The best exercises for the long head of the tricep are ones that place your arm at or behind your body, not overhead. That might sound counterintuitive if you’ve always heard that overhead extensions are king, but the biomechanics tell a more nuanced story. The long head is unique among the three tricep heads because it crosses both the elbow and the shoulder joint, and that dual role determines which positions make it work hardest.
Why the Long Head Is Different
The lateral and medial heads of the tricep both originate on the back of your upper arm bone. The long head originates on your shoulder blade, specifically on a small bony bump just below the shoulder socket. All three heads merge into one tendon that attaches at the elbow. Because the long head is the only one that crosses the shoulder joint, it does double duty: it extends your elbow and assists with pulling your arm down and back at the shoulder.
This anatomy has a direct consequence for exercise selection. Research published in Acta Orthopaedica et Traumatologica Turcica found that when your arm is down at your side (0° shoulder elevation), the long head generates significantly more force and muscle activation than either the lateral or medial head. But as your arm rises to 90° and above, the medial head takes over as the primary elbow extender, and the long head’s contribution drops. In other words, arm position relative to your torso is the single biggest variable in how much long head work you get from any tricep exercise.
Overhead Extensions: Stretch, Not Peak Activation
Overhead tricep extensions are widely recommended for the long head, and they do have a specific advantage: they put the long head in its most stretched position. A 2022 study found that tricep hypertrophy was substantially greater when elbow extensions were performed in the overhead position compared to a neutral arm position, and the researchers attributed this to the greater stretch on the long head.
But there’s a distinction between stretch-based stimulus and peak force production. When your arm is overhead (roughly 180° of shoulder elevation), the long head is lengthened across the shoulder joint, which limits its ability to produce force. The medial head actually dominates elbow extension in that position. So overhead work gives the long head a strong growth signal through stretch, even though it’s not the position where the long head contracts most powerfully. Both mechanisms matter for muscle growth, which is why overhead extensions belong in a long head program, just not as the only exercise.
Best Overhead Variations
- Overhead cable extension (rope or single arm): Cables keep tension on the muscle throughout the range of motion, including the stretched position at the bottom. Stand facing away from the cable machine with your arms overhead and extend at the elbow.
- Incline dumbbell skull crushers: Setting the bench at an incline increases the stretch on the long head compared to a flat bench, and using dumbbells or a rope lets your wrists rotate naturally, which tends to reduce elbow strain.
- Seated overhead dumbbell extension: Either single arm or with both hands on one dumbbell. Keeping your upper arm tight to your head ensures the long head stays stretched throughout the rep.
Arms-Back and Arms-Down Exercises
If you want the long head producing maximum force, not just maximum stretch, you need exercises where your arm is at your side or slightly behind your torso. In this position, the long head is the dominant elbow extender, with the lateral and medial heads playing a supporting role.
Best Variations With Arms at Your Side or Behind You
- Tricep kickbacks: Often dismissed as a lightweight exercise, kickbacks place your shoulder in extension (arm behind your torso), which is exactly where the long head has the mechanical advantage. Use a cable or dumbbell, keep your upper arm locked in position, and focus on a full lockout.
- Cable pushdowns (straight bar or rope): With your elbows pinned at your sides and your arm at roughly 0° of shoulder elevation, the long head is in its strongest force-producing position. Pulling the rope apart at the bottom to drive your hands slightly behind your hips increases the shoulder extension component.
- Dips: As your body descends and your upper arm moves behind your torso, the long head gets both a stretch and a strong contraction demand. Dips are heavy enough to overload the tricep in a way isolation exercises can’t match.
Compound Pressing: Helpful but Not Enough
Close-grip bench press and other pressing movements do recruit the long head, but research shows they primarily target the lateral and medial heads. The long head contributes less because pressing movements involve shoulder flexion (pushing your arm forward and up), which shifts the workload away from the long head. Think of compound pressing as baseline tricep volume, then layer isolation work on top to specifically hit the long head.
How to Program for Long Head Growth
A systematic review in the Journal of Human Kinetics found that tricep hypertrophy responds best to high training volume, with more than 20 weekly sets appearing most effective. However, the researchers noted that volume from multi-joint exercises like bench press and overhead press counts toward that total, so 12 to 20 weekly sets of direct tricep work is a practical target for trained lifters.
For the long head specifically, a smart split would include at least one overhead movement and one arms-down or arms-back movement each week. For example, you might pair overhead cable extensions (for stretch stimulus) with cable pushdowns or kickbacks (for peak force stimulus) across two training days. This covers both growth mechanisms without redundancy.
Progressive overload still matters more than exercise novelty. Pick two or three of the movements above, track your weights and reps, and push them over time. Rotating exercises every few months is fine, but constantly switching prevents the progressive loading that drives growth.
Protecting Your Elbows
Tricep isolation work involves repeated deep elbow flexion, and the ulnar nerve runs through a narrow channel formed partly by the medial head of the tricep itself. Pressure on this nerve spikes dramatically during elbow flexion, jumping from under 19 mmHg during extension to over 200 mmHg during flexion or forceful contraction. In some people, the nerve can slide back and forth over the bony inside edge of the elbow during flexion, which causes friction and irritation over time.
If you notice tingling or numbness in your ring and pinky fingers during or after tricep work, that’s the ulnar nerve. Practical steps to reduce the risk: avoid slamming into the bottom of skull crushers or letting the weight drop into deep flexion under no control, warm up with lighter sets before heavy work, and favor cables or dumbbells over straight barbells, which lock your wrists into a position that can increase strain at the elbow. If symptoms persist, reducing the total number of sets performed in deep elbow flexion is more effective than pushing through it.