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Exercises

Tricep exercises at the gym: cables, machines and barbells

Published October 19, 2026

The best tricep exercises at the gym are the overhead cable extension for the long head, the cable pressdown for the outer head, the close-grip bench press for heavy loading, and the triceps extension and dip machines if you are new. Use one overhead exercise, one pressdown or machine, and one heavy press, 2 to 4 sets each, and end each set 0 to 2 reps short of failure. Those three cover every part of the triceps with gear a home gym rarely has.

  1. Overhead Cable Triceps Extension Triceps
  2. Cable Triceps Pressdown Triceps
  3. Close-Grip Bench Press Triceps, Chest
  4. Machine Triceps Dip Triceps
  5. Machine Triceps Extension Triceps
  6. EZ-Bar Skullcrusher Triceps
  7. Cable Triceps Kickback Triceps
  8. JM Press Triceps

Tricep exercises on the cable machine

A cable column is the most useful triceps tool in a gym, because it keeps the same pull on the muscle through the whole rep and changes weight in small steps. Set the pulley high for pressdowns and overhead extensions, and low for kickbacks, and you can train every head of the triceps from one station.

Triceps long head, overhead cable

Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

Triceps

Facing away from a high pulley with a rope, your arms work from behind your head, which puts the long head of the triceps under load at its longest. The cable holds tension where a dumbbell overhead goes light, so it is the gym's best single triceps builder.

How to do it

  1. Clip a rope to the top of a cable column, grab one end in each hand and turn to face away from the stack.
  2. Take a staggered step forward and lean your torso slightly forward, hands behind your head and elbows bent and pointed ahead.
  3. Straighten your elbows to drive the rope forward and up until your arms are long in front of your forehead.
  4. Let the rope pull your hands back behind your head until you feel a deep stretch, then repeat.

Cues

  • Elbows stay pointed forward
  • Stretch fully behind the head
  • Ribs tucked

Common mistakes

  • Letting your elbows drop and press the rope like a bench press: keep the upper arms high and still.
  • Stepping too close so the stack touches down between reps: step far enough out that the weight stays off the stack.

Swap for: Seated Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension, Kettlebell Overhead Triceps Extension, EZ-Bar Skullcrusher

Build a session with Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

Triceps lateral head, cable pressdown

Cable Triceps Pressdown

Triceps

The pressdown is the easiest triceps exercise to learn and to load in small steps, and the cable keeps tension on from top to bottom. It builds the outer part of the triceps, the horseshoe you see from the side.

How to do it

  1. Attach a straight bar to a high pulley and grip it overhand, hands about shoulder-width.
  2. Stand close to the stack, lean forward a few degrees, and pin your elbows to your sides.
  3. Push the bar down until your arms are completely straight and the bar touches your thighs.
  4. Let it rise until your forearms pass parallel to the floor, keeping your elbows fixed, and repeat.

Cues

  • Elbows glued to your ribs
  • Lock out at the bottom
  • Forearms rise only to parallel

Common mistakes

  • Leaning your bodyweight onto the bar to move a heavier stack: stand tall enough that only your arms move it.
  • Letting the elbows float up and forward on the way back: that turns it into a lat movement.

Swap for: Machine Triceps Extension, Cable Triceps Kickback, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Cable Triceps Pressdown

Triceps, one-arm cable kickback

Cable Triceps Kickback

Triceps

Kicking back against a low cable keeps the triceps loaded even at the start, where a dumbbell kickback has almost no resistance. It hits the triceps hardest with the arm fully straight behind you, which few other moves do.

How to do it

  1. Set a single handle at the bottom of a cable column, grab it in one hand and step back.
  2. Hinge forward until your torso is near 45 degrees and lift your elbow so your upper arm is level with your body.
  3. Straighten your elbow to push the handle back until your arm is straight.
  4. Let your forearm swing back under control, keeping your upper arm still, and repeat. Switch arms.

Cues

  • Upper arm parallel to your torso
  • Squeeze at full lockout
  • Shoulder stays still

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the shoulder to lift the handle higher: lower the weight and move only at the elbow.
  • Dropping the elbow as you tire: keep the upper arm level, or end the set.

