Lying Close-Grip Triceps Extension Behind the Head with Barbell

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 barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.

Every exercise using:Barbell

These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensiondumbbell
• Lying Tricep Extension with Cablecable
• Lying Triceps Presse-z curl bar
• Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
• Overhead Tricepsbody only

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 99 triceps exercises in this database, 26 are listed at intermediate level.