Fitness coach Jeff Nippard curates exercise research and studies so you don’t have to. In his latest effort, Nippard ranked 20 common tricep exercises, offering his insights into the best and worst movements for optimal muscle growth.
“What are the best and worse triceps exercises for muscle growth. In this video, I’ll be ranking 20 of the most popular movements on a tier list from S to super to F to fail. At the end, I’ll crown one exercise as the best of the best and one exercise as the worst of the worst.”
Boasting over 4.6 million YouTube subscribers, Jeff Nippard has become one of the fitness industry’s biggest stars, and for good reason. He breaks down the science behind exercise, using effective and clear dialogue to illustrate his points.
While the biceps often get all the love online, there’s no denying that the triceps are what give the arm a more three-dimensional look. Not only does Nippard score each of these 20 tricep exercises using his specialized criteria, but he also names his very best and worst movements for the tough-to-hit body part.
Jeff Nippard’s Framework for Effective Triceps Exercises
1. Stretch and tension
2. It needs to feel good (doesn’t cause pain)
3. Simple progression (means you can easily add weight or reps from week to week)
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Nippard’s Ranking System
S tier – My favorite. Do them if you can.
A tier – Strongly recommend.
B tier – I still do these in certain contexts. There may be better options.
C tier – There are better options for most people. Can still have value in some contexts.
D tier – Probably not a great option for most people.
F tier – Generally not recommended.
Before diving into the exercises, Nippard explains the anatomy behind the tricep, describing each of its three heads.
“There’s three heads of the triceps. Hence, the tri-prefix, there’s the lateral head, the medial head, and the long head. The long head beefs up your triceps from the rear. The lateral head gives the triceps that croissant shape, and the medial head runs down the middle adding shape to the arm as a whole.”
Jeff Nippard Ranks the 20 Best & Worst Triceps Exercises for Muscle Growth
Below, you can find Nippard’s score for each exercise as well as a brief description validating his answers:
Triceps Pressdown (Rope) — B Tier
“Pressdowns hit all three heads of the triceps but probably grow the medial and lateral heads a little better than the long head,” said Jeff Nippard.
Triceps Pressdown (Bar) — A Tier
“The bar should actually help you feel more locked in which is a good thing and you can easily overload by adding a little rep or weight week to week. The bar press down is very close to being in S-tier but because it never gets the triceps into a big stretch at the top it’s not quite as good as the other options at the top.”
Reverse Grip Triceps Pressdown — C Tier
“Turning your palms up won’t actually change much for your triceps biomechanical but it will limit their strength output especially if your grip becomes a limiting factor.”
Overhead Cable Triceps Extension — S Tier
“It’s a similar movement where you’re just bending and extending your elbow but one crucial difference: you move your arms up overhead. This actually makes a world of difference for the long head.”
Overhead Cable Triceps Extension (Rope) — A Tier
“If you switch the bar out for a rope, you’ll still get all the benefits of training the long head in a more lengthened position but again the rope will limit your ability to overload the triceps to some extent.”
Katana Cable Triceps Extension — A Tier
“It gets its name by how you draw a pair of Japanese katana swords where you cross your arms overhead and grab the opposite sides cable.”
“If you start with the cables at around or just above waist height you should end up with your arms in a position 30-40 degrees forward relative to being flared out to the sides.”
Dumbbell French Press — B Tier
“It will also get the long head very stretched and can be a bit faster to set up than cables. I like to do these seated because you’ll be more stable.”
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“One slight downside compared to the cables is the dumbbell will provide a circular resistance path, meaning you get a lot of tension on the triceps at the bottom and less tension at the top.”
One-arm Dumbbell Overhead Extension — A Tier
“This way you can find a good angle to point your elbows in that feels a little more comfortable on your shoulders and because you’re doing one arm at a time, the dumbbell will be less bulky and awkward. They still don’t offer the same smooth tension as cables do but there still a really good option.”
Skullcrusher — S Tier
“They offer super high tension while the triceps are most stretched, especially if you arch the bar back behind your head instead of literally stopping at your skull. They should feel good especially if you use an EZ bar, which can ease up unwanted stress on the wrists.”
Dumbbell Skullcrusher — A Tier
“You get to train each arm individually, which is nice. Not exactly sure why, but the dumbbell skullcrusher always feels a little more awkward to me than an EZ bar or straight bar skullcrusher.”
JM Press — B Tier
“People who like this exercise, really like this exercise. I think it’s a bit overrated in the strength and powerlifting space.”
Smith Machine JM Press — A Tier
“You’re locked into a fixed movement path, I do find it easier to focus on using my triceps to use the weight whereas the barbell, my pecs and delts can take over more.”
Cable Triceps Kickback — A Tier
“Triceps kickbacks are one of the very few exercises where you get to smash the triceps with the arm held back behind the torso. This is important because remember that the long head of the triceps will reach peak stretch when the arms are up overhead but reach peak contraction when the arms are held back behind the torso.”
Dumbbell Triceps Kickback — C Tier
“Now if you switch to the dumbbell, you do make the exercise less effective. That’s because the dumbbell offers zero tension while the triceps is stretched and then tension increases as the muscle contracts. This isn’t great because we want bias tension toward the stretch aspect as much as we can.”
Close Grip Dips — B Tier
“They are another exercise that will work the triceps with the arms back behind the torso. They offer a really strong contraction of the long head but because the arms aren’t up overhead, the long head never really gets a deep stretch.”
Bench Dips — C Tier
“Bench dips work the triceps in a similar shoulder position and I do find these take my pecs and delts out of the movement much better so I can connect with my triceps a little better. That said, the fatal flaw is in the progressive overload department.”
Machine Dips — B Tier
“Machine dips are actually pretty solid. I don’t do them a whole lot in my own training just because I like cable kickbacks better but I might add these back in for my next training phase.”
Close-grip Bench Press — A Tier
“Similar to the dip, its main selling feature is its incredible capacity for progressive overload. As your triceps get stronger, you’ll be able to gradually be able to add a little weight each week and keep your triceps growing for years to come.”
Close-grip Pushup — C Tier
“The close-grip pushup has very similar biomechanics. It will also hit the lateral and medial heads harder than the long head. But the main issue with the pushup is beyond the beginner stage, it’s just really hard to overload them without doing a ton of reps or without having a partner load weight on your back which can be a pain.”
Diamond Pushup — B Tier
“Most people can feel their triceps working harder with the more flared elbow position that it puts you in. I actually really like diamond pushups as a finisher exercise at the end of a workout where you can go for as many reps as you can get. They are actually a lot harder than they look.”
Best Triceps Exercise: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension
Worst Triceps Exercise: Dumbbell Kickback
This wasn’t the first time Jeff Nippard opened up on the best and worst workouts for a body part. He recently walked fans through his most favored back exercises and chest movements, ranking each using a similar tier list to what was used in today’s demonstration.
Known for his meticulous and comprehensive nature, Jeff Nippard continues to help his fanbase sculpt more impressive physiques. Feel free to try out these 20 triceps exercises over time and rank them for yourself!
RELATED: Fitness Coach Jeff Nippard Reveals How Hard You Should Train to Build Muscle
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