7 Best Tricep Push-Ups To Build Strong, Muscular Arms

If you want to train your tricep at home, then these push-up variations are all you need to get the start.

The Push-up is one of the greatest general conditioning exercises for the outdoor athlete, it can be performed, regardless of where you are and, best of all, they are completely free—no expensive equipment or no annual gym fees required!

There are a whole host of push-up variations available to meet many needs. Standard Push-Ups will strengthen and build your chest, shoulder, triceps, core, and abdomen muscles.

If you want to make your arms bigger, put your hands closer together and keep your elbows close to your sides. The result: bigger triceps.

Tricep push-ups are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your triceps muscles. They also train your chest, shoulder, and core muscles.

How to target your triceps With Push-Ups

Many triceps exercises are isolation exercises, meaning they focus on that singular muscle.

Triceps pushups are a compound exercise, which means that they recruit multiple muscles in the body. This means that you have to work harder and burn more calories.

Different types of push-Ups most often involve altering hand and foot positions, which impacts muscle recruitment patterns. That why some types of push-ups primary focus on the chest, some on the triceps and others on the shoulders.

The wide grip push-ups activate the pectoralis major to a greater degree than the other positions, whereas the narrow grip push-ups optimize the activation of the triceps brachii.

7 Best Push Ups For Tricep To Build Bigger Arm

Here are 7 challenging Tricep Push-Up variations you can conveniently do using minimal equipment. Include some of them during your full-body workouts, to boost arm size.

1. Knee Diamond push-up

If you’re looking for a simple and good push-ups to train your triceps, then diamond push-ups on knees is the best option for Beginner.

Practice diamond push-ups on the knee by bringing your hands close together to form a diamond or triangle shape below your chest and by putting the knee on the floor.

Once the diamond push-up on knees becomes easy, graduate to performing the exercise on your hands and forefeet.

How To Do Knee Diamond Push-Ups

1. Get into a push-up position, supporting your body on your hands and knees instead of on your hands and forefeet.
2. Your hands should be positioned in such a way as to form a diamond shape with your thumbs and index fingers.
3. Keeping your body straight and rigid and your elbows close to your body, inhale as you lower your chest to the floor.
4. Exhale as you extend your elbows and push your body back up to the starting position.

Tips

• Keep your elbows tucked in to your body
• Keep your body straight and rigid.

2. Diamond push-ups

Diamond push-ups, also known as triangle push-ups, are a more advanced variation of the classic push-up.

This is a unique movement because it does a great job of developing the lateral (outermost) tricep head. Doing them contributes to the horseshoe tricep look many trainees aspire for.

There are a lot of good reasons to add the diamond push-up to your tricep workout routine. This includes an increase in triceps and chest activity, improvement in core strength and stability, and enhancement of shoulder strength.

How To Do Diamond Push-Ups

1. Get on all fours with your hands together under your chest.
2. Position your index fingers and thumbs, so they’re touching, forming a diamond shape.
3. Now extend your arms so that your body is elevated and forms a straight line from your head to your feet.
4. Lower your chest towards your hands, ensuring you don’t flare your elbows out to the sides and keeping your back flat.
5. Stop just before your chest touches the floor, then push back up to the starting position.

Tips

• Keep your body straight and rigid.
• To make the diamond push-up easier, do it on your knees.
• Focus on maintaining balance during both phases.

3. Close Grip Push-Up

Push-ups are the best bodyweight exercise to build your entire upper body, including shoulders, chest, and arms.

Close Grip Push-Ups is the best exercise to build inner pec and triceps. Take a narrower push-ups stance than you normally do.

How to do Narrow Grip Push Ups

1. Lay face down on the ground with your legs straight, palm near, and arms supporting the upper body.
2. Keep your knees off the ground. Take a narrower push up stance than you normally would.
3. Now raise yourself off the ground, straightening your elbows and your arms but keep your elbows close to your body.
4. Raise until your elbows are locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
5. Now, slowly and steadily lower your body until your chest is close to the ground.

