Building a Bodybuilder Chest

Building a Bodybuilder Chest

by Dr. Clay Hyght
For some people, building a full, round chest is as simple as doing a few sets of barbell bench press. For those of us who have the pectoral genetics of a mere mortal, it takes a bit more of a precise, methodical approach to build pecs that resemble slabs of striated beef from top to bottom.
Assuming you're not one of the aforementioned genetic freaks (a.k.a. lucky bastards), then this article is for you! You're going to learn some scientific principles, tips, and tricks that, along with some hard work, will serve as your genetic equalizer.
Let's get started!

Anatomy and Biomechanics

I'm a meathead just like you. So from one meathead to another let's go over the chest muscles themselves and what they do. Then you'll be able to make intelligent choices when it comes to exercise selection and execution.
The chest is comprised of three separate muscles: the pectoralis minor (which is of little concern to us for now), the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, and the sternal head of the pectoralis major.
Because of its position up near the clavicle (collarbone), the clavicular head of the pec major is often simply referred to as the "upper chest."
Although many anatomists refer to the sternal portion of the pectoralis major as the "lower chest," for advanced physique-enhancement purposes we need to further divide this into two regions — the middle chest and lower chest.
When the entire pectoralis major works together, it produces a movement called horizontal adduction. In other words, it brings your arm across the front of your body, as occurs when doing a flye movement.
A lesser-known function of the pecs is to internally (or medially) rotate the humerus. Hold your arms out straight with your palms up, then rotate your arms such that your palms are facing down. That's one example of internal rotation of the humerus.
Now let's look at the actions of the upper, middle, and lower pectorals when they work in (relative) isolation as this is where things get tricky.
In addition to horizontal adduction and internal rotation, the clavicular pectoralis functions to flex the shoulder joint. In other words, it (along with the anterior deltoid) raises the arm to the front. When you consider the origin and insertion of the clavicular pectoralis, this makes perfect sense.
The lower portion of the sternal pectoralis is situated such that it helps to extend the shoulder joint — the opposite of shoulder flexion.
Since we've covered the upper and lower chest, let's look at the portion that we'll call the "middle chest." Since the muscle fibers of the middle chest run horizontally, they don't contribute significantly to shoulder flexion or extension. Instead, they simply horizontally adduct the humerus.
Here's a nifty little chart that summarizes the anatomy and biomechanics of the 3 regions of the chest:

Chest Region	Muscle Fibers Involved	Action
Upper Chest	clavicular pectoralis, superior fibers of sternal head of pec major	horizontal adduction, flexion, internal rotation
Middle Chest	middle portion of the pectoralis major	horizontal adduction, internal rotation
Lower Chest	inferior portion of the pectoralis major	horizontal adduction, extension, internal rotation

"All or None" Confusion

You may have heard of the "all or none" principle of muscle contraction. Essentially, here's what it means: When stimulated, a muscle fiber will either contract or it won't.
Some people have erroneously adapted the all-or-none principle to mean that an entire muscle will either contract or it won't. These confused individuals will go on to tell you that exercise variations are practically pointless when training the chest because the entire pectoralis major will either contract or it won't.
This is some seriously misguided logic to say the least.
For starters, although still considered part of the pectoralis major, the clavicular pectoralis is actually a separate muscle with a separate nerve innervation.
Although the entire sternal head of the pectoralis major does share a common nerve innervation, the angle of the muscle fibers varies tremendously from top to bottom. For that reason, the line of pull is different throughout different areas of the muscle.
Luckily for us, your body (or brain rather) will recruit or call upon the portion of the muscle that's best suited to perform the movement in question. So if you were to do a movement in which the lower fibers of the pectoralis major are in the best mechanical advantage to execute the movement, then those will be the primary fibers recruited to do the work —thank goodness!
So yes, you can emphasize different sections of the chest from top to bottom. But notice I said emphasize, not isolate!

