Home / Weight Training Exercise Database / Triceps Kickbacks

Triceps Kickbacks
Exercise Form and Techniques
Pictures and Video

Triceps Kickbacks - Bottom of exercise
Triceps kickbacks - Top of exercise
(Bottom)
(Top)
Primary Movers

Triceps

Muscles used in Triceps kickbacks
Secondary Movers

None

Other Muscles Involved

Delts (R), Traps, Lats, Mid Back

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- Triceps Kickbacks -

Exercise Type: Isolated Exercise

Instruction: Put one leg on bench and support yourself with your arm. Position opposite arm parallel to floor while grasping dumbbell. Bending at the elbow lower weight until arm forms a 90 degree angle and then raise back up until arm is straight.

Tips and Techniques: Momentum can quickly become the enemy of this exercise. Do not let the dumbbell swing. Woman performing triceps kickbacksKeep your motion slow and under control. The bottom of the exercise is when your arm forms a 90 degree angle (or to look like an "L"), bringing the forearm any closer to the upper arm is going to encourage swinging.

Keep your arm close to the body. The body should be at about a 45 degree angle with the bench with the back straight. The upper arm stays motionless, only the forearm is moving.

Trainer performing Triceps Kickbacks standingYou can do triceps kickbacks standing and bending at the waist, typically resting your free arm on the opposite thigh or bracing it against a fixed object such as a chair.

Allowing the upper arm to be at an angle less than parrallel to the floor will decrease difficulty and may be appropriate for beginners. Allowing the upper arm to go slightly above parrallel will increase range of motion and difficulty and may be of value to more advanced trainers.

More advanced trainers will find it difficult to stabilize the upper arm with increasingly heavy loads so the exercise is usually dropped in favor of triceps exercises which don't present this limitation. But it remains a solid exercise at loads which both challenge the trainer and allow them to maintain proper form.

Recommended Reps for Muscle Building: 6-12 the majority of the time, trying higher or lower reps on occasion.

Common Variations:

  • Machine-Based Kickbacks - Cable machines allow you to do a variation of the triceps kickbacks.

Substitutions: Isolated exercises such as Triceps Pushdowns, Skull Crushers and Dumbbell Triceps Extensions are solid triceps builders without as many limitations. And compound exercises like Bench Dips and Close-Grip-Bench Presses are excellent.

Bodybuilding Equipment: Dumbbells, Workout Bench

Selected
Triceps Kickbacks
Videos:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Triceps/DBKickback.html
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