Best Dumbbell Exercises for Triceps — Top 10
Dumbbell training is fixing muscle imbalances with unilateral training. Here are the best dumbbell exercises for targeting your triceps, ranked by effectiveness. Dumbbells offer unilateral loading, greater range of motion, and more freedom of movement than barbells.
Ranked by triceps muscle activation percentage, range of motion quality with dumbbell, and progressive overload potential.
Overhead extensions stretch the long head of the triceps — the largest of the three heads and the one most responsible for overall arm size. The overhead position places the long head under maximum tension.
Key Form Cue
Hold a dumbbell with both hands overhead, arms fully extended.
Skull crushers (lying tricep extensions) are the gold standard for tricep isolation. Lie on a bench, hold the bar above your face, and lower it toward your forehead by bending your elbows.
Key Form Cue
Lie on a flat bench holding the bar (straight or EZ-bar) above your chest with arms extended.
The dumbbell kickback isolates the triceps by extending the arm behind the body from a bent-over position. It is one of the most effective exercises for peak tricep contraction and targets the lateral and medial heads.
Key Form Cue
Hinge forward at the hips and pin your upper arm against your side, parallel to the floor.
The dumbbell JM press is a hybrid between a close-grip press and a skull crusher, invented by powerlifter JM Blakley. You lower the dumbbells toward your chin-to-throat area by combining elbow flexion with horizontal adduction for extreme tricep loading.
Key Form Cue
Lie on a flat bench with dumbbells at lockout, hands in a neutral grip.
The single-arm overhead dumbbell extension isolates each tricep independently in a fully stretched overhead position. Working one arm at a time ensures balanced development and allows you to address weaknesses on either side.
Key Form Cue
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and press it overhead to full lockout.
Lying dumbbell tricep extensions provide independent arm training with a deep stretch on the long head. Each arm works individually, fixing imbalances.
Key Form Cue
Lie on a flat bench holding dumbbells above your chest with arms extended.
The Tate press is performed lying on a bench with dumbbells pressed together overhead, then lowering them toward your chest by bending the elbows inward. This unusual movement path provides a unique stimulus to the lateral and medial tricep heads.
Key Form Cue
Lie on a flat bench with dumbbells held at lockout, palms facing your feet.
The floor press limits the range of motion to the top portion of the bench press, building lockout strength and tricep power. The floor also eliminates leg drive, making it a strict upper-body press.
Key Form Cue
Lie on the floor with the barbell in a rack or dumbbells in hand.
The decline dumbbell press shifts emphasis to the lower chest fibers by placing the body on a downward-sloping bench. The dumbbell version allows a greater range of motion and more natural wrist angle than its barbell counterpart.
Key Form Cue
Set a bench to a 15-30 degree decline and secure your legs at the top.
Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, this pressing variation rotates the dumbbells during the press, hitting all three deltoid heads in a single movement. It adds shoulder rotation that standard presses miss.
Key Form Cue
Start with dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing you (like the top of a curl).
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