What's up guys! Michael Kamalu here aka Dr Gaines and, in this video, I'm going to go over one of my
favorite ways to hit the Lateral Head of the Triceps. First, I'll show you how it's done
and then we'll get into why it works. This exercise is done by grabbing the cables
opposite of each hand, so they should be crossing in front of you. Then, with your elbows tucked
into your sides, you slowly extend your arms out while simultaneously rotating your arms externally
so that your thumbs end up pointing. Now, why does this hit the Lateral Head of the Triceps?
First, a brief overview of the basics. The Triceps has three Heads, Long Head, Medial Head
and Lateral Head. When you look at these from the back, you'll notice that the Long Head is located
on the Medial side of the arm or closer in towards the body, whereas the Lateral Head is surprise
located on the Lateral side of the arm or the outside of it. A general rule of thumb
to know is that, whenever you're doing Tricep Extensions, if your thumb is pointed medially
then you are going to be working more the Medial Head of the Triceps. In other words,
the Long Head of the Triceps. If your thumb is pointing out or externally or laterally, then
you're going to be getting more contraction on the Lateral Head of the Triceps. Now, with that said,
I want to be clear. Anytime you are extending the elbow joint, you are activating all three heads.
It's not possible to completely isolate one versus the other because all three have the same
insertion point. They all cross the elbow joint, so whenever you're extending the elbow, you're
going to be activating all three. However, you can use the relative anatomy of each head in order to
get more activation on one versus the other. So again, medial rotation of the arm, while extending
the elbow, is going to get more contraction on the Long Head than the Lateral Head. And
external rotation during extension of the elbow is going to get more contraction in the Lateral Head
of the Triceps. Now, I want to give you a couple tips on your form during this exercise. Because,
as with all weightlifting exercises, form is a lot more important than how much weight
you are lifting. So, first key here in the form is that you're going to want to keep your elbows
to the side of your body, meaning you're not going to want to start with your elbows in front of your
body, and then end, with them behind your body because what's going to happen there you're going
to bring in all of the powerful back muscles and they're going to take away load from the Triceps.
You're going to be working your Back more than you will your Triceps. So, in order to prevent that,
try to keep your elbows in the relative same plane as your body and, only be extending your arms from
there. Now, it's inevitable that you are going to be activating your Back muscles a little bit,
with this movement, but you can try to prevent that as much as possible by keeping those elbows
in the same plane as your body. Second key tip is, do not swing. You don't want to grab
the cables and then swing out and use the momentum of the weight to pull it for you. You'll notice
that my extensions are slow and controlled. I'm not swinging, I'm not using the momentum of the
weight. It is only my Triceps that are moving that weight and nothing else. Then third, you'll notice
that, as I extend my arms, I lean backwards. The reason for that is, whenever you're using a cable,
the maximum amount of resistance is always when the cable is 90 degrees to whatever motion you are
doing. I will go in depth in another video on the 90 degree principle and why that's so important,
especially when using cables. But, for now, just trust me you'll want to try and keep
your arm as close to 90 degrees as possible with the cable in order to maximize the resistance.
By leaning backwards, I maintain that 90 degrees as much as possible if, I did not for example. I
were to just extend my arm like this. Then, at the end of that movement, my arm is almost in
line with the cable and that means I'm not getting much resistance at all. Whereas, if I'm back here,
then 90 degrees and I'm getting maximum resistance. Finally, make sure you are using
opposite cables so your left arm is grabbing the cable on the right side of your body. Why is that?
It has to do with a 90 degree principle, again, because we are doing external rotation of the arm
and moving our elbow laterally, we want that resistance to come from the opposite direction.
If you're getting it from straight in front of you, then you're not getting as much lateral
resistance to your elbow. So, by using the cable across from your arm, you're getting even more
optimization of the 90 degree principle. You're getting more resistance to the lateral movement of
your arm and, therefore, hitting the Lateral Head even better. Guys, if you like this video I would
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