Assess Your Chest

Before you can build a bad-ass chest, you have to know the visual strengths and weaknesses of your pecs.
There are basically four variations of chest development:

1) Even chest development
2) Poor upper and lower chest / good middle chest
3) Poor upper and middle chest / good lower chest
4) Poor upper chest / good middle and lower chest

For the record, variation number four certainly appears to be the most common. However, many people mistake fat in the lower chest region as being great lower pec development. So, if you really want to assess your development precisely, get striations in your chest first, then assess!
Once you've identified your type of chest development, then you can intelligently plan your chest training accordingly.

Training for a Full, Round Chest

More times than not, I'd recommend performing three exercises for chest as part of a body part split in which you train chest every five to seven days. When training more frequently and/or utilizing high-intensity techniques, doing less exercises may be warranted. Likewise, in certain instances doing four chest exercises is a good call.
When selecting your exercises, make sure to take into account the desired outcome of your training. In other words, if your upper chest is weak (and I bet it is), then why in the world would you do two exercises that emphasize the middle chest and one that emphasizes the lower chest? This would only perpetuate the muscular imbalance that you already have!
Instead, consider doing two exercises that emphasize the upper chest and one that emphasizes the middle and/or lower chest. This will help to even out your chest development sooner rather than later.
Another good rule of thumb is to target the weakest portion of your chest with your first exercise, when you're at your strongest.
Let's look at four different chest training routines that address each of the four different types of chest development mentioned above.

Chest Routine for Individuals with Even Development

1) Decline Dumbbell Press
2) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Press
3) Flat Dumbbell Flyes

This routine starts off with decline dumbbell presses which target the lower chest but also stimulate the middle chest very well.
The shallow incline dumbbell press is a great way to target the upper pectoralis while making it easier to keep the anterior deltoid out of the movement. To accomplish this, set the angle of incline between 15 and 20°.
Flat dumbbell flyes hit the chest right square in the middle. And contrary to popular belief, flyes can definitely be a mass-building movement. Just make sure to let your elbows bend naturally (about 30 to 45°) at the bottom of the movement. Doing so enables you to reduce the stress on the anterior shoulder and use dumbbells of respectable weight.

Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper and Lower Development

1) Decline Dumbbell Press
2) Incline Barbell Press
3) Dips

Decline dumbbell presses are a good addition to practically any chest training routine. They've been shown to activate more motor units (muscle fibers) in the pectoralis major than any other chest exercise around.
The incline barbell press is a great exercise for the upper chest... if you do it properly. Make sure to keep your chest lifted "up" throughout the movement. This helps to keep the stress on the upper chest as opposed to the anterior deltoids.
Likewise, shorten the range of motion by about 2 or 3 inches on each end. In other words, stop a couple of inches short of lockout and a couple of inches before touching your chest. Avoiding these portions of the ROM (range of motion) keeps constant tension on the upper chest and prevents the anterior delts from taking on the brunt of the load.
Dips hit the chest, anterior deltoids, and triceps — there's no way around that. However, by using a grip that's slightly wider than shoulder width and tucking your chin to your chest/leaning forward, you can shift some of the stress from your triceps to your chest.

Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper and Middle Development

1) Floor Press
2) Flat Dumbbell Press
3) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Flyes

Years ago I had a conversation with IFBB pro-bodybuilder, Johnnie Jackson, that enlightened me regarding how well floor presses stimulate the upper chest. Allow me to explain.
At least one study has shown that using a slightly narrower grip improves upper chest activation even more so than an incline bench angle. This is because using a slightly narrower grip forces the elbows to come slightly in toward the sides (adduction of the humerus) as opposed to them being flared. Subsequently, this puts the clavicular pectoralis in a better mechanical advantage to do its primary function(s): flexion and horizontal adduction.
Do the floor press with a grip width that's just outside of shoulder width and that places your upper arms about 30° away from your sides in the starting position. Then push the barbell up and back in a slight arc such that it ends up over your upper chest.
On the shallow incline dumbbell flyes, set the angle of the bench to between 15 and 20°. One way to accomplish this is to put two or three Olympic plates under the "head" end of the bench.

