The 9 Best Exercises for Triceps Lateral Head Mass

Emphasizing exercises for the triceps lateral head is vital for two reasons. 

First, the lateral head is the strongest part of your triceps, so strengthening it can significantly boost your performance on key pressing exercises like the bench and overhead press.

And second, it’s the most visible part of your triceps when your arms are at your sides, so developing it plays a big part in making your arms look bigger when you’re standing naturally.

Fortunately, building the “outer” head of your triceps is straightforward. It mostly comes down to doing the following nine exercises:

1. Close-grip bench press
2. Bench press
3. Dip
4. Overhead press
5. JM press
6. Triceps pushdown
7. Skullcrusher
8. Diamond push-up
9. Bench dip

In this article, you’ll learn how to perform these exercises with proper form, understand how to organize them into an effective lateral head triceps workout, get tips for maximizing your gains, and more. 

Table of Contents

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• What Is the Triceps Lateral Head?
• The Best Lateral Head Triceps Exercises for Size and Strength
• The Best Lateral Head Triceps Workout
• 3 Tips for More Effective Lateral Head Triceps Workouts

What Is the Triceps Lateral Head?

The triceps muscles are on the back of your upper arms and have three sections or “heads:” the lateral (or “short”) head, the medial head, and the long head.

Here’s how they look on your body:

While developing all three heads of the triceps is vital for adding overall mass to your arms, gaining size and strength in the lateral head is vital for two reasons:

1. Enhanced Pressing Performance: The lateral head is the strongest part of the triceps. Strengthening it can significantly improve your performance on pressing exercises like the bench press, overhead press, and dip.
2. Improved Arm Mass: The lateral head is the most visible part of the triceps when your arms are at your sides, so building it has the biggest impact on how your triceps look when standing naturally. 

The Best Lateral Head Triceps Exercises for Size and Strength

1. Close-Grip Bench Press

The close-grip bench press is an outstanding triceps exercise for the outer head because it allows you to train with heavy weights safely and progress regularly, which is vital for growth. Unlike other pressing exercises, it also involves tucking your elbows close to your sides, which increases how much work your triceps have to do.

How to:

1. Lie on a flat bench, pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back.
2. Grip the barbell with a shoulder-width grip or slightly narrower, and unrack the barbell.
3. Lower the barbell to your lower chest while keeping your elbows tucked at 30 degrees relative to your torso.
4. Press the bar back to the starting position.

2. Bench Press

Research shows the bench press is an excellent exercise for developing the triceps lateral head. Like the close-grip bench press, it enables you to lift heavy weights and makes progressively overloading your triceps straightforward, making it an excellent option for adding mass to your upper arms. 

How to:

1. Lie on a flat bench and place your feet flat on the floor. 
2. Pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back. 
3. Grab the bar with a pronated grip (palms facing your feet) slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and unrack the barbell.
4. Lower the barbell to your chest, keeping your elbows tucked 6-to-10 inches from your sides.
5. Press the bar back to the starting position.

3. Dip

The dip is a highly effective outer triceps head exercise, especially when you perform it with an upright torso. When you start doing triceps dips, you can make great progress with just your body weight, but as you get stronger, you’ll want to add weight using a dip belt.

How to:

1. If you’re using a dip belt, wrap the chain around your waist, add the desired amount of weight to the chain, and fasten the carabiner.
2. Grab both handles of a dip bar or dip station, then press yourself up by straightening your arms and gently jumping off the ground so that your arms are straight and support your entire body weight. 
3. Keep your body upright to put the emphasis on your triceps, bend your knees to keep your feet from touching the ground, and lower your body by bending your elbows until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the floor.
4. Press hard into the handles to drive your body back to the starting position.

4. Overhead Press

The overhead press is another compound exercise that’s ideal for adding mass to your arms because it allows you to handle heavy weights and train your triceps through their full range of motion. 

How to:

1. Set a barbell in a rack at the same height as your upper chest. 
2. Grip the bar with a shoulder-width grip and your palms facing away from you.
3. Unrack the barbell and take a small step backward with each foot, keeping your wrists stacked over your elbows, and your elbows tucked close to your sides. 
4. Plant your feet just outside of shoulder width, brace your core, squeeze your glutes, and push the bar toward the ceiling. 
5. Once your arms are straight and your elbows are locked out, reverse the movement and return to the starting position.

5. JM Press

The JM press is a top-tier exercise for your triceps lateral head that’s slightly easier on the shoulders than the close-grip bench press, which makes it a great accessory exercise for training your triceps after your chest is bushed from heavy benching. 

