Execution:
- Assume a side-facing position alongside an exercise bench and place the inside hand on the bench for support of the upper body. The arm should be straight and directly below the shoulder.
- Step forward with the inside leg and backward with the outside leg back. As you do this, bend over from the hips until your trunk is level to the floor.
- Hold a dumbbell in your outside hand with the upper arm alongside the body and with the elbow bent so that your forearm is basically in a vertical position.
- Use a neutral grip so that the shaft of the dumbbell is on a forward-backward line.
- When you are ready, inhale slightly more than usual and hold your breath as you straighten the arm in a vigorous action. Keep the upper arm in place so that in the ending position, the arm will be in line with the trunk or slightly above.
- After reaching the uppermost position, try to raise the entire arm and hold the position for 1-2 seconds. Exhale and return to the initial position.
- Pause momentarily in the initial position and then repeat.
- Execute at a moderate rate of speed with no forceful swinging of the dumbbell upward.
- When you have completed the necessary repetitions with one arm, switch to the other side of the bench and repeat with the opposite arm.
TRAINING TIPS:
- In order to place maximum resistance on all three heads of the triceps, be sure to maintain a horizontal position of the trunk. If your torso is angled with the shoulders higher than the hips you will be using some momentum to get the weight up rather than pure muscle force.
- Holding your breath during execution is needed to stabilize the trunk so that you can have effective movement of the arm. In addition, it helps you to hold your trunk level and to exert up to 20% more force.
- Since the triceps kickback involves all three heads of the triceps, it is important that execution be strict. If you do not fully extend or raise the arm above the level of the back, you will not get maximal involvement of the long head.
- To ensure full involvement of the long head, do not use excessively heavy weights which prevent you from going through the full ROM. Also, the heavier the weight that you use, the greater is the tendency to forcefully swing the weights at the beginning in order to get the dumbbell all the way up and back in one motion. As a result, you will not get full involvement of the triceps, especially the posterior deltoid.
- To place even greater emphasis on the long head of the triceps and to attack the flabbiness often seen on the under side of the upper arm, you should do the exercise in two movements. In the initial movement, the upper arm remains alongside the body as you fully extend the forearm. You then raise the straightened arm as high as possible above the level of the back. There should be a slight pause in between these movements. The triceps shortens (contracts) at the elbow as you straighten the arm and at the shoulder end (long head) as you raise the arm after it is straightened.
- Be sure to maintain the trunk and shoulders level to the floor during execution. In other words, do not rotate the shoulders or upper body in order to raise the arm up higher. Only the arm should rise above the level of the back.
- Instead of keeping both feet on the ground, some women like to place the inside leg on the bench to support the hips. This creates a stable position but there is a tendency to relax which is not wanted in this exercise. You should have tension in the upper body to hold your position and to fully straighten and raise the arm. The tension ensures that you rely more on muscle force rather than momentum to get the weight as high as possible.
MAJOR MUSCLES INVOLVED: When the upper arm is maintained in place alongside the trunk during execution, only one major muscle is involved — the triceps brachii. The triceps is a large muscle covering the entire back of the upper arm and is divided into three parts — the medial, lateral, and long heads. As the terms imply, the medial head is on the inner side of the arm, the lateral head is on the outer side of the back of the upper arm, and the long head is in the middle upper part of the back of the arm. All three heads have a common tendon that inserts on the ulna bone in the forearm. When the arm is raised above the level of the back with a secondary movement, there is also shoulder joint hyperextension which involves mainly the posterior deltoid, long head of the triceps, and the upper latissimus dorsi. The latissimus dorsi is situated on the middle to lower half of the back and is involved only in the raising of the total arm above back level. The deltoid is a triangular muscle having three different heads, one in front, one in the middle (side) , and one in the back. Only the back and posterior middle portions are involved in the shoulder hyperextension action. MUSCLE AND JOINT ACTIONS: In the elbow joint, the major action is extension in which the upper arm remains in place and the lower arm moves away from the upper arm until the arm is fully extended. All three heads of the triceps are involved in this action. When the straightened arm is raised above the level of the shoulders (back) there is shoulder joint hyperextension in which the upper arm moves upward above back level. In this action, there is an additional contraction of the triceps at the upper end while the lower end remains under strong static contraction. This produces much more tension in the triceps and other shoulder muscles.
SPORTS USES: The triceps kickback is a very important exercise for developing and defining the back of the upper arm and shoulders. It is especially important for women to work the upper back part of the upper arm which is often a troublesome area. When done in two movements, it is an excellent exercise for defining and firming the long head of the triceps. The elbow joint extension and shoulder joint hyperextension actions and the muscles involved are needed in all sports that involve downward and backward pushing, throwing and hitting actions. Thus, this exercise is especially valuable for sprinters who forcefully extend the arm down and backward when running and in the martial arts when executing various hits (chopping actions). It plays a major role in the racquet sports such as tennis when executing backhand strokes, and in softball batting even though they are executed on a different plane. Gymnasts value this exercise for more effective execution of many stunts on the apparatus and in free exercise.