Triceps Kickbacks

by JP – Updated: 09/24/2016

Muscles Used    •    Exercise Type    •    Form Instruction    •    Tips and Techniques    •    Recommended Reps    •    Common Variations    •    Substitutions    •    Equipment Needed

Bottom	Top

Primary Mover(s)	Muscles Used:	Secondary Mover(s)
Triceps		None
		Other Mover(s)
		Delts (R), Traps, Lats, Mid Back

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– Triceps Kickbacks –

Isolated Exercise, Push Movement

Put one leg on bench and support yourself with your arm. Position opposite arm parallel to floor while grasping dumbbell. Bending at the elbow lower weight until arm forms a 90 degree angle and then raise back up until arm is straight.

Momentum can quickly become the enemy of this exercise. Do not let the dumbbell swing. Keep your motion slow and under control. The bottom of the exercise is when your arm forms a 90 degree angle (or to look like an “L”), bringing the forearm any closer to the upper arm is going to encourage swinging.

Keep your arm close to the body. The body should be at about a 45 degree angle with the bench with the back straight. The upper arm stays motionless, only the forearm is moving.

Allowing the upper arm to be at an angle less than parallel to the floor will decrease difficulty and may be appropriate for beginners. Allowing the upper arm to go slightly above parallel will increase range of motion and difficulty and may be of value to more advanced trainers.

More advanced trainers will find it difficult to stabilize the upper arm with increasingly heavy loads so the exercise is usually dropped in favor of triceps exercises which don’t present this limitation. But it remains a solid exercise at loads which both challenge the trainer and allow them to maintain proper form.

You can do triceps kickbacks standing and bending at the waist, typically resting your free arm on the opposite thigh or bracing it against a fixed object such as a chair.

6-12 the majority of the time, trying higher or lower reps on occasion.

Isolated exercises such as Triceps Pushdowns, Skull Crushers and Dumbbell Triceps Extensions are solid triceps builders without as many limitations. And compound exercises like Bench Dips, Close-Grip Bench Presses and Close-Grip Push-Ups are excellent.

Bench, Dumbbells and Weights