Incline Triceps Extension with Cable
How to do the incline triceps extension with cable
- This exercise uses cables to isolate and work the triceps (muscles on the back of the arms).
- Place an incline bench facing away from a cable pulley.
- Attach a short straight bar to the pulley and adjust the height so that your arms can extend fully.
- Lie face up on the bench and grasp the bar with a narrow overhand grip.
- Starting with your elbows bent overhead, slowly lower the bar towards your feet.
- Pause at the bottom and then return to starting position.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the triceps brachii, which straightens the elbow, and through its long head helps pull the arm back at the shoulder.
Every exercise for:Triceps
How this movement works
One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A cable holds tension for the whole range, including the point where a free weight would go slack. Moving the pulley changes the angle the resistance arrives from without changing the movement.
Every exercise using:Cable
These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Incline Triceps Extensions with Dumbbelldumbbell
- JM Pressbarbell
- Lying Triceps Presse-z curl bar
- Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
- Overhead Tricepsbody only
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 99 triceps exercises in this database, 44 are listed at beginner level.
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ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.