As the name implies, this exercise is for the triceps, but the trajectory of the exercise trains pronation and supination of the wrist as well as flexion and extension of the shoulder, so the entire fascial chain from fingers to shoulder is directly involved.
Incline DB Triceps Extension Performance
Grasp two dumbbells with offset grips to the pinkie side. Doing so creates a favorable lever to challenge the pronators of the wrist – pronator quadratus and pronator teres – to work throughout the movement.
We use a standing 45˚ incline bench for this exercise, so primary instructions will be for that version. Stand in the 45˚ incline bench, lean backward, and hold the DB’s at arms’s length over the face.
As the timer expires, take care to normalize the lordosis of the lumbar spine and ensure that your ribcage is not artificially elevated – take a breath in, let it out, and allow the ribcage to slide downward.
Begin the descent by bending the elbows. Maintain pronation of the wrist during this initial phase and attempt to keep the elbows high and at shoulder width. Proper exercise performance requires that the shoulders externally rotate during the descent, but most trainees compensate for lost shoulder rotational ability by allowing the elbows to flare outward.
Approximately halfway through the descent, begin supinating the wrists and flexing the shoulders. Proper trajectory of the exercise will place the DB’s behind you r head and neck with the palms facing you.
Most commercial gyms do not have standing incline benches. To perform this exercise in a commercial environment, raise the level of the seat with padding, or carefully stand against the bench.
The goal is to place the external occipital protuberance – the bump on the back of your head – just slightly over the bench’s top.
When doing so, be careful not to shift your weight so much that you topple backward – not all benches are built the same, nor are they all of equal mass. A bit of care and common sense is all that is necessary to perform the exercise safely.