Chest Routine for Individuals with Poor Upper Development

1) Incline Barbell Press
2) Shallow Incline Dumbbell Press
3) Low to High Cable Flyes

Recalling that the most natural function of the upper chest is flexion and horizontal adduction, use the same grip width mentioned in the floor presses above, just slightly wider than shoulder width.
Low to high cable flyes perfectly mimic the line of pull (and action) of the clavicular pectoralis. It's one of the best exercises around for "filling in" the upper chest up near the collarbone.
To do the movement, start with two pulleys set in the bottom position and have your palms facing forward. Your upper arms (humerus) should be at about a 30° angle away from your sides.
Using your upper chest to pull your arms up and in, raise the handles up and together so that they come together at shoulder level or slightly higher. The path of the cables will draw an upside down V.

Train Smart

When it comes to training (and life in general for that matter), many people erroneously think that all you have to do to succeed is work hard. Unfortunately, this isn't true. You have to work intelligently.
Your body is simply a dynamic, ever-changing organism that adapts to the stimulation and stress you place upon it. That's why it's important to purposefully select the right exercises that will stimulate your body in such a way as to visually enhance the appearance of your physique.
No longer will you think of chest training as a haphazard collection of press and flye movements. Instead, each and every chest workout is an opportunity to build bigger, more balanced pecs that are full and round from top to bottom!
Now, go to it!

Dexter Jackson. Clavicular pectoralis outlined in blue.
The upper, middle and lower chest.
Dip with forward lean.

Floor Press

Low to High Cable Flyes

About Dr. Clay Hyght

Dr. Clay's new book, Set Your Metabolism on Fire, is more than 100 pages long, and packed with fat-burning, muscle-building information, including complete meal plans. Whether it's because he's a really nice guy or an idiot, he's giving it away for free! Visit DrClay.com to get your copy before he comes to his senses.

© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Building a Bodybuilder Back

Building a Bodybuilder Back

by Dr. Clay Hyght

Movements vs. Muscles

When it comes to weight training, there are basically just two paradigms: training movements and training muscles.
Strength coaches would point out that the body doesn't "think" about doing a movement (a.k.a. exercise) in order to stimulate a particular muscle. Instead, the body simply recruits the muscles needed to elicit a certainmovement.
On the other hand, bodybuilding coaches see training as a way to stimulate a particular muscle. Therefore they select movements that target a particular muscle.
Which viewpoint is correct?
The answer is actually rather simple. For someone who's an athlete whose performance depends on executing certain movements and movement patterns, their training should be based upon quickly and efficiently executingmovements, particularly the movements involved in their particular sport. After all, it doesn't matter which muscles do the movement, as long as the movement gets done.
For example, let's say you find yourself in the octagon fighting Anderson Silva. As he throws a straight right toward your face, you couldn't care less whether you use your abs, obliques, multifidus, or any other muscles... as long as you're able to duck his rapidly-approaching fist before it smashes your pretty face.
If, after some combination of ducking and leaning, you could then manage to come up and counter with your own right hook to his left temple, who cares if your biceps, anterior delt, or core produced most of the power? Simply landing a shot on "The Spider" would be reason enough to be ecstatic!
On the other hand, if you're someone who trains to look a certain way, then your progress is measured by the stimulation and adaptation of muscles, not movement execution. For that reason, the focus of your training should be on properly stimulating the appropriate muscles with the appropriate exercises.
To illustrate, pretend you're onstage battling for the overall Mr. USA with eventual winner Mark Alvisi, among others. As the judges evaluate your physiques, they realize that your lats are rather thin and underdeveloped as compared to Mark's.
Sure, you may have done identical amounts of vertical pulling and rowing as the new Mr. USA, but it doesn't matter, because your lats simply aren't up to snuff. Try again next year, buddy. Thanks for playing.
As you can see, both strength coaches and bodybuilding coaches are right. There's a time to focus on movements, and there's a time to focus on muscles.
But this article isn't about uniting coaches and their methods; it's about building a bad-ass back! One that's not only big, but also symmetrical and aesthetic.

