Bodybuilding Workout Routine - Working Out Your Triceps At Home
Many beginning bodybuilders make the mistake of thinking that to get really big arms you just have to do bicep exercises. If you're one of those people, I'm sorry to say that it's wrong. If you want really huge arms, you also have to do tricep exercises. The triceps are actually a larger muscle than the biceps and in most people they seem to respond quicker to training.
When you're working out at home, doing tricep exercises can be quite of a challenge. But it's not impossible. What you can do to build your triceps is to do chair dips. And you'll need a few things to be able to do that.
The first thing you are going to need are two identical chairs with backrest that you can rest your hands on top of. It's preferable that the top of the chairs' backrest allows you to wrap your fingers around so that you will be able to hold on real tight. Also, it's better if the top edges of the backrest have rounded corners because if they are not, it could get pretty painful later on.
Another thing you are going to need are a pair of gloves. Now, you don't need to buy those expensive weight lifting gloves. The three-dollar gloves from Home Depot will do very well. In case you're wondering, the gloves are for keeping your hands from hurting, especially when you're doing advanced chair dips.
The last thing you are probably going to need is a pillow or a small cushion. I'll tell you what you're going to need this for in a bit.
Now, there are three versions/difficulty levels of this exercise that you can do. There's the beginner version (which is best for people who don't yet have a lot of strength in their arms), there's the intermediate version, and there's the advance version. But before I tell you about how to do them, let me explain first the basic setup.
Obviously, the gloves go on your hands. As for the chairs, put them about hip-width apart (with the backrests facing each other), Put them just far enough so that your hands slightly brush against your hips when you hold on to the top of the backrests. You don't want the chairs too far apart as they can easily tip over when you have your weight pressing down on the backrests. As for the pillow or cushion, that goes under you. The pillow/cushion is there so that in the event that you fall, your knees won't hurt as bad.
Now, if you're going to do this for the first time, the chairs may wobble and start to tip over as soon as you press down on the backrest. To prevent this, what you should do is to apply a slight outward pressure on the backrests.
Ok, the beginner version goes like this. You grab on to the tops of the chairs' backrests and support your body weight with your arms (while simultaneously pushing out slightly to prevent the chairs from tipping over). Then bend your lower leg up until your feet are about a feet or so above the floor. Then slowly lower yourself down until your upper arms are horizontal (i.e., parallel with the floor). Once you get to that point, lower your legs and stand back up and do it again. You do this in as many repetitions as you can. In other words, do the dips until you can't do any more.
What you're doing here are just the negatives. Doing the negatives will very quickly make you stronger and before you know it, you'll already be doing the intermediate version of this exercise.
For the intermediate version, you are going to do both the positives and the negatives, meaning you are going to go up and down using only your arms. The initial position is basically the same. You grab on to the top of the backrests and lift your feet off the floor. Then you slowly go down until your upper arms are horizontal and then push yourself back up. You do this with as many repetitions as you can.
To do the advanced version, you are going to need something else in addition to the chairs, the gloves, and the pillow. What you're going to need is a dumbbell and a few weight plates. The basic setup remains the same--the placement of the chairs, and the movements that you do (particularly with the intermediate version). The only difference is that you are going to put (hold on to) the dumbbell with/between your legs. You can add more weight plates to the dumbbell if you want to make the exercise more challenging.
Now, just to make sure that you do everything right, I'm going to tell you about the ways that you can do this wrong.
One of the most common mistakes that people do when performing this exercise is doing the "jackhammer" dips where they only make very slight movements with their arms and jacking their body up and down in rapid succession. There's not enough range of motion in jackhammer dips to give you any benefits at all. So, don't do jackhammer dips. If you feel you are not yet strong enough to do full dips, just do the beginner version of it as I have explained earlier.
Another common mistake that people do when doing dips is going to low/deep with their dips. They go so low that the hands are almost in their armpits. Now, most people who do this are actually well-meaning. However, doing dips that low is actually an injury just waiting to happen. That is really hard on the shoulder and it doesn't do your triceps any more good going that far. Stop when your upper arms are horizontal.
Yet another mistake that a lot people do is swinging. Most people do it (either consciously or otherwise) because it makes the exercise easier due to the momentum they create when they swing. In other words, they are taking some of the downward force off of their arms. When that happens, what good is the exercise then? In addition to taking some of the weight off, swinging also reduces the range of motion in your arms. So, you're technically not doing much of any exercise at all when you swing.
Another thing that you shouldn't do is to do dips with your hands laying flat on a table or any horizontal surface. Having your hands flat on a flat surface puts a tremendous amount of strain on your wrists which could cause serious wrist injuries. That's why you should use chairs as I have described earlier.
