The triceps make up roughly 2/3 of the upper arm, and without development, a physique can lose its balance. In a recent YouTube video, shared on August 4, 2025, fitness coach Jeff Cavaliere broke down his science-based guide to transform flat triceps.
For decades, Jeff Cavaliere has remained an authority in fitness. His ATHLEAN-X YouTube channel boasts over 14.1 million subscribers, making him easily one of the most-watched fitness educators in the saturated space. Cavaliere doesn’t just interpret insight based on scientific studies; he puts the knowledge to the test, constantly exploring new, innovative ways to enhance training.
In bodybuilding, arms aren’t just a signal of strength; they play an incredibly important role in every mandatory pose. From the side triceps, back and front doubles, to a lights-out abs and thigh shot, triceps definition completes the aesthetic.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Guide to Fixing Flat Triceps
First and foremost, for triceps growth, Cavaliere highlighted in the video that you want to find exercises that put the muscle in its most shortened position, then achieve enough shoulder flexion while bringing the elbow up to stretch the long head.
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“You’ve got to target the long head. Because this is the head of the triceps that provides the most width and it’s the one responsible for that big gap or flatness that you’re seeing right now. So, how do you do it?
Two different things you need to do: number one, find exercises that put it in its most shortened position, where your arm is going to finish back behind your body, and then you also have to find exercises that put your shoulder in flexion and your elbow up overhead to put stretch on that long head of the triceps.”
He explained how to transform your skullcrusher for better results, urging lifters to avoid arm drift toward the torso.
“When I straighten out my elbows, I never allow the arm to drift or travel toward the torso. Once you set this angle back behind you, now it’s just about opening and closing the elbow joint, keeping that arm pointed backwards the entire time.”
On the triceps pushaway, Cavaliere highlighted that most people struggle with its execution. In particular, their arm position: you can’t have a parallel arm to the floor, as it reduces tension on the triceps.
“You’ll see this all the time. They’ll get into this position here, and they’ll extend the rope out in front of them. But what’s happening is you’re extending it far too low. Your arm position here is incorrect. You can’t have a parallel arm position to the floor. The more parallel you keep your arm here, the more parallel it will become to the rope in the finished position. That’s not a good recipe if you want more tension in the triceps.
“Get your arms to a higher position on the finish,” advises Cavaliere.
He also offered technique cues for the dumbbell overhead extension, where lifters raise the dumbbell behind their head to tax the triceps.
“Due to instability in our shoulders or shoulder pain, the elbows can drift out to the sides. When they drift, you take a lot of tension away from the triceps because you’re limiting the range of motion.”
The fix? Use an incline bench, explained Cavaliere.
“You prop up the incline bench. This actually fixes whatever biomechanical limitations you are inadvertently avoiding at this moment. When I do it this way, I still get the same ability to drop the dumbbell back behind my head and get an intense stretch on the triceps.”
Cavaliere broke down his ‘Wolverine pulldown’ exercise to improve triceps definition.
“After you pull, you extend the backs of your hands as far back behind you as possible. We know if we can get the arm back behind us, shoulder into extension, we can really hit that long head.”
As for tricep kickbacks, he said it’s important not to drop the elbows.
“That low back starts to curl under, they lose their ability to hold themselves posture-wise, and as they start to fatigue, the elbow drops lower and lower,” he shared. “With that same incline setup, you position yourself face down.
Beyond triceps definition, Cavaliere has navigated other muscle-building strategies worth trying. He recently outlined how to grow a bigger lower body pain-free without incorporating traditional squatting. All the options he recommended can be performed with minimal equipment.
Though some lifters struggle to bring up their triceps, Cavaliere emphasizes how important form can be. He believes that when these exercises are done properly, it’s only a matter of time until they grow.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Shares The Best Approach to Building Strength As You Age
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