Warning!

Let me preface by saying that this article is about an advanced approach to back training — one that's arguably unnecessary for most trainees.
For the vast majority of people, even physique athletes, back training with a movement-based approach is fine, even if you do train for looks more so than function. In fact, it's far superior to the way most gym goers haphazardly train their backs.
However, once you've reached a certain level of development, it becomes a must to approach training — especially back training — with a muscle-oriented approach. For most, it's the only way to build a big back that's visually appealing and symmetrical from top to bottom and from left to right.
Sure, some genetically gifted individuals can basically just lift heavy stuff and develop a balanced, symmetrical back (those bastards!). But the vast majority of us need a far more finely tuned approach — one that addresses each individual region of the back, not just the back as a whole.

Regions of the Back

Considering "the back" as one body part like we work with chest is a misguided approach that doesn't take into account the complexity of the back musculature.
Think about it. Referring to the entire posterior aspect of your torso as "my back" is analogous to calling your anterior torso "my front," even though it includes your pectorals, anterior deltoids, and abdominals.
To more finely tune the description of the muscles of the back, let's compartmentalize them into three basic regions: upper back, lats, and low back.

Upper Back

The upper back includes the upper, middle, and lower traps as well as the rhomboids, which are "deep to" the middle traps.
Although not the focus of this article, let's move from the midline and go laterally a bit. The upper back also includes the rear delts, infraspinatus, and its little friend the teres minor, all of which lie on the lateral aspect of the upper back.
As a brief review, the middle traps and the rhomboids work primarily to retract the scapulae or bring the shoulder blades closer together toward the midline. The upper traps elevate the shoulders (as in shrugging), while the lower traps depress (or lower) the scapulae and bring the bottom part of the scapulae closer together.
Visually, it's the upper back that's primarily responsible for giving the back that thick, three-dimensional look needed to look great in a rear double biceps pose.

Lats

As you probably know, the lats are situated primarily on the lateral part of the posterior torso, just below what we're calling the upper back. For sake of completion, the teres major would also fit into the lat grouping.
The general function of the lats is to adduct or abduct the humerus. In other words, the lats move the upper arm either closer to the body, or away from the body, whether in the frontal or a sagital plane.
Great lat development obviously makes your back appear wider, especially when executing a rear lat spread. But great lats also complete the look of a rear double biceps pose. After all, it just doesn't look right to have a thick upper back with paper-thin lats that don't jut out from the sides.
The lats are also largely responsible for the overall shape of your physique. Whether facing the front or the rear, your lats enhance your appearance by giving width to your torso while visually narrowing your waist.

Lower Back

When referring to the lower back, we're primarily talking about the lumbar spinal erectors. However, we're also including the lesser-known multifidus and quadratus lumborum (QL).
As a chiropractor you probably expect me to make a big deal about the lower back. However, as an NPC judge I'll say this: Development of the lower back isn't really that important. In fact, the coveted "Christmas tree" appearance that's often seen in the lower back has far more to do with lat thickness and lack of body fat than development of the spinal erectors.
As a general rule, doing deadlift variations, barbell squats, and some barbell rowing will take care of your lower back in terms of strength and development. However, if pain and/or lack of lower back strength prohibit you from doing any of the aforementioned movements, then you have a low back issue that should be addressed.

Are You Upper Back Dominant or Lat Dominant?

