The Triceps extension, it’s not just for show, it has useful sports uses as well. If your sport involves hit, bounce, punch, swim, lift, toss, run, swing, catch or throw and you will be incorporating the movement of triceps extension in your sports performance. When it comes to triceps, there are literally hundreds of movements for this area.
Two factors are vital, how much force you can apply to generate power, speed or distance and how much control you can produce for touch, feel and judgement of distance. The latter of the two functions is vital when catching. You must allow the elbow to bend as the impact of the ball is absorbed. If too much resistance is applied as the triceps contracts eccentrically, the ball may bounce out. If there is too little eccentric force applied then the ball can go ‘right through’ the catcher who has produced insufficient stopping power to hold the catch.
Choose the one triceps exercise which puts stress throughout the movement, and no appreciable balance is needed to perform a set. Although this isolation exercise is popular and gets you god pump, it is not a size builder in the sense of a combination or “natural” exercise such as the close-grip bench press or the parallel bar dip.
When it comes to propulsion, recruitment of muscle fibres is vital. In the swim leg, triathletes must fully extend the elbow in the forward arm stroke before starting the arm pull. Similarly, a rower starts each stroke in a bent arm position and finishes in a straight arm position.
The opposite can apply. The tennis server stores energy in a bent elbow position and then extends through the ball. A netballer preparing for a long, flat pass uses the same technique, as do cricket and baseball fielders and golfers.
Always remember to especially avoid any exercise that gives you pain or discomfort in the elbow region. There are several triceps movements which can contribute to tendinitis in the elbow. You must immediately stop using such an exercise or else cut down drastically on the weight you were using. Let’s assume you have worked up to using 6 reps with 120 pounds in the lat-machine press downs exercise, but the pain is unbearable. Either stop the exercise entirely or push it to the end of your arm routine and merely perform a few pumping sets of 20 reps with a far lighter weight.