Swap for: Triceps Kickback, Cable Triceps Pressdown, Machine Triceps Extension

Build a session with Cable Triceps Kickback

Machines that work your triceps

Two machines are built for the triceps: the extension machine, which isolates the elbow with your arms on a pad, and the seated dip machine, which lets you press down like a dip with a pin-selected weight. Both are good first exercises for beginners and good last exercises for anyone, since you can go to failure without a spotter.

Triceps, guided extension machine

Machine Triceps Extension

Triceps

The machine fixes your upper arm on a pad and the path for you, so all you do is straighten your elbows. That makes it the triceps exercise to take to failure safely, and the one to learn first if free weights feel awkward.

How to do it

  1. Adjust the seat so your upper arms rest flat on the pad and your elbows line up with the machine's pivot.
  2. Take the handles with your palms facing each other.
  3. Push the handles down and out by straightening your elbows fully.
  4. Return slowly until your elbows are bent past 90 degrees, then repeat.

Cues

  • Elbows match the pivot
  • Back flat against the pad
  • Slow return

Common mistakes

  • Seat set too high or too low, so your elbows sit off the pivot: adjust it before the first set every time.
  • Lifting your shoulders off the pad to finish reps: only the forearms move.

Swap for: Cable Triceps Pressdown, Machine Triceps Dip, Dumbbell Skullcrusher

Build a session with Machine Triceps Extension

Triceps, seated dip machine

Machine Triceps Dip

Triceps

A seated dip machine gives you the heavy pressing of a dip without lifting your bodyweight, and you choose the load with a pin. It lets beginners and heavier lifters train the movement that loads the triceps most.

How to do it

  1. Sit on the machine and set the seat so the handles are by your sides at about your lower ribs.
  2. Grip the handles, keep your chest up and your elbows pointing behind you.
  3. Push the handles down until your arms are straight.
  4. Let them rise until your elbows are bent to about 90 degrees, then push again.

Cues

  • Elbows back, not out
  • Chest proud
  • Full lockout

Common mistakes

  • Flaring the elbows wide, which shifts the work to the chest: keep them tucked.
  • Rising off the seat to push: keep your hips down and lower the weight if you lift.

Swap for: Bench Dip, Close-Grip Bench Press, Cable Triceps Pressdown

Build a session with Machine Triceps Dip

Barbell tricep exercises on a flat bench

A barbell lets the triceps lift the most weight, so these are the exercises that build pressing strength as well as size. Start a triceps session with one of them while you are fresh, and keep two or three reps in reserve so your elbows stay comfortable.

Triceps and chest, heavy compound press

Close-Grip Bench Press

Triceps, Chest

Narrowing your grip on the bench press shifts much of the work to the triceps and lets you load them with more weight than any isolation exercise. It is the heaviest triceps lift in the gym and the right first exercise when strength is the goal.

How to do it

  1. Lie back on a flat bench, eyes under the bar, and take a grip just inside shoulder-width.
  2. Unrack and hold the bar over your shoulders with straight arms.
  3. Lower it to your lower chest with your elbows tucked near your sides.
  4. Press back up to straight arms, keeping the elbows tucked.

Cues

  • Hands just inside shoulder-width
  • Elbows near your ribs
  • Touch low on the chest

Common mistakes

  • Gripping so narrow that your wrists bend: hands about a fist wider than your torso is close enough.
  • Flaring the elbows on the way up: that hands the work to your chest.

Swap for: JM Press, Dumbbell Floor Press, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Close-Grip Bench Press

Triceps, press and extension hybrid

JM Press

Triceps

Halfway between a close-grip bench and a skullcrusher, the JM press lets the bar travel toward your chin with the elbows forward. It loads the triceps heavier than a skullcrusher and isolates them better than a close-grip bench, so it suits strength-focused lifters.