Tips

• Exhale while you exert.
• For intensity and variation, do the decline variation.

4. Stability Ball Push Up

Using a Swiss ball (or exercise ball) can bring an extra element to triceps pushups, giving you an uneven surface to increase the difficulty.

You’ll have to focus on keeping your balance on the ball, which allows you to work harder than you would if you were doing the standard push up.

Push-ups with the hands placed on a stability ball significantly increased the activation of triceps brachii.

How to do Stability Ball Push Up

1. Lay with your chest on the stability ball. Place your hands on the ball at the sides of your chest. They will be shoulder-width apart.
2. Place feet back and lean forward so that your chest is directly over the ball and you are supported on your toes.
3. Push your body until your arms are almost straight (do not lock your elbows). Pause here for a second.
4. Breathe out and extend your arms to bring your upper body back to the starting position. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tips

• Do not let your lower back sag or your butt rise. Ensure your body is straight and rigid.
• Keep your glutes and core muscles contracted.
• Your neck should be in line with your body, not tilted up, which could strain the neck.

5. Close Grip Medicine ball push-up

The close-grip medicine ball push-up is an upper body strength exercise that targets the chest, and shoulders, with slightly more of an emphasis on the triceps.

The unstable surface of the ball also helps improve core strength and stability. Resistance can be reduced by performing push-ups with knees bent on the floor or placing a medicine ball on a higher platform.

How to do Close Grip Medicine ball push-up

1. Get in the standard push up position with your hands on a medicine ball directly beneath your chest. Your left thumb and forefinger should touch your right thumb and forefinger.
2. Bend your elbows to lower yourself in a controlled manner.
3. Maintain a rigid core as your chest moves towards the top of the ball.
4. Hold for one to two seconds before breathing out, extending your arms and pushing your body back to the starting position.
5. Repeat the desired number of repetitions.

Tips

• Do not let your hips sag during the movement.
• Your elbows should be tucked at your sides, not flared out.
• Do not attempt stability pushups until you can do 20 basic push-ups.

6. Pike Push Up

The Pike Push-up is the variation of the push-up that increases strength and stability in the shoulders and triceps. It looks like a mash-up of Downward-Facing Dog and Dolphin Pose, and this move helps to build major strength.

Pike push-ups are harder than compared to the normal push-ups ones because of the angle at which the exercise has to be done. 

How to do Pike push-up

1. Start in a standard push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and elbows completely locked out.
2. Lift the hips up and back until your body forms an inverted V shape. Keep arms and legs as straight as possible.
3. Slowly lower the top of your head towards the ground. Once your head is about to make contact with the ground, pause for a second.
4. Then slowly push back until your arms are straight, and you’re in the inverted V position.

Tips

• Make sure you maintain control throughout the movement.
• Keep your glutes and core muscles contracted.

7. Close Grip Dumbbell Push-Up

Push-Ups can pose a significant challenge when executed at varying angles and intensities to enhance muscle growth and strength.

Doing a close grip push-up on the dumbbell works effectively on the chest and triceps. You’ll get a better grip and good muscle contraction during this movement.

If you’re a beginner, I would suggest you will do this dumbbell push-up on your knees.

How to do Close Grip Dumbbell Push Ups

1. Grip a dumbbell in each hand and get into a plank position with your palms facing down towards the floor. 
2. Now raise yourself off the ground straightening your elbows and your arms but keep your elbows close to your body.
3. Raise until your elbows are locked, and pause for a moment at the top of the movement.
4. Now, slowly and steadily lower your body until your chest is close to the ground.

Tips

• Exhale while you exert.
• Brace your core throughout your chest workout to keep it engaged.

Takeaways

Pushups are a fundamental exercise, one you should incorporate into your exercise routine for functional strength.

Doing variations on them — to focus on your triceps, for example — will spice things up and target different muscles

Best Push-Ups For Triceps To Build Bigger Arm At Home