Triceps Pushdown
- Cable
- Isolation exercise
- Triceps
For the triceps pushdown, you stand at a cable station with the pulley high and push the bar down with your elbows at your sides until your arms are straight. It trains the triceps; if your elbows drift forward, your lats take over part of the work [1].
Triceps
Drag to pause
- Main muscle
- Triceps
- Equipment
- Cable station with a straight bar
- Reps
- 12–20 for muscle building
- Sets
- 3
- Rest
- 1:30
- Weight step
- 2.5 kg (5 lb)
How to do it
- 1
Pulley high, bar overhand, elbows at your sides.
- 2
Push the bar down, moving only your forearms.
- 3
Fully extend at the bottom, elbows don't drift forward.
Tempo of one rep
The figure shows a calm rep of 4.2 s with a short pause at the bottom. Tempo matters less than you’d think for growth; reps lasting 0.5 to 8 s build similar muscle [2].
Common mistakes
- Elbows drifting forward.
Your lats then pull along and your triceps do less [1]. Keep your upper arms at your sides and your elbows in place.
- Leaning over the bar.
Bending over lets your body weight help, so your triceps do less. Stay upright and still, with only your forearms moving [1].
- Not straightening your arms at the bottom.
You then skip the last part of the movement and every rep gets shorter. Straighten fully without slamming into lockout, and pause briefly [1].
- Shoulders rolling forward.
Your shoulders then join the push and your elbows lose their spot at your sides. Pull your shoulder blades down and back [1].
Sets and reps
How Tarvo plans the triceps pushdown as an isolation exercise, by goal and experience. Rest is the time between two sets.
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle building | 12–20 | 1:30 |
| Strength | 10–15 | 1:30 |
| Both | 10–15 | 1:30 |
| Experience | Sets |
|---|---|
| New to it | 2 |
| Some experience | 3 |
| Experienced | 4 |
How Tarvo progresses your pushdown
The pushdown goes up in steps of 2.5 kg (5 lb). Until you reach the top of your rep range, you add one rep.
Once your first set hits the top of the range and the others are no more than two reps below it, the weight goes up by 2.5 kg (5 lb). Tarvo then works out from your strength how many reps you can do with the new weight.
Your next pushdown
Enter what you did last time. Tarvo works out your target for the next session with the same rule as in the app.
All on target, with two left. So the same weight, one more rep.
Variations
Questions
Rope or bar for triceps pushdowns?
Both work. In a small study, triceps activity was a little higher with the rope than with the bar, about 74 versus 67 percent of a triangle push-up [3].
Are pushdowns enough for the triceps?
They train all three heads of the triceps. In one study, though, overhead extensions built the long head about 1.5 times as much [4]; that’s why the overhead extension is among the variations.
How many sets of triceps pushdowns for muscle growth?
Three sets of 12 to 20 reps with 1:30 min rest if you already have some experience. Pressing exercises like the bench press count half toward your triceps [5].
How high should the pulley be for pushdowns?
All the way up, above head height [1]. Stand close enough to the tower that your elbows can stay at your sides.
What muscles do triceps pushdowns work?
The triceps, all three heads. If your elbows drift forward, your lats help [1].
Sources
- [1]American Council on Exercise. Triceps Pushdowns (Exercise Library). acefitness.org. www.acefitness.orgExercise library. Pulley above head height, upper arms at your sides, torso vertical, pause at the bottom without locking out; if the elbows drift forward, the lats take over.
- [2]Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger (2015). Effect of repetition duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy. Sports Med. doi 10.1007/s40279-015-0304-0Meta-analysis. Reps lasting 0.5 to 8 seconds built similar muscle; much slower reps built less.
- [3]Boehler et al.. Electromyographic analysis of the triceps brachii muscle during a variety of triceps exercises. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. minds.wisc.eduSmall study, second-hand. The pushdown reached about 67 percent of the triceps activity of a triangle push-up with a bar and about 74 percent with a rope.
- [4]Maeo et al. (2023). Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position. Eur J Sport Sci 23(7). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govTraining study, second-hand. Overhead elbow extensions built the long head about 1.5 times as much as with the arm at the side.
- [5]Pelland, Remmert, Robinson, Hinson, Zourdos (2024). The Resistance Training Dose-Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain. SportRxiv (Vorabfassung). sportrxiv.orgMeta-regression of 67 studies. More sets bring more growth with diminishing returns; secondary muscles fit best counted as half.
Keep going
Tarvo sets your next pushdown target.
From your last session, set by set. You just check them off.
One email when Tarvo launches. Nothing else. Privacy
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