Bench Press Tricep Fatigue Explained!

Failing a 225lbs bench press working set because your triceps are tired is frustrating.

• You want to increase your bench press max
• You want to gain quality muscle mass

In this article, we will discuss some of the pitfalls of bench press tricep fatigue and how several solutions on how to continuing progress in strength and size even if your triceps want to give up.

Bench press tricep fatigue

Beginners may experience more triceps fatigue due to being untrained. Many lifters will experience some bench press triceps with a narrow grip and during the midpoint and lockout of the bench press.

You need to work on strength and work capacity in order to fix this issue.

Finish your main working sets and get straight into tricep accessories to fix this issue:

1. If you are on a heavy bench press day, do heavy tricep work
2. If you are on a lighter bench day, do tricep work from 12-25 reps— your choice.

What accessories are best for working on triceps:

• Skullcrushers
• Tricep extensions with cables
• Tricep extensions with bands
• Tricep pushdowns with cables
• Dips
• Diamond pushups
• Crossbody tricep extensions, cables or bands
• Overhead tricep extensions
• Dumbbell tricep kickbacks

If you are still considering a bench press variation to work on your triceps, these are the best bench press for triceps:

• Close grip bench press
• Floor press
• JM presses

It can also be possible that you are developing an overuse tricep injury, creating premature bench press tricep fatigue.

Continue reading on why this is the cause and how to address your individual concerns.

Bench press tricep injury

You have a bench press tricep injury due to one or more of the following—

1. Using too much weight
2. Not warming up enough
3. Doing too many tricep accessory volume
4. Not recovering enough

1. Using too much weight

If you using too much weight, it can be quite easy to overexert your triceps.

This will lead to pain during the lockout and this type of pain just doesn't "go away."

You will feel some weird sensation/pain with every elbow extension or lockout of an exercise.

The solutions—

• Taking time off from the bench press
• Doing very light-weight pain free tricep movements
• If pain has still not improved after several weeks, seek a medical professional

(An early warning might be a bench press elbow pop.)

2. Not warming up enough

Lack of warmups ties into using too much weight too soon.

Your body is not ready to press weight and hurt itself.

(One reason why you may have a sore upper back from bench presses.)

My take— many lifters do not have enough warmups in their routine, creating long-term deficiencies in scapula health and tricep strength.

Here is one suggestion you can do to make sure you are:

1. Working on your weaknesses in the bench press
2. Increase work capacity
3. Stay injury-free

In this sample warm-up routine, pick 2 exercises that include your weaknesses and 1 bench press related movement.

Perform each exercise for 25 reps for 4 cycles without rest before your main bench press workout.

You can also use the same warmups if your arms give out before your chest.

Most likely, you are lacking:

• Work capacity - fixed with more volume and accessories
• Strength - fixed with a weakness focused warmup
• Time to develop the two above

3. Doing too many tricep accessory volume

This is how I injured my triceps.

I was doing too many tricep bar rollovers and the angle was too steep.

I tried to push past discomfort and ended up having elbow discomfort when performing any deep elbow flexion, right where the tricep tendons attach to my ulna.

Solutions here—

• Taking some time off
• Lightweight pain free tricep movements
• Massage
• Ice/heat

4. Not recovering enough

If you have a bench press tricep injury, there is a good chance that you did not recover well from your last session.

• Sleeping 8+ hours each night?
• Meeting your daily macros consistently?
• Stress levels low?
• Hormones balanced?

While lifting weights may seem like a 1-2 hour routine, it is a 24-hour process for your body.

Sleep is probably the most common culprit because both quality and quantity matter.

Sleep hygiene is important too but you need to decide what factors are affecting your personal life and go from there. 

Do not let the bench press hurt your triceps by making one of more of the errors listed above.

Recover well. 

Be strategic about tricep focused movements.

Watch your bench press grow.

(If your lats are not growing, do not let them lag behind!)

Bench press triceps more than chest

Doing a close grip bench should stimulate more triceps than chest.

For most people, doing bench presses alone will not stimulate triceps enough as most people's chest is stronger and bigger than their arms due to everyday activities.

But you probably done hundreds of triceps extensions and pushdowns

Are you ready for a new challenge— the 6 rep tricep workout

You read that right, just 6 reps for 1 exercise.

A few instructions— pick a tricep exercise and perform it as slowly as you can as you move through the entire movement.

At the end of the tricep exercise, flex your triceps as hard as you can for 2-3 seconds before you slowly release and slowly move through the exercise again in the reverse direction.

Then, perform the 3 reps.

• The 1st rep - You are just feeling for muscle contraction. This will be referred to as the tune-in rep.
• The 2nd rep - The hardest and most painful and will require the most concentration
• The 3rd rep - Not as painful since there is some endorphin release

As the pain and lactic acid build, you will be tempted to speed up to get through this whole thing.

You have to go past tired if you want to improve.

What is this 6 rep tricep accessory workout supposed to do?

1. Builds discipline
2. Builds pain tolerance
3. Minimum joint stress
4. Recruit and use new motor units that was recently found
5. Easy to recover from

You will experience shaking and your body trying to find new motor units to recruit to complete the task.

Stay with it. 

You are almost home free.

Done.

Take a 3 minute break in between.

• After some rest, follow up with 2 reps.
• Finish with 1 rep and that will conclude this tricep accessory

In the 2nd set with 2 reps,

• It will be more demanding
• Endorphins are already there

In the 3rd set with 1 rep

• It will be the easiest
• Stay focused though

Recap

A big, respectable bench requires strong triceps.

All 3 triceps tendon attach on the ulna, or else how could it activate?

1. The lateral head is the bump you see on the outside
2. The medial head is underneath the long head and lateral head
3. The long head attaches from the ulna to the scapula

Here is a secret tricep exercise now that you know that the long head of the triceps is a two joint muscle— Shrug your shoulders while you perform your tricep extensions

This forces your tricep tendon to shorten even more, placing more emphasis on the long head of the triceps.

If you want a big bench press, do not let your long head of the triceps hold you back before you neglected your anatomy.