Triceps lateral head: exercises and how to train

The lateral head starts on the back of the upper arm bone and sits on the outer side of the arm. It straightens the elbow and kicks in harder as the load gets heavier, so it does a lot of the work in presses. It draws the horseshoe shape you see from the side and helps you lock out a heavy bench press.

Group

Arms

Main muscle in

5 exercises

Helps in

11 exercises

On the map

back

How to train it

Cable pushdown, Dips with an upright torso, Close-grip push-ups and Bench dips all load it well. On pushdowns, pin your elbows to your sides and straighten the arms all the way. Bench and overhead pressing already give it plenty of work, so 6–12 direct sets a week for the whole triceps is usually enough.

Front

Back

this muscle·other arms muscles

Exercises where it is the main mover

Dips Bodyweight Cable pushdown Cable Close-grip push-ups Bodyweight Triceps kickback Dumbbells Bench dips Bodyweight

Exercises where it assists

Bench press Barbell Incline bench press Barbell Seated dumbbell press Dumbbells Skull crusher Barbell Dumbbell bench press Dumbbells Incline dumbbell press Dumbbells Push-ups Bodyweight Seated chest press Machine Overhead press Barbell Arnold press Dumbbells Overhead dumbbell extension Dumbbells

Weekly sets in ready-made programs

A set where the muscle is primary counts in full, a set where it assists counts as half — the same way the log’s stats count it.

Other arms muscles

See how much work each of your muscles gets

GymAssist paints a 40-muscle map from your sets, shows lagging muscles and forecasts recovery.

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