12 Tricep Exercises for Women – Tricep Workouts Essentials
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Discover the essential triceps exercises for women that will help to tone up those upper arms.
The back of the upper arm is an area so many women want to firm up. Luckily, with healthy eating, a positive attitude and the right triceps exercises for women, you can help to strengthen and tone this area of the body.
To help you do all that, and feel more confident, we’ve created an amazing triceps workout that will specifically target the back of the arm to help build strength and tone up this often troublesome area. Check out the workout and keep scrolling to learn how to do the tricep exercises for women within the workout.
Tricep workout for women
Choose one tricep exercise for A, B and C to create your workout. Try to vary your tricep workout whenever you come back to it to make it more challenging and interesting.
What you’ll need: Light dumbbells and some floor space
Workout structure: Perform 12 reps of each triceps exercise. Move from exercise A, to B to C three times through. If you need to, leave a short break between exercises C and A to give your arms time to recover.
Your tricep exercises for women:
We’ve arranged these in order of difficulty. So if you’re starting out, begin with the first exercises for each point. Or, if you’re looking to progress, move through the movements to keep the workout challenging.
Tricep exercise A: Dumbbell floor press, alternating arm dumbbell floor press
Tricep exercise B: Knees push up, raised push up, push up, close grip push up, hand release push up
Tricep exercise C: Lying tricep extensions, tricep kickbacks, overhead tricep extension, single arm tricep kickbacks, tricep dips
Once you’ve selected your three tricep exercises for women, you’re ready for an amazing, toning workout. Still not sure about some of the movements? Check out our step-by-step guides below.
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Tricep exercises for women – step-by-step guides
1. Dumbbell floor press
- Lie on your back holding a dumbbell in each hand
- Rest your elbows on the floor, in line with your shoulders, so the dumbbells are held directly above your elbows
- Push the dumbbells up until your arms are straight and the weights are now above your shoulders
- Slowly lower the weights back down until your elbows are back on the floor in your starting position
- Push up to start the next rep
2. Alternating arm dumbbell floor press
- Lie on the floor on your back with a dumbbell in each hand
- Ensure your elbows are on the floor, in line with your shoulders
- Hold the dumbbells directly above the elbow so the arm forms a right angle at the elbow
- Keeping one arm in this position, push the other dumbbell up so the arm is now completely straight and the weight is directly above the shoulder
- Lower the weight back down so the elbow is on the floor again in the starting position
- Push with the other arm to start the next rep
Tip: On this exercise, be sure to perform 12 reps on each arm, rather than 12 overall. This will help you get the most out of the workout.
3. Knees push ups
- Take a cushion and kneel with your knees place on it
- Reach your hands out forward and plant them so your body is completely straight from knee to shoulder, and each hand is directly below your shoulders on the ground
- Keeping your core tight and your body straight, bend at the elbow to lower your chest to the ground
- Throughout the movement, aim to keep your elbows in and tight to your body. Avoid letting them flare outwards
- Once your chest has touched the ground, push up again, keeping your body straight throughout
- When your arms are straight again, you have completed a rep
4. Raised push up
- Using a bench, sturdy chair or sofa, place your hands on the raised surface, and step your feet back until you are straight from ankle to shoulder, and your hands are directly beneath your shoulders
- Keep your body straight and bend at the elbow to lower your chest to the bench
- Ensure your elbows are pulled in and are tight to the body throughout this movement
- Once your chest has touched the bench, push up again to return to the start position
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5. Push up
- Begin on your toes and hands, with your hands directly below your shoulders and your body straight from ankle to shoulder
- Bend at the elbow to lower your chest to the floor
- Ensure your body is completely straight by tightening your core, and that you keep your elbows in and tight to your body
- When you’ve touched your chest to the floor, push up again, maintaining that tight, straight core throughout
6. Close hand push up
- Start on your toes and hands, but this time bring your hands in an inch or so, so they’re less than shoulder width apart
- Keep your body straight from ankle to shoulder and bend at the elbow to lower your chest to the floor
- Once again, be sure to keep your elbows in so they don’t flare outwards
- Push up through your hands and straighten your arms to return to the start position
7. Hand release push up
- Place your hands at shoulder-width apart and balance on your toes in a press up position
- Bend at the elbow to lower your chest to the ground
- When your chest touches the ground, take your hands off the floor for a second, before placing them back in the same position and pushing up again, without bending your body or loosening the core
- When your arms are straight and you’re at the start position, begin the next rep
8. Lying tricep extension
- Lie on your back with a dumbbell in each hand
- Push the weights up so your arms are completely straight and the weights are directly in line with your shoulders
- Keeping your arm completely still from the shoulder to the elbow, bed at the elbow so you lower the weights slowly down until they are either side of your head
- In a controlled manner, push both back up so your arms are straight again and the weights are over your shoulders once more
Tip: Aim not to move any part of your arm, apart from hinging slowly at the elbow. This will really help to target the tricep
9.Tricep kickbacks
- Begin with a weight in each hand, standing with them at your sides
- Keep your elbows tucked in to your sides and bend your arm so your elbows are at a right angle and the weights are slightly in front of you
- From here, bend slightly at the waist so you’re leaning forward from the hips
- Keeping your upper arm completely still and your elbows stuck to your sides, straight your arms so you’re pushing the weights in a backwards motion
- Once your arms are straight, hinge at the elbow once more to bring the weights back in front of you
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10. Overhead tricep extension
- Take a weight in each hand and stand in a neutral position
- Raise the weights up and over your head so you’re now standing with your arms stretched straight upwards, the dumbbells directly above your shoulders and your palms facing inward
- Slowly, keep your arm completely still from shoulder to elbow, hinge at the elbow and bring the weights down behind your head
- From here, push up again and open up the elbow so your arms are completely straight again
11. Single arm tricep kickbacks
- Stand in a neutral position with your dumbbells by your sides
- Keep your elbows in tight and bring the weights in front of you so your arms are bent at a 90 degree angle
- Bend forward at the waist so you’re leaning from the hips with your legs slightly flexed
- Keeping your elbows still, push the weight back with one arm until it’s completely straight
- Bend at the elbow again to bring it back to the start position
- Straighten the other arm to perform the next rep
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12. Tricep dips
- Find a bench (or sofa or sturdy chair) and sit on it with your feet on the floor in front of you
- Reach down and place your hands around shoulder width apart on the bench
- Transfer the weight onto your feet and hands by sliding your butt off the bench
- Bend your elbows until our butt is a couple of inches off the floor, or your arm is at a 90 degree angle
- From here, push up through your hands to straighten your arms once more
If you need to buy dumbbells for your workout, check out these women’s dumbbells from Amazon
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The final word
We’ve rounded up some of the very best tricep exercises for women to ensure you’ve always got the most challenging and toning movements on hand for a great upper body workout. And, with different movements that range in difficulty, you can change it up as you get stronger to ensure you’re always challenging your body.
Think about performing this tricep workout twice a week and if it feels too easy, think about upping the weight or trying a different tricep exercise for women from our list.
Let us know how our triceps exercises for women worked for you and comment on this post! We’d love to hear from you.
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