Effective Bodyweight Triceps Exercises For Bigger Arms

If you want to grow your triceps a meaningful amount, you’re going to have to train them directly. But how can you do this if you no or very little equipment? Here’s how.

Triceps are used to extend your elbows and push things aways from you. The best way to do this without equipment is through push ups and dips on a chair or sofa. With dumbbells and a bench, bench presses, skull crushers and overhead extension are good options. 

Keep reading to find out how to train and grow your triceps and which exercises you can choose from below. 

Exercises To Grow Triceps At Home Without Equipment

Some of the best triceps exercises don’t actually need any equipment which is good news. You can simply use the floor and some things in your house to grow pretty good arms. 

Push ups

The grandfather of all home exercises; the pushup. It targets your triceps and your chest and to perform it properly with good form, a lot of other muscles in your body have to be activated. 

You simply start with your hands and toes touching the floor. Keep your body rigid through the motion. Start bending at the elbow and keep going down until your nose almost touches the floor. From there, push back up until your elbows are extended. 

In general, the closer your hands are together, the more you involve your triceps and the less you use your chest. It’s impossible to do the exercise without either your chest or triceps getting involved but by brining your hands closer together, the focus shifts a bit more towards the triceps. 

For many people, starting out with a full push-up is too difficult. If that’s the case, resting on your knees instead of toes can make it quite a bit easier. If that’s still too difficult, you can do diagonal pushups. Stand on your feet and put your hands on a countertop (use something solid that can’t move). Let yourself go forward by bending the elbows and push back up. 

Dips

Another exercise that is slightly less popular but great for the triceps is the dip. There are some variations of this exercise but at home the behind the back version is easiest to do. 

All you need is a sofa or stable chair. Sit on the edge of the chair and put your hands on the edge of the seat. No slide your butt off the seat but leave your hands in place. Put your feet out in front of your body so your hips make about a 60 degree angle. Then bend your elbows and lower your body. When you’re low enough to where your elbows are just above the shoulders, push back up. 

You do need a really sturdy and stable chair or bench for this. You don’t want the chair to topple over when doing this. 

Which Movement Trains The Triceps?

To train and grow your triceps it’s important to know what the triceps are and what they do. The triceps are the muscle on the back of your upper arm between the elbow and the shoulder. It is used to extend the elbow and push things away from you. 

So to train your triceps, you have to bend the elbows as far as they can and then extend them until your elbow is straight. Repeat that many times with enough resistance and your triceps will become bigger and/or stronger. 

If you want to train your triceps for size, you should work them out at least three times a week. Triceps recover pretty quickly so after a while, you can even increase the amount of days you train them. 

Use sets of 10-15 repetitions. Try to get around 15-20 working sets a week. Working sets means you don’t count your warmup sets. The working sets should be done with a weight that’s challenging. At the end of each set, you should have about 2-3 repetitions left in the tank. 

Especially in the beginning, go for quality over resistance. Start with a light weight and just do all the sets you need for the day. Add a little resistance every workout. Focus on moving the weight with your triceps and not throwing it with your body.