T Nation

Developing Tricep Around Elbow

Powerlifting
#1

Hey guys,

I’ve heard Dave Tate talk about developing the triceps “around the elbow joint” more than once. What part of the tricep is this and how is it that one can specifically cause hypertrophy and strengthen this part of the muscle?

My theory is that the upper part of the tricep recieves more hypertrophy with a great range of motion in the bottom the lift because of the great stretch. But, with movements like pin presses, rack lockouts, JM presses, etc, these heavily tax the end portion of the movement. Any thoughts anyone?

-MAtt

#2

He’s talking about the medial head of the triceps and the best exercise to target it is elbows out extensions.

#3

[quote]Matgic wrote:
Hey guys,

I’ve heard Dave Tate talk about developing the triceps “around the elbow joint” more than once. What part of the tricep is this and how is it that one can specifically cause hypertrophy and strengthen this part of the muscle?

My theory is that the upper part of the tricep recieves more hypertrophy with a great range of motion in the bottom the lift because of the great stretch. But, with movements like pin presses, rack lockouts, JM presses, etc, these heavily tax the end portion of the movement. Any thoughts anyone?

-MAtt[/quote]

My recollection is that he was comparing PLers to BBers and was simply NOTING that the PLers had greater development of the elbow joint. Not that they said to themselves 'I want to develop that area, what should I do?" bbut more a case of the extra development being a by-product of the work they did to increase their bench.

#4

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
Matgic wrote:
Hey guys,

I’ve heard Dave Tate talk about developing the triceps “around the elbow joint” more than once. What part of the tricep is this and how is it that one can specifically cause hypertrophy and strengthen this part of the muscle?

My theory is that the upper part of the tricep recieves more hypertrophy with a great range of motion in the bottom the lift because of the great stretch. But, with movements like pin presses, rack lockouts, JM presses, etc, these heavily tax the end portion of the movement. Any thoughts anyone?

-MAtt

My recollection is that he was comparing PLers to BBers and was simply NOTING that the PLers had greater development of the elbow joint. Not that they said to themselves 'I want to develop that area, what should I do?" bbut more a case of the extra development being a by-product of the work they did to increase their bench.[/quote]

Right, but in noticing it, I believe it is inferred that it is optimal. So I was wondering, what specifically causes that to be developed? Lots of lockout work and limited ROM movements?

-MAtt

#5

I have a MAJOR lack of tricep mass around the elbow and have tried doing elbows out extensions to correct this, but it hasn’t seemed to help.

I never thought that maybe that mass was a byproduct of the heavier limited ROM movements, as I thought that the mass had been developed first in order to help the bench.

I guess I’ll up my dosage of pin presses, etc. in order to try and bring this area up.

#6

[quote]Matgic wrote:
Right, but in noticing it, I believe it is inferred that it is optimal. So I was wondering, what specifically causes that to be developed? Lots of lockout work and limited ROM movements?

-MAtt

[/quote]
Id also like to know since ALL my tricep size is in the top of my arms. …

#7

This topic hits close to home. I was just admiring my arms in the mirror the other day and I noticed that there is this HUGE tendon around the lower elbow that was never there before.

There are three things that I have been doing differently in the last six months.

  1. Powerlifting style bench press (as opposed to body builder style).

  2. Deadlifts (never did them before, I only squatted.)

  3. Full body workouts (as opposed to splits.)

I don’t know which one of these made the difference but in the last six months there IS a difference in the elbow thickness. I am also getting older now. I am almost 27 and I noticed that old guys tend to have sweet lower triceps and thicker arms.

I have always been into doing dips and I still do them. I used to do weighted dips and I don’t do them anymore so I don’y think that my current use of dips helped.

#8

heavy ass lockout work, board presses, and the like.

And heavily inflamed elbow joints, haha.

You tend to add muscle when you’re shooting your triceps to hell twice a week.

#9

rack work, boards and barbell extentions (JM’s, skull crushers etc)

#10

Interesting, that’s what I thought. I can see this being “not so good” for a bodybuilder because it would reduce the contrast in size between the upper tricep mass and the thinness of the “elbow.” Having the elbow area become thicker would make the upper tricep less impressive in comparisn. Just a theory.

-MAtt