How To Do The Triceps Pushdown
Setup:
a) Feet shoulder-width apart, face a cable machine with a v-bar attachment, rope, or solid straight bar hanging at chest height.
b) If you are using a rope, grab the rope towards the butt end with your palms facing together. If you are using a bar, grab the bar with your palms facing down.
c) Make sure your chest is high, your shoulder blades are together, and you are bending slightly forward to initiate the exercise.
Action:
a) With your elbows tucked in tight to your sides, bring the attachment down until your arms are fully extended.
b) Pause at the bottom of the repetition and flex your triceps for maximum contraction. Make sure you maintain a neutral wrist position the entire time.
c) Slowly release the weight and return to the starting position.
The Triceps Pushdown
The tricep pushdown goes by many names: the tricep pulldown, tricep rope pushdown, the cable tricep pushdown, and others. No matter what you call it, the triceps pushdown is one of the best exercises for triceps development.
Although it is most commonly performed using a cable system, it is possible to use a resistance band for at-home tricep workouts. The triceps pushdown is an essential exercise for people of all fitness levels.
The triceps pushdown is an isolation exercise rather than a compound motion. This makes it a great exercise for targeting your triceps. The primary muscle group worked by the triceps pushdown is obviously your triceps.
The scientific term for the muscle is tricep brachii (Latin for “three-headed muscles of the arm”). The lateral, medial and long head of the triceps all operate together whenever you extend your arm.
However, the triceps pushdown isolates the medial and lateral heads of the triceps during the pushdown motion.
Tricep Pushdown Benefits
1. Strength Gains
There are many benefits of strengthening your triceps.
Strong triceps help stabilize your shoulder joint as they act as an extensor of the elbow and shoulder. As you strengthen your triceps the stability of your shoulders and elbows will increase.
Having strong triceps will also allow you to lift more weight and build more strength to the other muscle groups in your arms.
The triceps pushdown is an ideal exercise for all athletes, bodybuilders, or anyone attempting to build arm strength. Whether you are throwing a ball, lifting heavy objects at work, or simply want to boost the aesthetic appeal of your arms, this exercise can help you get stronger to accomplish your goals.
2. Isolation
As stated before, the triceps pushdown is an isolation exercise. This is beneficial because if you have any strength or muscle size imbalances, you can specifically target your triceps.
For example, if your chest is much stronger than your arms, you can perform the triceps pushdown to compensate for the imbalance.
In that way, your barbell bench press targeted for chest will significantly improve if you strengthen your triceps since they are synergistically involved in the bench press motion.