Hand Position and Triceps Exercise

[quote]
truet wrote:
Hand position for arm extension has no scientific or practical application on muscle group (long, medial, or lateral head)recruitment or isolation. anytime arm extension is performed, the triceps are recruited equally to some extent to perform the motion. It is not the hand postion that affects which head is recriuted or targeted more, but the position of the of the shoulder joint.

hueyOT wrote:
not to bump this thread up again, but since the tricep inserts into the olcranon process of the ulna, there is a difference in the positioning of the tricep between pronated and supinated grips.

again, i don’t think this is a very significant factor to consider when designing a training program, but there must be some difference in tricep work between supinated and pronated grips.[/quote]

I agree that shoulder position is much MORE significant of a factor than pronation/supination, but pronation/supination does in fact play a role in which head of the tripeps is used:

Using a reverse grip (supinated) engages more of the medial head of the triceps.

Using the rope (nuetral grip) engages more of the lateral head of the triceps.

In general, the movement targets the triceps and hits the anconeus. If you reverse the grip, you will involve more of the wrist extensors (as stabilizers).

Modi, you point out that the vertical rope grip (neutral) impacts the lateral head, while the horizontal reverse grip (supinated) impacts the medial head.

Here’s a question: what about twisting from one to the other through the movement of a tricep kickback?

as in: rope grip low, reverse grip high

or

as in: reverse grip low, rope grip high

It seems one of the above is pronation the other of the above is supination.

I’m confused as to which is which, and if either of the twisting grips have a significant bearing on either of the heads. It’s been suggested that a supinated twist is a great enhancement for bicep movement, but perhaps not for tricep, based upon no link to the brachioradialis per ocn2000’s post several posts above.

Suppination does enhance bicep work (curls), but not ticep work. Elbow position, both in relation to the shoulder joint and to the body (elbows flared out or tucked close) have the most impact. It is important to note that this applies to tricep extension rather than pressing movments.

[quote]ectomorfo wrote:
Modi, you point out that the vertical rope grip (neutral) impacts the lateral head, while the horizontal reverse grip (supinated) impacts the medial head.

Here’s a question: what about twisting from one to the other through the movement of a tricep kickback?

as in: rope grip low, reverse grip high

or

as in: reverse grip low, rope grip high

It seems one of the above is pronation the other of the above is supination.

I’m confused as to which is which, and if either of the twisting grips have a significant bearing on either of the heads. It’s been suggested that a supinated twist is a great enhancement for bicep movement, but perhaps not for tricep, based upon no link to the brachioradialis per ocn2000’s post several posts above.

[/quote]

Hope this helps:

  1. Going from neutral grip to reverse grip position is supinating.

  2. Reverse to neutral is pronating.

  3. Don’t do triceps kickbacks.