For most of us, training arms was our first experience with weight training, a few bicep curls here and tricep extensions there. So, a lot of us are familiar with how to do the basics with upper body training. However, there are lots of other valuable exercises and pieces of equipment you could add to your home gym…

What is a Tricep Bar?

The Tricep Bar, also known and the hammer curl bar, is a small bar with a unique pronated grip. This is a much more diverse barbell than its name would have you believe.

Top 5 Tricep Bar Exercises

1 - Tricep Bar Front Raise

• Stand tall, with your shoulders back and down towards your bum with your hands in the middle of the handles, palms facing each other.

• Brace your body as if you are about to be punched in the stomach, to avoid unwanted movement during the lift.

• With your arms straight, pull the bar towards the sky, until you fists and elbows are in line with your shoulders.

• Take a brief pause before slowly lowering back down.

Benefits of the Tricep Bar Front Raise?

Tricep bar allows you to load the front raise heavier than a typical front raise with a dumbbell, because you can use two arms to move one weight with more control, instead of each arm lifting its own weight.

2 - Tricep Bar Bent Over Row

• Stand tall, with your shoulders back and down towards your bum with your hands in the middle of the handles, palms facing each other.

• Push your bum back to the wall behind you, showing your chest to the floor, to assume a hinge position, letting your arms hang loose towards the floor.

• Hold this hinged position and pull your elbows past your torso until the bar is touching your chest.

• Slowly lower the weight back down and repeat.

Benefits of the Tricep Bar Bent Over Row?

The tricep bar allows you to perform heavy bent over rows in a small space, unlike a larger barbell, making it perfect for a home gym or for performing rowing exercises in a busy gym.

3 - Overhead Tricep Extension

• Stand tall, with your shoulders back and down towards your bum with your hands in the middle of the handles, palms facing each other.

• Lift the bar to the sky so that your elbows are fully locked out.

• Lower the tricep bar, moving around your elbows, as if you are trying to scratch your back.

• Once you have lowered as far as you can, extend the elbows again by reaching to the sky.

Benefits of the Overhead Tricep Extension?

The overhead tricep extension strengthens the triceps but also is fantastic for improving upper body mobility by loading the shoulder through an externally rotated, abducted, flexed and thoracically extended position. Essentially, it helps you get strong shoulders at large ranges of motion, making your shoulders more functional.

4 - Tricep Bar Skull Crusher

• Lay on a bench, with your shoulders back and down towards your bum and the tricep bar above your head as if you are to do a bench press, with your arms locked out.

• Pull the bar down towards your face, thinking about pointing your elbows to the sky to keep your upper arms locked in place.

• Once you have gone as far as you can go, punch the weight back out reaching to the sky with your hands.

Benefit of the Tricep bar Skull Crusher?

This variation takes the mobility requirements of the overhead tricep extension out of the equation and thus may be a better variation for beginners or those still working on mobility.

5 - Tricep Bar Bicep Curl

• Stand tall, with your shoulders back and down towards your bum with your hands in the middle of the handles, palms facing each other.

• Pull the bar up towards your chest, keeping your elbows pinned down either side of your torso.

• Slowly lower the weight back down and repeat.

Benefits of the Tricep Bar Bicep Curl?

This allows you to load up your bicep curls heavily with two hands, without placing huge amounts of stress on the wrist, which can be a common issue for beginners using a straight bar.

Add these exercises to your upper body workout routine to improve your strength AND mobility, no matter how busy the gym or small the space!

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond.

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Tags: Equipment > Bars & Weight Plates ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Workout