today's video I'm going to show you one of my favorite exercises for the triceps the bodyweight
tricep extension the intensity of the exercise is determined by how high you have your rings
if you're someone that's new to this movement or not that strong I recommend seeing the Rings
higher as you get stronger you can progressively put the Rings lower towards the ground so to start
off with chest height - stomach height and then as you get stronger closer towards the ground firstly
let's talk about what's happening at the elbows I see two types of form used for the bodyweight
tricep extension first being a soft lockout I see this mistake it's quite common and on the surface
it looks like the form is going okay the person's locking out their elbows but they're only doing it
to a soft extent what I mean by this they're not contracting their arms and squeezing the
back of their triceps as hard as they can will you get results doing this sure is it the most
optimal way to get the most out of an isolation exercise probably not what I recommend instead
is really strict form where you're focusing on a hard lockout every single rep every time you
strain elbows really squeeze the back of your arms the triceps as hard as you can I like to
do a momentary pause once I've contracted the arms to really solidify this position be honest
with myself making sure that I'm actually gain the most out of the movement check yourself I'm
actually doing that pause at the end and your triceps will light up with that small change in
terms of maintaining pain-free healthy strong elbows and shoulders I'd recommend keeping a
tucked elbow position and at most flaring out within the scapular plane that's a very
comfortable position for the shoulders and the elbows and then you'll feel the exercise
working your triceps which is what we want we want to stimulate the muscle without injuring
ourselves it's a marathon not a sprint when it comes to strength training and building muscle
the error that I see people make when they're new to the movement or trying to progress too quickly
flaring the elbows so when the exercise gets harder your body seeks strategies where its
strongest so it's trying to employ your shoulders and even your chest to come into
the movement and contribute chances are if you do this and you're working at a high intensity
you're going to get elbow pain or potentially shoulder pain when you're doing this movement
the most important thing to make sure you're doing the exercise properly is the forward
lean if you lean forward during the exercise your triceps will be under relatively constant
tension throughout the range of motion the common mistake that I see people make is what I refer
to as coming off tension when they extend the elbow straight they shift the weight back onto
their heels and this unloads the triceps this is really bad because if you shift back far enough
with your elbow straight you think you're doing a full lockout but you might as well
just be extending your elbow straight and doing an isometric contraction with no body weight no
weights because there's no tension on the muscles make sure that you're maintaining a forward lean
during the bodyweight tricep extension by staying on the toes so as you go down lean forward as you
go to straighten the elbows to do lockout stay leaning forward that's a very important point
hip positioning is really important and it ties into what we were talking about before in terms
of the forward lean so if you're in a hip extended position your weight will be shifted forward lots
of tension on the triceps good body mechanics posterior pelvic tilt straight back and a plank
position the mistake that I see people make is as they go to extend they Pike their hips this
creates that posterior weight shift unloads the tricep as you're going down I see people doing a
hip Pike as well this is a compensation to make the exercise easier make sure that you'll add a
height that you can actually do the exercise with a good posture chances are if you're hiking your
hips on the way down and the way up you're doing a progression that's too hard you need to scale
things back remember it's an isolation exercise don't go too crazy I want to end this video by
giving you guys my recommendation when it comes to sets reps and intensity for the bodyweight tricep
extension we need to remember that we're doing an isolation based movement so mainly single
joint focused on the triceps we're going to get the best efficiency and effectiveness so we can
get the most work done and have that work be effective safe injury-free by working within
three sets for about 8 to 15 reps the error that I see people make is trying to go to high intensity
what's the point are you really trying to build max strength in a bodyweight tricep extension
there's just no potential carrier it's a mainly an accessory movement to build muscle which will
serve you elsewhere in your training you got to think if you're working a really high intensity
3 to 6 rep set your form is really likely to break down and you're likely to use other muscle
groups other strategies too contributors you're less likely to actually be working your triceps
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