# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > WORKOUT AND TRAINING >  The Tricep "Horseshoe" shape

## Godson

i have been having a difficult time developing this 
one section, i believe it is called the "ong head" of the tricep, 
is developed good for me 
however the top of my tricep development is clearly lacking 

i can't get the horseshoe shape

i have been doing 
1.dips
2.close grip bench
3.behind the neck, db raises ( w/one heavy db) 

next week 
1.one arm cable reverse pressdowns
2.skull crushers ( i alternative between standing/laying )
3.one arm db extensions


i do 3 working sets of each, and my 4th set is equal or less to the weight on my 1st set for a total of 12 once a week

now i have recently just switched to this routine to try to force this development of the tricep, im considering working it out twice a week since its my clear weak point.. the upper part is non-existent anybody else have this problem?

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## Matt

When you say dips, do you do them weighted??

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## AUb27

not a huge physique guy over here but maybe you could throw in some machines to isolate more?

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## Godson

> When you say dips, do you do them weighted??


yea i can do alot of weight too (85lb+), its strange i dunno why only one of the tricep is being developed

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## -Ender-

What's your BF?
Maybe you just can't see it.
Ever do pulldowns with a rope?

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## xXthehulkXx

i've been told by alot of people at my gym that i have monsterous triceps. i usualy do rope pulldowns one arm at a time. i love to do skull crushers and one arm french curls (i don't know it by any other name). when i do weighted dips i've gone up to 145lbs, and i weigh 195lbs. i always respond to heavy training though. maybe do more weight and keep the reps 8-10.

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## Godson

can you describe one arm french curls?

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## Godson

> What's your BF?
> Maybe you just can't see it.
> Ever do pulldowns with a rope?



my bf is very low, i can see the long head of the tricep very well, but its just the upper part of it that isnt developing 

as for pulldowns with the rope, i actually dont do them

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## -Ender-

give them a try. you can really squeeze and hit the whole muscle with a slight twist of the rope at the lower end of the movement.

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## Godson

anybody else have trouble with the horseshoe shape

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## _CrossroadS_

Do you workout Tri's with Chest?

I noticed splitting the two up led to better development of my tri's...

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## dezza6969

i dunno the real horse shoe shape came for me just doing weighted dips and military press. and maybe because i shoe horses it helps  :Smilie:  i think my brother was lacking in tricep shape and he hit it hard with military press and now they're monsters

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## Godson

> i dunno the real horse shoe shape came for me just doing weighted dips and military press. and maybe because i shoe horses it helps  i think my brother was lacking in tricep shape and he hit it hard with military press and now they're monsters


bb military press? i woudl assume that is more of a deltoids work out but i know it hits tri's a lil

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## dedic8ed1

> i have been having a difficult time developing this 
> one section, i believe it is called the "ong head" of the tricep, 
> is developed good for me 
> however the top of my tricep development is clearly lacking 
> 
> i can't get the horseshoe shape
> 
> i have been doing 
> 1.dips
> ...


If you want the horse shoe tricep try doing dips with an inside out grip.Turn your palms out having your knuckles pointing in.Or try the seated row close grip handle from a high cable and using the same grip.These will put you on the road of HORSESHOE TRICEP!!!Best developmental exercise for triceps IMO.

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## DSM4Life

> If you want the horse shoe tricep try doing dips with an inside out grip.Turn your palms out having your knuckles pointing in.Or try the seated row close grip handle from a high cable and using the same grip.These will put you on the road of of HORSESHOE!!!Best developmental exercise for triceps IMO.


I never even heard of a rev grip dip.  :Hmmmm:

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## dedic8ed1

> I never even heard of a rev grip dip.


What you never heard of about training you could just about stuff in the grand canyon :Nutkick:  :2jk: I had too smart ass.Try it you'll never train tri's without this exercise again.

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## DSM4Life

> What you never heard of about training you could just about stuff in the grand canyonI had too smart ass.Try it you'll never train tri's without this exercise again.


 :Wink/Grin: 

Ill try it thur. If i dont like it i want my time back.

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## AdamGH

Id say you cant see it cause of the fat on your arm. Also could be that your genetics and how the muscle hangs on the arm, doesnt allow that look. id like to see some over all pics of your build just to make sure.

