. So, whenever you see someone with a well-built body from the front, the triceps lateral head provides that curvature looks for the upper arm, which proves that person is jacked.

Nonetheless, it’s not entirely possible to isolate the triceps lateral head but, you can find specific movements to emphasize over the other two triceps long head and triceps medial head.

Specific triceps exercises indeed hit your triceps heads differently. In addition, your triceps lateral head is essential for your upper arm looks. Henceforth, a well-developed triceps lateral head helps provide your upper arm with a desirable horseshoe shape.

Let’s look into some of the best triceps lateral head exercises to include within your workout routines so that you can emphasize them.

Here’s Some of the Best Triceps Lateral Head Exercises

Here below are some of the best triceps lateral head exercises we recommend:

Close Grip Bench Press

The close grip bench press increases your triceps strength, lockout performance as well as hypertrophy. Likewise, it also helps to minimize the stress level of your shoulder. It’s an excellent exercise for the triceps lateral head, which also targets your medial head as well.

Here’s How to Do Close Grip Bench Press

• Lie down on the bench while keeping your feet flat on the floor.
• Grip the barbell with your hands, keeping it slightly close than shoulder-width apart. Also, avoid keeping too close, or else you can risk injuring your wrists.
• Brace the core, squeeze both the shoulder blades together, and stabilize your body.
• Lower the barbell slowly and go up powerfully.
• Again, bring the barbell back down towards your sternum and go back fast.
• Throughout the set, keep your elbows close towards your side, which helps in emphasizing your triceps.
• Avoid arching your back.

Note: If you’re new, look for a spotter and avoid using heavier weights.

Triceps Pushdowns

Triceps pushdowns are another classic triceps lateral head exercises that you can do using a V-bar, bar, or rope for optimum isolation and a more comprehensive range. It’s an easy and beginner-friendly triceps exercise that’s easier to control and helps stay focused on your triceps lateral head.

Here’s How to Do Triceps Pushdowns

• Stand with a regular stance in front of a cable pulley with a v-bar or straight bar attached to it.
• Keep feet together and knees slightly bent.
• Use an overhead grip and firmly grasp the bar at your chest height.
• Keep tight core & back straight and press the bar in the downward direction while keeping your elbows tucked and only moving your forearms. Likewise, your upper arms should also remain in a locked position.
• Once you reach the bottom, hold for a moment, and squeeze your triceps.
• Now, return to the starting movement with controlled and slow motion and repeat it until the set is not completed.

Triceps Kickbacks

Triceps kickbacks are another great exercise for triceps lateral heads with the bent-over position using a dumbbell or a cable pulley. Likewise, it also proves beneficial for stabilizing your shoulder joint, and it’s also an essential exercise for those involved in sports such as volleyball, basketball, and tennis.

Here’s How to Do Triceps Kickbacks – Using Dumbbells

• Hold the dumbbell with both hands while keeping palms facing each other.
• Keep your knees slightly bent while engaging your core muscles and maintaining a straight spine as you hinge towards your waist. Bring your torso part almost parallel to the floor.
• Keep upper arms closer to the body & head in line with the spine while tucking your chin slightly inwards.
• Now, exhale and straighten your elbows. And, slowly extend your arm back as far as you go while keeping your arm in a tight position beside you.
• Pause for a second inhale and return your arm to the starting position. And start again with another set until the set is completed.

Here’s How to Do Triceps Kickbacks – Using Cables

• Stand facing a cable machine positioned at the lower pulley.
• Slightly bend forward with the waist, so your torso gets parallel with the floor.
• Engage your core muscles while keeping your head, spine, and neck in one line.
• For support, place one of your hands on your thighs.
• Now, exhale and extend your arm back as far as you can go while keeping your arm in the tight position beside you.
• Pause for a moment, inhale, and return your arm to the starting position.
• Again, repeat another rep and do it till your set is not completed.

