Our Favorite Tricep Strengtheners to Support Yoga Poses
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In a recent blog post, we focused on two major arm muscles that yoga doesn’t typically strengthen—the lats and biceps, which are key for upper body pulling movements.
Today, let’s turn the tables and spotlight an arm muscle that actually plays a big role in our yoga practice!
The triceps
Our muscle of interest today is... the triceps!
The triceps – or more technically, triceps brachii 🤓 – is a 3-headed muscle that lines the back of our upper arm (humerus).
The triceps crosses the posterior elbow joint, and its main function is to extend (straighten) the elbow.
Anatomy geeky trivia: although elbow extension is the major role of the triceps, the triceps also plays a supporting role in movement at the shoulder.
This is because as we mentioned earlier, the triceps is a "3-headed" muscle. One of its three heads (the "long head") crosses the posterior shoulder, attaching to the scapula (shoulder blade).
Because the triceps crosses the back of the shoulder in this manner, this muscle plays a small role in shoulder extension (moving the arm down and back) and in stabilizing the shoulder joint.
This is pro tip info for yoga/body/strength geeks to know! Heheh.
When Do We Use the Triceps in Yoga?
Whenever we practice a yoga pose that involves extending our elbow against resistance, we're using our triceps.
And that turns out to be... a lot of yoga poses!
Examples include chaturanga, downward dog, crow pose (and all arm balances), forearm balance, and so many more!
Because we use our triceps so much in our yoga practice, performing structured tricep strengthening can go a long way toward supporting these tricep-dominant yoga poses and making them feel more accessible.
Here are our 3 favorite triceps exercises that will support your yoga poses (and daily life in general!):
1) Bent-Over Tricep Kickback
By hinging forward in this exercise, we orient our upper arms so they're parallel to the floor, which means our triceps have to work against gravity to lift the dumbbells up.
You can also perform this exercise with a resistance band by anchoring the band out in front of you and pulling back and up on it to extend the elbow!
2) Dolphin to Down Dog Tricep Extension
We love this exercise at Strength for Yoga because it uses two classic yoga poses – so it's extra relevant for our yoga-based community.
If lifting both elbows up at the same time is too tough, this exercise can be performed by lifting one elbow up first and then the other. 👍
3) Overhead Tricep Extension
In this exercise, we hold our spine neutral as we lift and lower a weight behind our head.
When the arms are overhead and the elbows are flexed, the long head of the triceps (the one that crosses the shoulder) is lengthened at both joints.
Current evidence suggests that when we strength train muscles at long muscle lengths, it results in superior muscle gains! 💪
(Isn't that anatomical tidbit fascinating, yoga/body/strength geeks? 🤓)
Strengthen your triceps (and so much more) with us in our 5 Weeks to Strong & Flexible Shoulders program!
A series of 20-25 minute strength practices emailed to you every 3 days for 5 weeks
Minimal equipment (1-2 dumbbells or kettlebells & 1 resistance band)
Options to take on progressively more challenging exercise variations, so each practice builds on the previous one
Lifetime access to all practices at the end of the 5 weeks
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