The vast majority of us tend to either be upper back dominant or lat dominant. In order to balance out your back development, you first have to know in which category you fit. Since I'm unable to personally watch you execute a rear double biceps pose and a rear lat spread, let me give you a simple but accurate way to assess your back dominance.
Do a moderately heavy set of neutral grip cable rows on a low pulley. As fatigue starts to set in, do you feel it more in your lats or in your upper back, mostly between your shoulder blades?
If you feel the movement more in your lats and tend to have a hard time getting a really good contraction or "squeeze" in your scapular retractors, then consider yourself lat dominant. And I bet your back lacks that really impressive three-dimensional "pop" to it, although you can probably develop width relatively easily.
On the other hand, if you tend to feel low-pulley cable rows in your upper back yet have a hard time isolating and squeezing your lats, then you're upper back dominant. If this is the case, you probably have some decent thickness to your upper back, yet have a hard time getting the width that corresponds with your thickness.
As they say, knowledge is power. Now that you know at least one of the visual (and neurological) strengths and weaknesses of your back, you can begin to train in such a way to correct this discrepancy.

Training for a Big Beautiful Back

As a general rule of thumb, your back training routine (assuming it's part of a body part split) should be comprised of 3 to 4 exercises — not including any direct rear delt or upper trap work.
For those of you who tend to be lat dominant, make sure that the majority of your back exercises target your upper back or scapular retractors. Keep in mind there's a good chance you won't enjoy training in this manner because it forces you to do exercises that you're "not good at" or don't "feel" very well.
However, the same neuromuscular inefficiency of your upper back that causes you to not feel certain exercises very well is the precise reason why you should be doing these exercises! You can't fix a problem if you don't address it.
Likewise, those of you who have a hard time activating your lats should spend the majority of your back training time targeting your lats.
As for maintaining the strong point of your back, the combination of one direct exercise and the spillover stimulation that it'll get from other exercises will be ample stimulus to maintain and even slowly improve its development.

Back Training Routine: Upper Back Emphasis

A) Rack Deadlifts
B) Medium-grip Pulldowns
C) One-arm Dumbbell Rows
D) Reverse Flyes

Rack deadlifts are a great option for those looking to thicken their upper back without putting too much stress or emphasis on the lower back.
Medium-grip pulldowns are a perfect example of how, at least for bodybuilders, a movement-based approach to training isn't very precise. Sure, it's a vertical pulling movement, but it targets the upper back (i.e. middle and lower traps) far more than the standard wide-grip pulldown, which emphasizes the lats more.
One-arm dumbbell rows are one of the single best compound movements for the lats, assuming you keep your humerus along the side of your torso as you approach the contracted position.
Reverse flyes (or "T raises" as many non-bodybuilders call them) are a great exercise for isolating the upper back. Just make sure to forcefully squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement as opposed to focusing on squeezing the rear delts as you would if you were doing this movement specifically as a rear delt exercise.
Note: You may have noticed that I didn't include any set or rep schemes. That's because the main purpose of this article is to get you to think about back training in a different way, not to spoon-feed you an exact routine.

Back Training Routine: Lat Emphasis

A) Underhand Barbell Rows
B) Wide-grip Pulldowns
C) Rack Deadlifts
D) Decline Dumbbell Pullovers

Underhand barbell rows are great for those who are upper-back dominant as they place the humerus in a position that's more mechanically advantageous for the lats as opposed to the upper back. Just make sure to avoid raising your torso more than 45° above horizontal or you'll end up doing more of a shrugging movement, thereby shifting the emphasis away from the lats and/or the upper middle back (upper/middle traps and rhomboids).
Wide-grip pulldowns are, at first glance, very similar to medium-grip pulldowns. However, their affect on the back is much different as they emphasize the lats as opposed to the scapular retractors. To maximize the stimulus placed on the lats, keep your torso practically vertical while keeping your elbows in vertical alignment under your wrists.
Rack deadlifts are perfect for this lat-emphasizing routine as they will serve to more-than-maintain upper back musculature while providing a good overall growth stimulus.
Decline dumbbell pullovers are one of the single best exercises for stimulating the lats, especially for individuals who typically have a hard time doing so. The movement is essentially adduction of the humerus in the sagittal plane, which is one of the purest functions of the lats. Make sure to avoid the temptation to bend your elbows too much as you near the stretched position of the movement.

