maratoolLying Triceps Extension with Dumbbells
How to do the lying triceps extension with dumbbells
- Lay on a flat bench with your head at one end and your feet planted firmly on the floor.
- Grasp a dumbbell with both hands with palms facing up.
- Raise dumbbell over your body. Your arms will be pointed towards the ceiling.
- While keeping your upper arms and elbows still, lower the dumbbell in an arc behind your head.
- Slowly raise the dumbbell back to the 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
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.
Every exercise using:Dumbbell
These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Lying Triceps Presse-z curl bar
- Lying Triceps Press with Barbellbarbell
- Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
- One Arm Low-Pulley Triceps Extension with Cablecable
- Overhead Tricepsbody only
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.