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## dezza6969

mate now i wanna try these reverse grip dips! i [email protected] love dips now i'll try mixin grips up. yeah bb press is great for shoulders but coupled with dips i feel it blast my tri's. i hate isolation excersises so i'm biased. although when i used to do rope pulldowns n sh*te the tricep improvements were no where near as good as workin dips n press heavy

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## dedic8ed1

> mate now i wanna try these reverse grip dips! i [email protected] love dips now i'll try mixin grips up. yeah bb press is great for shoulders but coupled with dips i feel it blast my tri's. i hate isolation excersises so i'm biased. although when i used to do rope pulldowns n sh*te the tricep improvements were no where near as good as workin dips n press heavy


Dips are a great universal exercise.I've rounded my outer pecs with dips concentrating on the overall lower chest isolation and I've never gotten my triceps more sore then I did with the inward grip dips knuckles facing in.That exercise is a staple now and forever.
it really digs deep in the fibers.

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## dezza6969

hell yeah dips are an awesum chest workout. i'm gonna put it out there and say that dips work ur chest better than bench and give them a better shape

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## RANA

Have you tried reverse grip bench? I love those

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## dedic8ed1

> Have you tried reverse grip bench? I love those


That's 1 movement I just can't buy.each his own.

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## (1*)

> Do you workout Tri's with Chest?
> 
> I noticed splitting the two up led to better development of my tri's...


good advice..
i do chest on one day / back on one day / and total arms on a sperate day.. much better results for the arms.

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## (1*)

> If you want the horse shoe tricep try doing dips with an inside out grip.Turn your palms out having your knuckles pointing in.Or try the seated row close grip handle from a high cable and using the same grip.These will put you on the road of HORSESHOE TRICEP!!!Best developmental exercise for triceps IMO.


it's my understanding that the reason you do this dip (vince gironda dip) is for chest purposes. turning the palms knuckle in causes the elbows to flare out to the side when going down. this stresses the pec more. i do them at the end of chest day and they rip the pec.
on the reverse i do the coventional dip on arm day and even though i feel it in the chest as well it works the tri's much more. it's like doing pull downs (conventional dip) to doing butterflies (gironda dip, elbows flared out)

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## dedic8ed1

> it's my understanding that the reason you do this dip (vince gironda dip) is for chest purposes. turning the palms knuckle in causes the elbows to flare out to the side when going down. this stresses the pec more. i do them at the end of chest day and they rip the pec.
> on the reverse i do the coventional dip on arm day and even though i feel it in the chest as well it works the tri's much more. it's like doing pull downs (conventional dip) to doing butterflies (gironda dip, elbows flared out)


No,the inward knuckle grip is to target the lateral head of the tricep.Dips for chest is the standard grip feeling how to stress the outer and lower pecks rather then just performing a dip,it's all about the feel,mind to muscle connection.

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## illwillogical

Lot's of different methods mentioned here which are good. I am thinking though it could have something to do with your genetics.

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## _CrossroadS_

Here's one shout for the reverse grip dips...did em last night. Fun Stuff, sore as chit this morning.

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## RANA

> Dips are a great universal exercise.I've rounded my outer pecs with dips concentrating on the overall lower chest isolation and I've never gotten my triceps more sore then I did with the *inward grip dips knuckles facing in.*That exercise is a staple now and forever.
> it really digs deep in the fibers.


I tried that exercise this morning, not bad, I liked it.

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## dedic8ed1

> Here's one shout for the reverse grip dips...did em last night. Fun Stuff, sore as chit this morning.


Trust the dedic8ed1 I'm here to help you grow. :7up: 



> I tried that exercise this morning, not bad, I liked it.


If you liked it as 1 of your three or four exercises you do for tri's do it FST-7 After your done with your tri workout do 7 sets of the inward grip dips 30 second rest between.I guarentee you'll get them more sore then you ever thought possible.But don't do this style training every week especially if your natty.Over training has it's benefits but even when you lower the work load the following weeks it still takes 4-6 weeks for hormones and cortisol to return back to baseline,And could cause more damage then good so I'd say do FST-7 every time you feel the need to.It's more of a plateu breaker for me but if you like it google it lots of good material on this style training.I know I'm doing this contest prep and I can actually see myself growing as the weeks go by which makes it easy to determine what's working and what's just giving me a decent pump.

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## dedic8ed1

> Lot's of different methods mentioned here which are good. I am thinking though it could have something to do with your genetics.


Just try'em buddy your tricep routine will never be without them once you do.The writing's on the wall.

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## sigman roid

i tried rev grip dip today and i found it to awkward to do with the right form its like a injury waiting to happen

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## dedic8ed1

> i tried rev grip dip today and i found it to awkward to do with the right form its like a injury waiting to happen


Try a dip assist machine to get the form down slow and controlled flare your elbows out.

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## thabeastmaster

i happen to LOVE the reverse grip bench...but what i love even more, and what really gave me the muscle separation on my triceps was weighed bench dips WITH my feet on the big ol' bouncy ball.....not a mass exercise but brought out the horseshoe and seeing the triceps stand out from the arm...

my vote

weighted bench dips w/ball

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## ray0414

started doing reverse grip bench press for tris within the past couple months, gives me a very nice horseshoe pump.