Back Routine: Balanced Development

A) Pull-Ups
B) Rack Deadlifts
C) One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
D) Overhand Barbell Rows

Pull-ups tend to be a fairly balanced exercise in terms of how they spread the stress over the back musculature. I suspect this is the case because, for most people, it's simply too difficult to do in a manner that emphasizes one part of the back over the other. Instead, you'll naturally fall into a position that enables the upper back and the lats to contribute their fair share of the workload.
Rack deadlifts are, as mentioned previously, an incredible overall back exercise. Likewise, most people will find that doing these will give more than adequate stimulation to the spinal erectors and the upper traps.
One-arm dumbbell rows are simply one of the best (and safest) back exercises around. But again, due to the position of the humerus, they tend to not stimulate the scapular retractors enough to cause growth.
Overhand barbell rows are definitely one of the single best compound movements for the upper back. Even though they closely resemble their sibling, the underhand barbell row, they're a very different animal indeed. Since these are done to stimulate the upper back as opposed to the lats, make sure your humerus is abducted (away from your side) at least 45° if not 60°. This places the lats in a position that's less mechanically advantageous, thus shifting the stress to the upper back.

Intelligent Back Training

If you're nutritionally advanced at all, then you know there's more to food than just calories. I bet you think of a meal in terms of protein, carbs, and fat. From now on you should think of back training in a similar light.
No longer is an exercise just "a back exercise." And if you're a physique athlete, you should think beyond vertical pulling and rowing. Instead, a back exercise is an upper back exercise, a lat exercise, a low back exercise, or a combination thereof, depending on the predominate muscle(s) stimulated, not the movement used to do the stimulating.
Approaching your back training with this paradigm will really allow you to optimize and fine-tune your back development. And who knows, one day it may be pictures of your back that will be used to illustrate perfect back development.

Guy throwing the punch? Anderson Silva. Funny-looking red-headed kid with the star-shaped boo-boo? You.
Mark Alvisi's back (stop looking at his butt, will ya'?).
 

Reverse Flyes, Arnold-Style
Reverse Flyes, Supported

About Dr. Clay Hyght

Dr. Clay's new book, Set Your Metabolism on Fire, is more than 100 pages long, and packed with fat-burning, muscle-building information, including complete meal plans. Whether it's because he's a really nice guy or an idiot, he's giving it away for free! Visit DrClay.com to get your copy before he comes to his senses.

© 1998 — 2009 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Triceps.

Building Bodybuilder Triceps

by Dr. Clay Hyght

Although we often roll our eyes when we see some vapid infomercial trainer talking about "sculpting" the abs, the analogy really does hold true when you're talking about the application of iron to triceps.

Hey, think about it: You've got three muscle heads to work with there. By bringing up the weak points you really can "sculpt" how your upper arm looks. You can make it bigger and more aesthetically appealing.

And that's what this series is all about: sculpting a symmetrical bodybuilder body. As an NPC bodybuilding judge, competitor, and medical professional, Dr. Clay Hyght is a darn good sculptor. Roll up those shirtsleeves and get your chisels ready!


Your Biceps' Big Brother

So far in this serious we've covered building a bodybuilder back and chest. Now that you know how to thicken up your torso by building symmetrical muscle in just the right places, let's move laterally and talk about building world-class arms, starting with the triceps.

Just as the barbell bench press gets far too much attention over the equally-worthy (if not more worthy) dumbbell bench press, the biceps seem to steal our attention away from their bigger brother, the triceps.

While they may not comprise two-thirds of the upper arm mass as many say, the triceps are certainly the largest muscle group in the upper arms. And whether you train for looks or function, the triceps are even more important than the biceps.

Let me explain.

From a performance aspect, the triceps are of utmost importance as they contribute greatly to your pressing ability, whether in the frontal plane as with a shoulder press or in the transverse plane as with a bench press.