Parallel Bar Dips

Usually, bodybuilders and gym enthusiasts go for parallel bar dips on chest days. Yes, parallel bar dips work your pectoral muscles, but it’s equally good exercise for the triceps lateral head that helps in adding thickness and size.

Nonetheless, it’s a challenging exercise as you lift your body weight through only your arms, but your efforts don’t get wasted.

Also, be careful when performing parallel bar dips exercise, as it can be hard onto your shoulders. So, if you’ve shoulder joint issues, avoid descending too deep or avoid doing this exercise altogether. And, if you’re an advanced lifter, you can even make it more challenging by adding weights by wearing a dip belt.

Here’s How to Do Parallel Bar Dips

• Stand between the dip bar machine and choose the narrow grip to emphasize your triceps.
• Keep your head & chest up while looking straight ahead.
• Now, push your body into full extension and slowly lower your weight. Make sure you maintain a neutral back and do not extend your elbows more than 90-degrees.
• Keep your focus on your triceps muscles and push yourself back up to the starting position at the top until your arms reach a straight position while maintaining an upright posture.
• Repeat the remaining repetitions and complete the set.

Dumbbell Floor Press

The dumbbell floor press is often overlooked, and you won’t find anyone doing this exercise, especially in commercial gyms. However, it is often done with the barbell in powerlifting gyms. It is a good exercise for the triceps lateral head and chest. In other words, with a dumbbell floor press or barbell floor press, you’re coming down halfway using your triceps, which puts tension on the triceps lateral head.

Note: You can also use a Kettlebell or Barbell instead of a dumbbell.

Here’s How to Do Dumbbell Floor Press

• Lay on the floor with two dumbbells.
• Hold each dumbbell in a way that the weight rests on the backside of your wrist.
• Stretch arms in the direction of the ceiling using your dumbbells placed above your shoulders.
• Slowly bring back the dumbbells while bending elbows until it touches the floor. Also, keep your elbows tucked in as it’ll help target your triceps lateral head more efficiently.
• Pause and then push back dumbbells in the starting position.

Overhead Triceps Extensions

Sometimes people find it hard to do overhead triceps extensions correctly as it needs healthy shoulder mobility. However, if you do this triceps exercise correctly, it’ll emphasize your triceps lateral head as it activates more at 180 degrees of your shoulder flexion.

Here’s How to Do Overhead Triceps Extensions

• Hold the dumbbell vertically in front of your hands by keeping your palms against the inner weight and thumbs & fingers overlapping the surrounding weight handle.
• Get the dumbbell over your head – it’s the starting position of your overhead triceps extensions exercise.
• Ensure your elbows are stable on both sides of your heads when you bend your arms to lower the weight behind the head.
• Straighten your arms up again while pressing the weight overhead. And it completes one repetition.
• Now, complete the other remaining repetitions and complete the set.

Diamond Push-Ups

According to the ACE (American Council on Exercise) study, diamond push-ups, also known as triangle push-ups, are among the best triceps lateral head exercises. Likewise, it doesn’t require any gym equipment, making it ideal for beginners to advanced-level gym-goers. But, again, it’s recommended to be careful while doing this exercise as it can be hard on your wrists and elbows and if possible, avoid it if you have any joint-related issues.

Here’s How to Do Diamond Pus-Ups

• Get in the push-up position by keeping your hands together under your chest.
• Keep your hands in a diamond position. In other words, keep your hand in a position where its index finger and thumbs touch each other.
• Now extend your arms, so your body gets elevated. Likewise, extend till your body forms a straight line from your head to feet.
• Lower your chest towards the hands while ensuring you don’t get your elbows outsides and keep your back flat. Go down till chest touches the floor, and then push back up again in the starting position.
• Complete the set by performing the remaining repetitions.

Triceps Lateral Head Exercises – Our Closing Thoughts

Usually, triceps exercises target all three heads. Here we’ve listed the seven best triceps exercises that you can use to target your lateral head specifically. We hope it proves beneficial to add to your workout routines. Good luck!