Before I end this, I'd like to give you a word of warning. If you have shoulder issues, you should not do dips. This is because whenever your elbows go behind the plain of your body, it puts an unnatural strain on your shoulders. The shoulder is not stable in that position and is much prone to injury. A better exercise for you would be the skull crusher because you have your elbows up front.
When you're working out at home, doing tricep exercises can be quite of a challenge. But it's not impossible. What you can do to build your triceps is to do chair dips. And you'll need a few things to be able to do that.
The first thing you are going to need are two identical chairs with backrest that you can rest your hands on top of. It's preferable that the top of the chairs' backrest allows you to wrap your fingers around so that you will be able to hold on real tight. Also, it's better if the top edges of the backrest have rounded corners because if they are not, it could get pretty painful later on.
Another thing you are going to need are a pair of gloves. Now, you don't need to buy those expensive weight lifting gloves. The three-dollar gloves from Home Depot will do very well. In case you're wondering, the gloves are for keeping your hands from hurting, especially when you're doing advanced chair dips.
The last thing you are probably going to need is a pillow or a small cushion. I'll tell you what you're going to need this for in a bit.
Now, there are three versions/difficulty levels of this exercise that you can do. There's the beginner version (which is best for people who don't yet have a lot of strength in their arms), there's the intermediate version, and there's the advance version. But before I tell you about how to do them, let me explain first the basic setup.
Obviously, the gloves go on your hands. As for the chairs, put them about hip-width apart (with the backrests facing each other), Put them just far enough so that your hands slightly brush against your hips when you hold on to the top of the backrests. You don't want the chairs too far apart as they can easily tip over when you have your weight pressing down on the backrests. As for the pillow or cushion, that goes under you. The pillow/cushion is there so that in the event that you fall, your knees won't hurt as bad.
Now, if you're going to do this for the first time, the chairs may wobble and start to tip over as soon as you press down on the backrest. To prevent this, what you should do is to apply a slight outward pressure on the backrests.
Ok, the beginner version goes like this. You grab on to the tops of the chairs' backrests and support your body weight with your arms (while simultaneously pushing out slightly to prevent the chairs from tipping over). Then bend your lower leg up until your feet are about a feet or so above the floor. Then slowly lower yourself down until your upper arms are horizontal (i.e., parallel with the floor). Once you get to that point, lower your legs and stand back up and do it again. You do this in as many repetitions as you can. In other words, do the dips until you can't do any more.
What you're doing here are just the negatives. Doing the negatives will very quickly make you stronger and before you know it, you'll already be doing the intermediate version of this exercise.
For the intermediate version, you are going to do both the positives and the negatives, meaning you are going to go up and down using only your arms. The initial position is basically the same. You grab on to the top of the backrests and lift your feet off the floor. Then you slowly go down until your upper arms are horizontal and then push yourself back up. You do this with as many repetitions as you can.
To do the advanced version, you are going to need something else in addition to the chairs, the gloves, and the pillow. What you're going to need is a dumbbell and a few weight plates. The basic setup remains the same--the placement of the chairs, and the movements that you do (particularly with the intermediate version). The only difference is that you are going to put (hold on to) the dumbbell with/between your legs. You can add more weight plates to the dumbbell if you want to make the exercise more challenging.
Now, just to make sure that you do everything right, I'm going to tell you about the ways that you can do this wrong.
One of the most common mistakes that people do when performing this exercise is doing the "jackhammer" dips where they only make very slight movements with their arms and jacking their body up and down in rapid succession. There's not enough range of motion in jackhammer dips to give you any benefits at all. So, don't do jackhammer dips. If you feel you are not yet strong enough to do full dips, just do the beginner version of it as I have explained earlier.
Another common mistake that people do when doing dips is going to low/deep with their dips. They go so low that the hands are almost in their armpits. Now, most people who do this are actually well-meaning. However, doing dips that low is actually an injury just waiting to happen. That is really hard on the shoulder and it doesn't do your triceps any more good going that far. Stop when your upper arms are horizontal.
Yet another mistake that a lot people do is swinging. Most people do it (either consciously or otherwise) because it makes the exercise easier due to the momentum they create when they swing. In other words, they are taking some of the downward force off of their arms. When that happens, what good is the exercise then? In addition to taking some of the weight off, swinging also reduces the range of motion in your arms. So, you're technically not doing much of any exercise at all when you swing.
Another thing that you shouldn't do is to do dips with your hands laying flat on a table or any horizontal surface. Having your hands flat on a flat surface puts a tremendous amount of strain on your wrists which could cause serious wrist injuries. That's why you should use chairs as I have described earlier.
Before I end this, I'd like to give you a word of warning. If you have shoulder issues, you should not do dips. This is because whenever your elbows go behind the plain of your body, it puts an unnatural strain on your shoulders. The shoulder is not stable in that position and is much prone to injury. A better exercise for you would be the skull crusher because you have your elbows up front.
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