Muscle Building: Compound Exercise - Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (Lying)

The main purpose of this exercise is development of overall triceps with main focus on outer triceps muscles. This is how you are supposed to do it. Lie flat on the bench, make sure you have your head even with the end. You can place your feets either up on the bench or flat on the floor. Now hold two dumbbells extended overhead, with your palms facing towards each other, just as if you were to start dumbbell flyes. Now from this position, bend your elbows to lower the dumbbells back towards your head. Make sure that your upper arms don't move much and are fixed. The dumbbells should go past the sides of your head till your triceps have been completely stretched. Your upper arms should slightly slant towards your head. Now move the dumbbells back up to their position in an arc (all the while keep your arms slanted back) till your elbows lock out. Flex your triceps hard. Now just repeat this movement over again.

The idea behind keeping your upper arms slanted slightly back toward the head is that you maintain constant tension on the triceps muscles. If you bring the upper arms perpendicular to the floor, you reduce stress on the muscle, this losing the full effectiveness of the exercise. Control the weight. Perform slow, deliberate reps. Avoid going too fast and getting into a rhythm. Stop at the top and flex hard. Lower to full stretch, pause momentarily to help control the movement and then press back up.

Avoid using dumbbells that are too heavy and cause loose, sloppy form. This will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise on the triceps muscles. It will bring on other muscles into play, perhaps causing injury.