How to do it

  1. Lie back on the bench holding a barbell at shoulder-width, arms straight above your chest.
  2. Bend your elbows and let the bar travel down and slightly toward your chin while your elbows drift forward toward your feet.
  3. Stop when the bar is a few inches above your upper chest and your forearms press into your upper arms.
  4. Press the bar back up along the same path to straight arms.

Cues

  • Elbows point toward your feet
  • Bar toward the chin, not the belly
  • Controlled bottom

Common mistakes

  • Turning it into a bench press by letting the elbows flare: keep them in front of your body.
  • Starting too heavy: learn the path with a light bar before adding plates.

Swap for: Close-Grip Bench Press, EZ-Bar Skullcrusher, Dumbbell Skullcrusher

Build a session with JM Press

Triceps, lying EZ-bar extension

EZ-Bar Skullcrusher

Triceps

The angled grips of the EZ bar take strain off the wrists, so you can load a lying extension heavier than with dumbbells. With the bar lowered behind the top of your head, it also trains the long head in a stretched position.

How to do it

  1. Lie back on the bench and hold the EZ bar on its inner angled grips, arms straight above your shoulders.
  2. Tilt your arms back slightly toward your head.
  3. Bend your elbows to lower the bar toward the top of your head.
  4. Straighten your elbows to press it back to the start, keeping your upper arms at the same angle.

Cues

  • Upper arms tilted back
  • Elbows point at the ceiling
  • Lower slowly

Common mistakes

  • Moving the upper arms with each rep so it becomes a pullover: lock them in place.
  • Letting the elbows splay wide: keep them in line with your shoulders.

Swap for: Dumbbell Skullcrusher, JM Press, Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

Build a session with EZ-Bar Skullcrusher

Dumbbell tricep exercises from the rack

When the cables and bars are taken, a pair of dumbbells and a bench cover the same two positions: lying, and overhead. Dumbbells also let each arm work alone, which helps if one triceps is stronger than the other.

Triceps, lying dumbbell extension

Dumbbell Skullcrusher

Triceps

Holding a dumbbell in each hand lets each arm work independently and lets your wrists turn to a comfortable angle. Choose it when the EZ bar bothers your elbows, or when the bars are all taken.

How to do it

  1. Lie back on the bench, a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other, arms straight above your shoulders.
  2. Keep your upper arms still and bend your elbows to lower the dumbbells beside your head.
  3. Stop when the dumbbells reach the bench level or your elbows are fully bent.
  4. Straighten your arms to raise them back up.

Cues

  • Palms face each other
  • Upper arms don't move
  • Full bend at the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Letting the dumbbells drift apart toward your shoulders: keep them beside your ears.
  • Pressing the weights up with your chest: if your elbows move forward, lower the weight.

Swap for: EZ-Bar Skullcrusher, Kettlebell Skullcrusher, Seated Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension

Build a session with Dumbbell Skullcrusher

Triceps long head, seated dumbbell overhead

Seated Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension

Triceps

Seated on a bench with back support, you can lower one heavy dumbbell deep behind your head without your lower back arching. It is the free-weight version of the overhead cable extension, for when the cable columns are busy.

How to do it

  1. Sit on a bench with the back upright and hold one dumbbell with both hands under the top plate, arms straight overhead.
  2. Point your elbows forward and keep them narrow.
  3. Bend your elbows fully so the dumbbell drops behind your neck.
  4. Extend your arms to press it back overhead.

Cues

  • Back against the pad
  • Elbows narrow
  • Deep lowering

Common mistakes

  • Elbows drifting wide as the weight goes down: narrow them, or use a lighter dumbbell.
  • Arching off the pad to finish reps: stop the set once your back leaves it.

Swap for: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension, Kettlebell Overhead Triceps Extension, EZ-Bar Skullcrusher

Build a session with Seated Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

New to the gym, machines and one cable

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets14 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentDip Machine, Triceps Machine, Adjustable Cable

You are in your first months of lifting and want triceps exercises that are easy to set up and hard to get wrong.

Machines set the path for you, so you can learn what a hard triceps set feels like without worrying about balance or a spotter. The dip machine goes first because it moves the most weight, the extension machine follows for the isolation work, and the pressdown teaches the cable before you try the overhead version. Sets stop at 2 RIR because, early on, how many reps you have left is hard to judge, and the extra margin keeps your form clean. Each session has 7 sets.

