The tricep pushdown is an awesome exercise to train your triceps…but what are different attachments you can use and the benefits of each?
Rope Pushdown
A benefit of the double rope handle is that you don’t have a bar hitting your body at the end of the movement. By using double rope handles you can increase the range of motion and increasing the stretch/intensity on your triceps. With palms facing inwards, this attachment will work all 3 heads of your triceps, but with place slightly more emphasis on the lateral head (outside of the arm) of the tricep.
Straight Bar Pushdown
Pushdowns with the straight bar focus work on the long head of the tricep. The straight bar will place your hands in an overhand grip with your knuckles facing up. With the elbows tight against the body, the long head of the tricep activates as the arms straighten. The medial and lateral heads of the tricep activate as well but the focus of the work rests on the long head of the tricep (inside of the tricep). Like mentioned above, the only limitation of the straight bar is that the range of motion is limited by it hitting your body as you push down.
V-Bar Pushdown
The V-Bar attachment is a happy medium between the rope and the straight bar. The v-shaped handles position the hands like similar to the rope pushdown, but takes some strain off of the wrists and forearms by providing a solid bar grip. The only issue with a V-Bar is that some people are built wider than others, meaning the slightly closer grip on some of these attachments may be too narrow. The V-bar is a great way to once again hit all 3 heads of your triceps.
Other Attachments?
- Single handles
Great if you want to work each tricep independently. You can also do underhand grip to work the triceps differently. - Single rope
You may feel strong with this grip as your wrists are in a strong position. Great for range of motion and isolating each arm. - Lat pulldown bar
A good mix-up that will allow you to do wider grip pushdowns for more lateral (outside) head activation, as well as wide underhand grips too…Keeps things fresh and mix it up! - Wrist attachment
Using these will allow you to take your grip out of the equation and truly isolate your triceps one arm at a time. Great if you have grip strength issues or want your triceps to do more of the work.
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