How to:

1. Lie on a flat bench, pull your shoulder blades together and down, and without lifting your butt or shoulders off the bench, slightly arch your back.
2. Grip the barbell with a slightly narrower than shoulder-width grip, unrack it, and move it over your chest.
3. Lower the barbell toward your neck, keeping your elbows up and in front of your torso, and slightly bend your wrists backward so that your palms face the ceiling.
4. When your forearms and biceps touch, press the bar back to the starting position.

6. Triceps Pushdown

The triceps pushdown should be a mainstay of your lateral head triceps workouts because it trains all three heads of the triceps through a long range of motion, so it’s excellent for gaining muscle and strength.

How to:

1. Set the pulley on a cable machine slightly above head height and attach the rope attachment.
2. Stand upright or lean slightly forward, grab one end of the rope in each hand, and push the rope downward by straightening your elbows. 
3. Once your elbows are fully extended, reverse the motion to slowly return to the starting position.

7. Skullcrusher

Research shows that the skullcrusher effectively trains all three heads of the triceps to a high degree, but it’s especially good for targeting the lateral head, which makes it ideal for gaining outer triceps mass and strength.

How to:

1. While lying on a flat bench, hold an EZ Bar above your chest with a shoulder-width grip. 
2. Bring the bar down to your forehead by bending at the elbow.
3. Extend your arms and return to the starting position.

8. Diamond Push-ups

Research shows that doing push-ups with your hands close together shifts the emphasis onto your triceps, which helps to build triceps mass without any equipment. 

How to:

1. Get on all fours with your hands together under your chest.
2. Form a diamond with your index fingers and thumbs, then extend your legs behind you so you’re in a high plank position.
3. Keeping your back straight, lower your chest to your hands, and then push your body up and return to the starting position.

9. Bench Dip

Bench dips are an effective bodyweight isolation exercise for the triceps if you enjoy calisthenics or don’t have access to gym equipment (when traveling or training at home, for example).

How to:

1. Sit on the edge of a flat bench with your hands next to your thighs, palms facing down, and your fingers gripping the edge of the bench.
2. Walk 3-to-4 feet forward, then straighten your legs to support your weight on your hands and heels.
3. Bend your elbows to lower your body until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the floor.
4. Press through your hands to drive your body up and return to the starting position.

The Best Lateral Head Triceps Workout

The following workout is ideal for training all your upper body pushing muscles, including the lateral head of your triceps.

It’s so effective because it contains exercises that are easy to progressively overload and allow you to train the outer head of your triceps through long ranges of motions with heavy weights. 

It also includes the perfect amount of volume (sets) to stimulate muscle growth without wearing you out.

For best results, do this workout once weekly instead of your regular push workout:

3 Tips for More Effective Lateral Head Triceps Workouts

1. End every set 1-to-2 reps shy of muscle failure.

To maximize muscle and strength gains in your outer triceps workouts, you must take most of your sets within a rep or two of muscle failure.

Ask yourself at the end of each set, “If I had to, how many more reps could I have gotten with good form?” If the answer is more than two, increase the weight or reps to make your next set more challenging.

2. Once you hit the top of your rep range for one set, increase the weight.

If your workout calls for 4-to-6 reps of the close-grip bench press and you get 6 reps for a set, add 10 pounds to your next set.

If you manage 3 or fewer reps with the new weight, reduce the weight by 5 pounds to ensure you stay in the 4-to-6 rep range. 

Follow this pattern of trying to add reps or weight to every exercise in every workout.

3. Take the right supplements.

The best supplements for optimizing triceps training and growth are:

• Protein powder: Protein powder provides your body with the nutrients needed to build muscle tissue and recover from workouts. For a clean and delicious protein powder, try Whey+or Casein+.
• Creatine: Creatine boosts muscle and strength gain, improves anaerobic endurance, and reduces muscle damage and soreness from your workouts. For a natural source of creatine that also includes two other ingredients to enhance muscle growth and improve recovery, try Recharge.
• Pre-workout: A high-quality pre-workout enhances energy, mood, and focus, increases strength and endurance, and reduces fatigue. For a top-tier pre-workout containing clinically effective doses of 6 science-backed ingredients, try Pulse with caffeine or without.

(If you’d like even more specific advice about which supplements you should take to reach your health and fitness goals, take the Legion Supplement Finder Quiz, and in less than a minute, you’ll know exactly what supplements are right for you. Click here to check it out.)