Triceps Machines
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Machine Triceps Dip1 warm-up set first 3 × 10–15 2 90 s
Machine Triceps Extension 2 × 10–15 2 75 s
Cable Triceps Pressdown 2 × 12–15 2 1 min
How to run it
Do the routine twice a week, after your chest or upper-body work or on its own.
How to progress
Add a rep to each set until you reach the top of the range on all of them, then move the pin one plate heavier. After eight weeks, try the cable-and-barbell plan.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Strength focus, full barbell access

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Flat Bench, Adjustable Cable, EZ Bar

Your bench press has stalled, or you just want triceps that are strong as well as big.

Pressing strength stalls most often near lockout, which is where the triceps does its work, so this plan opens with heavy close-grip bench and JM press in the 5 to 10 range at 2 RIR. The skullcrusher and overhead cable extension then add the higher-rep isolation work that builds size, taken to 1 RIR. The two sessions split heavy and lighter work so your elbows get a lighter day in between.

Heavy
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Close-Grip Bench Press2 warm-up sets first 4 × 5–8 2 3 min
JM Press 3 × 6–10 2 2:30 min
Overhead Cable Triceps Extension 2 × 10–15 1 75 s

Open Heavy in the session builder

Volume
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Close-Grip Bench Press1 warm-up set first 3 × 8–10 2 2:30 min
EZ-Bar Skullcrusher 3 × 8–12 1 90 s
Overhead Cable Triceps Extension 3 × 12–15 1 75 s

Open Volume in the session builder

How to run it
Run Heavy on your first pressing day of the week and Volume three or four days later.
How to progress
On the barbell lifts, add 2.5 kg once every set reaches the top of the rep range at 2 RIR. On the isolation lifts, add a rep first and weight second.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

After push day, 15 minutes at one cable

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets16 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable

You already pressed heavy today and have a quarter of an hour left at a single cable column.

Heavy presses have already loaded the triceps through the middle of their range, so this finisher fills in what presses leave out: the stretched position overhead and the fully straight position of the kickback. The pressdown ends the session with high reps to failure. Everything runs on one column by moving the pulley, so you never wait for equipment, and 8 sets fit in 15 minutes because the loads are moderate and the rest is short.

Cable Finisher
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Overhead Cable Triceps Extension 3 × 12–15 1 1 min
Cable Triceps KickbackPer arm. 2 × 12–20 1 45 s
Cable Triceps Pressdown 3 × 15–20 0 45 s
How to run it
Add it to the end of one or two push or upper-body sessions a week.
How to progress
Add reps up to the top of each range, then move one pin. Keep the kickback light and the final pressdown set at 0 RIR.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What machine at the gym works your triceps?

A cable column set to a high pulley is the most versatile, for pressdowns and overhead extensions. Many gyms also have a triceps extension machine and a seated dip machine built just for the triceps, and both are good for beginners.

Which 3 tricep exercises are best at the gym?

An overhead cable extension, a cable pressdown and a close-grip bench press. The first stretches the long head, the second works the outer head, and the third lets the whole muscle press heavy.

Are 3 exercises enough for triceps?

Yes. Three exercises at 2 to 4 hard sets each give you 6 to 12 sets, which is enough for a session. If you also bench and overhead press that week, two triceps exercises are often enough.

Is the cable pressdown or the overhead extension better?

Do both if you can. The overhead extension trains the long head in its stretched position, which the pressdown cannot, while the pressdown is easier to load heavy. If you only have time for one, choose the overhead extension.

How many sets of triceps should I do at the gym?

Most people grow on 6 to 12 hard sets a week, split over two sessions, with each set ending 0 to 2 reps short of failure. Count close-grip presses as triceps sets.

Should I train triceps on push day or arm day?

Either works. On push day they are already warm from pressing, so one or two isolation exercises at the end is enough. On a separate arm day, start with a heavy press and follow with two isolation exercises.