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## Godson

> Id say you cant see it cause of the fat on your arm. Also could be that your genetics and how the muscle hangs on the arm, doesnt allow that look. id like to see some over all pics of your build just to make sure.



in most cases that would be the reason for not seeing a horseshoe shoe in a person's arm.. 

but im 5'6 150lb, bf % i dunno ? but its really low, i just began a clean bulk.. ill post some pics if you want, but the horseshoe shape is lacking especially in the upper head of the tricep for some reason, but def not cause of my bf % 

strangest part of it all is, my triceps are always sore after i work them out, i feel like im not hitting them from enough angles.. i may try the reverse grip flat bench press to triceps, and ill def give those reverse grip dips a shot.. 

MUST FIND SOLUTION

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## RANA

> i tried rev grip dip today and i found it to awkward to do with the right form its like a injury waiting to happen


What you want to do is do a normal bench when taking it off the rack (for safety) lay it inbetween your chest and abs, reverse your grip then begin your reverse grip bench (go straight up, inbetween your chest and abs). When your done with your set lay it back down on you and switch grips to a normal bench so you can rack it.

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## thabeastmaster

or smith machine......especially for such a potentially awkward movement...the switching grip thing could be tricky for a new exercise

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## bakie

I love kickbacks/one hand reverse cable push downs... You can feel the horseshoe burning.

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## powerliftmike

My tris are pretty big, but too bad my biceps suck and so total arm size is not so great. ha. guess biceps just arent used much in powerlifting anyway. these are exercises i use:

bench, a million variations on this...close grip, med grip, wide, bands, reverse bands, chains, pfd/board presses 2,3,4
incline bench
mil/push press
neutral grip pushup
overhead and lying tricep press with barbell
french press
floor press and floor press with DBs and band

sometimes throw in dips. kickbacks IMO are waste. and my currrent gym doesnt have cable pressdown machine but i do band pressdowns some instead too.

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## bakie

I agree that Kickbacks are a waste if you are trying to add size and raw power, but for cutting the horseshoe in I think they do wonders. Though, the reverse one arm cable push downs seem to work better.

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## Don't Taze Me Bro

Behind the head bb millitary press sets my triceps on fire quickly.

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## kojak_x

You need to stick with strictky compound movements. Dips, Skull Crushers, close grip bench. Go heavy and finish with high reps to really get the blood in there. Next week finish with focus on negatives, following week finish with something else. Rotate every week. You need to build overall size and stay away from isolations.

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## skeldno

Synthol mate will bring them right out :-)

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## Jon the Rooster

> Synthol mate will bring them right out :-)


Yeah, or look like a lumpy biscuit  :1laugh: 

I vote for heavy Skull crushers 6-8 rep then cable pull downs 8-10 rep as a superset. Your horshoe will start to gallop  :Wink/Grin:

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## skeldno

I know many people on synthol and not one of them has gotten any lumps or an unnatrual. 

Its down to whether they abuse it or not

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## thai-lan

forget about damn synthol !

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## c-Z

Synthol is shit... end of story....

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## SuperLift

> You need to stick with strictky compound movements. Dips, Skull Crushers, close grip bench. Go heavy and finish with high reps to really get the blood in there. Next week finish with focus on negatives, following week finish with something else. Rotate every week. You need to build overall size and *stay away from isolations.*


probably the worst advice ive ever heard..

Isolated movements are needed just as much as compound movements are.. You cant have one without the other imo.

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## dedic8ed1

> Yeah, or look like a lumpy biscuit 
> 
> I vote for heavy Skull crushers 6-8 rep then cable pull downs 8-10 rep as a superset. Your horshoe will start to gallop


Careful on them heavy skull crushers man.Some report significant elbow pain after with trying to go super heavy with this movement over time.Since I started doing them heavy I've recently been diagnosed with tendanosis which is typical from bodybuilders,but was not an issue until I trained this exercise heavy.

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## dedic8ed1

> Synthol is shit... end of story....


copy,copy.Such a dangerous drug to suggest.It just doesn't seem like a drug to experiment with.

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## PC650

> probably the worst advice ive ever heard..
> 
> Isolated movements are needed just as much as compound movements are.. You cant have one without the other imo.


i agree with that 100% each has there own place, i like to do two compund movements and end with a isolation movement. 8-10 reps

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## lovbyts

Hmmm I may have to try the reverse grip next Tricep day. I dont have any problem with Tricep but it's always good to mix things up to get more size. I like cable and rop for tricep so you can do reverse.

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