ISOLATE the TRICEPS LATERAL HEAD With This Exercise!! (Workout + Scientific Explanation)

What's up guys, Michael Kamalo here aka Dr. Gaines and in this video I'm going to go over one of my favorite ways to hit the lateral head of the triceps. First I'll show you how it's done and then we'll get into why it works. This exercise is done by grabbing the cables opposite of each hand so they should be crossing in front of you. Then with your elbows tucked into your sides you slowly extend your arms out while simultaneously rotating your arms externally so that your thumbs end up pointing. Now why does this hit the lateral head of the triceps? Well first brief overview of the basics. The triceps has three heads long head medial head and lateral head and when you look at these from the back you'll notice that the long head is located on the medial side of the arm or closer in towards the body whereas the lateral head is surprise located on the lateral side of the arm or the outside. So a general rule of thumb to know is that whenever you're doing tricep extensions if your thumb is pointed medially then you are going to be working more the medial head in other words the long head of the triceps. If your thumb is pointing out or externally or laterally then you're going to be getting more contraction on the lateral head of the triceps. Now with that said I want to be clear anytime you are extending the elbow joint you are activating all three heads. It's not possible to completely isolate one versus the other because all three have the same insertion point they all cross the elbow joint and so whenever you're extending the elbow you're going to be activating all three. However you can use the relative anatomy of each head in order to get more activation on one versus the other and so again medial rotation of the arm while extending the elbow is going to get more contraction on the long head than the lateral head and external rotation during extension of the elbow is going to get more contraction in the lateral head of the triceps. Now I want to give you a couple tips on your form during this exercise because as with all weightlifting exercises form is a lot more important than how much weight you are lifting. So first key here in the form is that you're going to want to keep your elbows to the side of your body meaning you're not going to want to start with your elbows in front of your body and then end with them behind your body because what's going to happen there well you're going to bring in all of the powerful back muscles and they're going to take away load from the triceps. You're going to be working your back more than you will your triceps so in order to prevent that try to keep your elbows in the relative same plane as your body and only be extending your arms from there. Now it's inevitable that you are going to be activating your back muscles a little bit with this movement but you can try to prevent that as much as possible by keeping those elbows in the same plane as your body. Second key tip is do not swing so you don't want to grab the cables and then swing out and use the momentum of the weight to pull it for you. You'll notice that my extensions are slow and controlled. I'm not swinging I'm not using the momentum of the weight it is only my triceps that are moving that weight and nothing else. And then third you'll notice that as I extend my arms I lean backwards. The reason for that is because whenever you're using a cable the maximum amount of resistance is always when the cable is 90 degrees to whatever motion you are doing. I will go in depth in another video on the 90 degree principle and why that's so important especially when using cables but for now just trust me you'll want to try and keep your arm as close to 90 degrees as possible with the cable in order to maximize the resistance. So by leaning backwards I maintain that 90 degrees as much as possible. If I did not for example and I were to just extend my arm like this then at the end of that movement my arm is almost in line with the cable that means I'm not getting much resistance at all whereas if I'm back here then 90 degrees and I'm getting maximum resistance. And finally make sure you are using opposite cables so your left arm is grabbing the cable on the right side of your body. Why is that? It has to do with the 90 degree principle again because we are doing external rotation of the arm and moving our elbow laterally we want that resistance to come from the opposite direction. If you're getting it from straight in front of you then you're not getting as much lateral resistance to your elbow. So by using the cable across from your arm you're getting even more optimization of the 90 degree principle. You're getting more resistance to the lateral movement of your arm and therefore hitting the lateral head even better. Guys if you like this video I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below and if you have specific requests on muscles, muscle groups, lifts, injuries, anything that you want me to go over please take a minute to fill out the form that I will put in the description below. Please take a minute to fill out the form that I will put in the description of the video below. I do use the input from that form in order to help me decide what content to prioritize both in my social media videos and in the full online training programs that I am creating. As always make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any videos, share with your gym buddies. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!