Tricep workouts are crucial to develop mass on the back of the arm.
There are no two ways about it, and while you can make decent tricep gains from pressing movements, isolation work is the cherry on top.
Big triceps are needed to express overall size required to bust any sleeve as the triceps make up around 2/3 of the upper arm.
However, far too many lifters are way too reliant on classic tricep builders such as cable extensions, overhead extensions, and close grip bench press with no real intensity either.
Well, at Herculean Strength, we have pioneered the mother of all tri-sets; the tricep tri-set to end all tri-sets; the tricep trinity; the Holy Grail of tricep workouts.
Taking after the Trinitarian Formula during Catholic Mass, The Tricep Trinity starts at the head, rests at the mouth, then finishes at the chest.
You should be familiar with all three exercises required to perform the Tricep Trinity — Skullcrusher, JM Press, and Close-Grip Bench Press.
How to Do This Tricep Workouts’ Holy Grail
By using the same weight throughout on an EZ bar, start off by performing Skullcrushers until you have 1-3 reps in reserve; then, perform JM Presses until you have 1-3 reps in reserve; and finally, do the same, but with Close-Grip Bench Press.
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If you don’t have a gym, then, not to worry, you can follow the same schema with your bodyweight or a low horizontal bar.
Start off by doing Bodyweight Skullcrushers, Bodyweight JM Press, then do Close-Grip pushups to failure.
The principle behind this is simple: you are to become progressively more fatigued as the tri-set continues.
Your Skullcrusher should be weaker than your JM Press and your JM Press should be weaker than your Close-Grip Bench.
This tri-set can be done with NO rest period between sets and take your triceps to exhaustion.
As each successive exercise should be, on paper, stronger than the last, which is why it is to be performed in said order.
We recommend that you perform these at the end of your session as you shouldn’t have energy for much else.
You will receive a skin-splitting pump from this tri-set and an opportunity to make your arms bigger than you ever dreamed of.
In the past, however, we have advocated for what we coined “rebound drop sets” to take your body beyond failure and using burnout sets themselves as an opportunity to rest!
One of my other favorite tricep workouts is to do mega JM Press dropsets on the Smith Machine — Julius Maddox, the world’s strongest bench presser by far, does them so I’m allowed to do them too! — until I am completely burned out.
But this can be unkind on the elbows if the weight load is too high.
This is why we have suggested performing this exercise at a lighter weight (no more than 25-30% of your bench press 1RM) and with the EZ bar.
You should perform this exercise with the EZ bar as it is gentler on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
And although we like to train hard, we are also training for longevity.
Strong triceps are key to a big bench press, if you wish to obtain a program specific to bench pressing, try our eBook here.
A Final Word
This isn’t a tricep finisher for beginners.
If you can continue to make linear progress without having to entertain tougher workout strategies, then do so.
This tricep workouts’ Holy Grail is for advanced lifters who can execute all three included movements with good form even under fatigue.
Try it out on your next session and let’s see what you think!
If you’re interested, we also have our very own signature exercises that you can add to your lifting arsenal here.
Videos on How to Do Each Tricep Workouts’ Component Parts
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