Although it would be nice if we could isolate the chest and/or delts more with presses, there's simply no way to take the triceps out of these movements. In fact, at least one EMG study has shown that the triceps (and anterior delts) are actually more active than the pecs during the barbell bench press!

That would explain why another study showed that training triceps before chest significantly reduced the subjects' strength on the subsequent chest exercises. But you already knew to train chest before triceps, right?

From a cosmetic standpoint, the triceps are far more important than biceps to your looking studly when strutting around. Why? Because we walk around with our arms straight. This puts the biceps in an unimpressive stretched position and the triceps in a potentially impressive, semi-contracted position.

In competitive bodybuilding it's hard to get by without great triceps. They are, of course, critically important in the pose named after them: the side triceps pose. But they also give depth to the back of the arm in the side chest pose.

You'd think that the front and rear double biceps poses are all about the biceps, but in fact, the triceps are just as important in those poses. Have you ever seen someone hit a front double bi that has great biceps yet their arms don't "hang" down in the pose? It's almost as if the back of the arm is just flat — straight across at the bottom.

That's not something you want. Instead you want that full, hanging look that comes from having great triceps, specifically the long head of the triceps.

That brings me to one of the take-home messages of this article: You can alter the appearance of your triceps via your exercise selection. Most people simply do a couple of triceps exercises and go on their way. Even if you do select "bread and butter" exercises like close-grip benches and dips, you may not be positively affecting the appearance of your triceps.

As I overheard contest promoter John Lindsay telling a young competitor who vowed to come back to the USA next year 15 pounds bigger, "Bigger is not better. Better is better."


Anatomy of the Triceps Brachii

Just like a tricycle has three wheels, the muscle group we call the triceps is comprised of three heads: the lateral head, the medial head, and the long head.

As the name implies, the lateral head of the triceps is situated most laterally on the back of the humerus. It essentially forms the lateral aspect of the triceps "horseshoe."

Although it would make sense that the medial head of the triceps would be situated most medially of the three heads, this isn't the case. Instead, the medial head basically lies in between and deep to (under) the other heads of the triceps. Because of its orientation, this head of the triceps is largely not visible, although it certainly contributes to the overall mass of the triceps muscle.

That leaves us with the long head of the triceps, so named because it is, in fact, the longest of the triceps heads. The long head is longer because its origin is on the scapula as opposed to the humerus itself like the other two heads.

Now, I'm not trying to make you nod off by talking origins and insertions, but it's of physique-enhancement importance that the long-head of the triceps crosses the shoulder joint. More on why in just a moment.


What "Type" of Triceps Do You Have?

Although triceps come in as many shapes and sizes as there are people, I categorize them into four categories:

1) Evenly developed and thick
2) Evenly developed but lacking thickness
3) Well-developed long head and thin lateral head
4) Well-developed lateral head and shallow long head

Category #1

If the lateral and medial aspect of your triceps horseshoe is proportionately developed, then the lateral and long heads of your triceps are, at least in terms of symmetry, good to go. If this is the case and your triceps have good overall mass and thickness, then the medial head of your triceps is also well developed — as in scenario #1 above — and you are a lucky bastard!

Category #2

If the size and proportion your triceps horseshoe is good, yet your triceps lack overall depth and thickness, especially down by the elbow, then you fall into category #2 and need to maintain the visual symmetry of your triceps while thickening them up from the inside out. This is a fairly common scenario.

To remedy this problem, your focus should be on the medial head of the triceps. Since it lies under the other two triceps heads, it'll give more overall girth to your upper arm.

However, the reality is that you can't isolate the medial head! In fact, it seems that the medial and lateral head of the triceps almost always work as a team, with the medial head leading the way.

Although you can't selectively isolate and hypertrophy the medial head, you can strategically select exercises that take the long head out of the equation. Therefore, the stimulus and growth from that exercise will only be divided among two heads as opposed to three.

