- Overhead extensions may be a better exercise for building arm muscle than triceps pushdowns.
- New research suggests that lifting overhead lengthens the muscle for better gains.
Stop doing triceps pushdowns if you want bigger arms — overhead extensions may lead to significantly more muscle growth, even if you use less weight, according to a study published July 12 in the European Journal of Sport Science.
Researchers from Ritsumeikan University and the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya in Japan studied 21 men and women to compare two popular exercises for building strength and muscle.
The participants, who hadn't done any strength training for at least a year, underwent a 12 week training program focused on the triceps, the muscle group along the back of the arms.
For one arm, participants performed a triceps pushdown, starting with the arm in a neutral position by the side, and bending and straightening the elbow to move a weighted cable.
For the other arm, participants did an overhead extension, starting with the arm pointing upward, elbow bent, with the cable behind the neck and straightening the arm to pull the cable overhead.
Both types of training used progressive overload, increasing the weight each week to prompt the body to adapt.
By the end of the program, participants gained strength from both exercises, according to a measurement of their maximum effort lift.
However, the arm trained with overhead extensions grew 40% more than the arm doing pushdowns, according to MRI data.
Researchers theorized that the increase in muscle-building may have been because the triceps were lengthened more in the overhead position, creating more tension, even though participants were able to move heavy weight with the pushdowns.
Another hypothesis was that lifting the arm overhead decreases blood flow to the muscle, creating more stress (similar to blood flow restriction training) to produce growth, according to researchers.
The findings are important because lifting lower weights at the right angle and range of motion could help athletes build muscle and strength while preventing injury and stress on the body, especially the joints, the researchers wrote.
More research is needed to compare different joint angles and muscle lengths for optimal gains, and see which combinations of exercise might be more effective, they said.
Other exercises for building bigger, stronger arms include push-ups, dips, and pull-ups, according to personal trainer.
For best results, you should incorporate multiple types of exercise, including lengthening (eccentric), shortening (concentric), and static (isometric) exercise, experts previously told Insider.
And if you're working on getting a better range of motion, mobility exercises can help you prevent injury and feel more stable in your strength training to get the most of your workouts.