The close-grip bench press is a great option if you're looking to thicken up your triceps. Not only does this exercise not stimulate the long head well, but you can also use a lot of weight and get some spillover stimulation to your pecs.

Although not as "manly" an exercise, dumbbell kickbacks also hit the medial and lateral heads well while, for the most part, leaving the long head out of the movement.

Before moving on, it's worth noting that the oh-so-popular straight-bar pushdown doesn't seem to hit the medial triceps head very well. So if the back of your upper arm looks more like beef jerky than a slab of beef, leave this exercise alone, Cable Boy!

Category #3

Now, this is less common, but it does occur. This occurs when the inside of your triceps horseshoe is nice and thick, yet the outer (lateral) aspect is rather thin. In this case it's your lateral triceps head that needs more attention.

As in the preceding scenario, the close-grip bench is a great compound exercise option, and the dumbbell kickback is a great option for an isolation exercise as they both hit the lateral triceps as well.

I know I poo-poo'd the straight-bar cable pushdown earlier, but it's actually a good option if you need to focus on the lateral head of your triceps.

Category #4

By far the most common developmental problem that I see with the triceps is having good development of the lateral triceps while having poor development on the medial aspect and subsequently no "hang" to the arms in the double biceps poses. This is due to poor development of the long head.

After getting creamed in my first bodybuilding show at the age of 19, I decided to more closely evaluate my physique as I prepared for my next show. I soon noticed that when I did a front double biceps pose, my arms didn't "swoop down" on the bottom like the people in magazines. Instead mine were flat as a board on the bottom!

I realized that although I was doing a variety of triceps exercises, I wasn't hitting the long head of my triceps, the one responsible for giving that rounded look to the bottom of my flexed guns. Oddly, it's not hard at all to overlook exercises that really hit the long head well.

Recall that the long head crosses the shoulder joint whereas the other two triceps heads don't. When you raise your arm overhead, the long head of the triceps is stretched a bit, while the others aren't. Since more tension is already on the long head, it will subsequently end up doing more work, as if a bit of slack were in the other two heads.

So, by pre-stretching the long head of the triceps, more motor units in that muscle will be activated. This occurs because it's simply more mechanically advantageous to use a taut muscle than one with slack in it.

So although you may fry your triceps with close-grip benches and pushdowns, you're simply not going to tax the long head well until you implement an overhead movement like unilateral dumbbell extensions. This is my personal favorite when it comes to targeting the long head of the triceps.

On a bit of a side note, it's not just close-grip presses that don't hit all the triceps heads. Presses in general don't hit the long head well. In fact, during overhead presses the long head of the triceps is practically snoozing! That's all the more reason why former powerlifters will specifically need to target the long head to achieve even triceps development.

Now, back to what does hit the long head.

Ever noticed that your triceps have "mysteriously" gotten sore after a back workout? I'd be willing to bet that the back workout in question included a pullover variation and that it was specifically the long head that got sore. This happens because the long head is trying its best to be nice and help your lats pull that heavy-ass dumbbell or barbell back to the starting position.

You can take advantage of this by doing a bit of a hybrid pullover/skull crusher. Skull crushers with an EZ-bar already hit the long head pretty well, but if you further stretch the long head by lowering the bar behind your head as with a pullover, you'll really blast the long head and fill out that flat-ass posterior arm of yours.

Even though not overhead in nature, dips and pushdowns with an angled bar and/or rope also hit the long head pretty well. But as a general rule, the long head will help out on most exercises if the resistance is high enough. So I wouldn't count solely on heavy dips and pushdowns to beef it up.


Summary

I work with a lot of very advanced bodybuilders. For them, just one underdeveloped muscle can make the difference between first and tenth place. Do you need to be so meticulous with your training? Probably not.

But just remember, you can't do two or three triceps exercises and assume you've thoroughly and evenly stimulated your triceps. You must first assess your weakness, then select exercises that address that weakness.

Remember, assess then address!








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