Your upper arms consist of about two-thirds of your triceps. A solid triceps training therefore determines to a large extent the mass in your upper arms. The three-headed triceps is also trained by compound exercises such as bench press and shoulder press. In addition, you would do well to include some isolation exercises in your schedule, such as the (seated) French press.

WHICH MUSCLES?

The French press focuses on the most voluminous part of the triceps: the long head. This is used less in compound exercises, making the French press a valuable addition. To a lesser extent, the French press also trains the lateral and medial heads of the triceps.

The French press is essentially an isolation exercise, but in addition to the triceps, it also trains your shoulders, lower back, core and even your glutes to a small extent.

WHY THE FRENCH PRESS?

There are many effective (isolation) exercises for the triceps, as you can read in this article. So why do the French press? Well, the exercise has the following two advantages:

• As we have already seen, the long head is emphasized, making it a real exercise for mass;
• Research shows that training a muscle in a stretched, or lengthened, position results in greater growth than training a muscle in a shortened position. The French press involves placing your arms overhead, which fully stretches all three heads of the triceps.

Both benefits ensure that you train for maximum mass.

FRENCH PRESS VERSUS SKULL CRUSHERS

The French Press is very similar to skull crushers and works the triceps in a similar way. However, there are differences.

Traditionally, the French press is performed from a standing or seated position, while the skull crusher is performed while lying on a training bench.

Additionally, the French press involves a more significant stretch because the bar travels further, placing more tension on the long head.

With the skull crushers you don’t have to use your core as much.

Confusingly, the lying skull crushers as well as the lying triceps extensions are sometimes called lying French Press. We understand French Press to mean the seated or standing variant.

EXECUTION

To perform the French press, it is recommended to use an EZ curl bar for comfort, but a regular barbell will also work.

You can do this exercise sitting or standing, but standing will engage more of the stabilizing muscles in the abdominal area. Sitting will help you focus more on the triceps.

The instructions:

• Sit upright on a flat bench;
• Grab an EZ curl bar. Then do a few reps with a light or unloaded bar to get the movement pattern right;
• Load the bar with an appropriate amount of weight plates. Aim for a weight that allows you to do 10-15 reps;
• Grab the bar with an overhand grip, palms facing down and back. Your hands should be hip-width to shoulder-width apart;
• Keeping your back straight and your upper arms as perpendicular to the floor as possible, lower the EZ-bar behind your head by bending your elbows. Make sure to keep your core engaged to keep you stable. Go as far as you comfortably can or until you feel a deep stretch in your triceps;
• Push the EZ-bar towards the ceiling by straightening your elbows and return to the starting position.

Some more tips:

• Keep your body as still as possible throughout the movement. By only moving your forearms, you can get the most out of the French press;
• Flaring your elbow out to the sides can lead to elbow pain. Instead, try pointing your elbows toward the ceiling during each rep;
• Consciously trying to bring your elbows toward each other is a good way to make sure your elbows don’t accidentally drift apart. And again, the elbows should also remain pointed upward;
• Lock your elbows as you return to the top of the position;
• A common mistake is to let the shoulders rock back as the weight comes down behind the head. This movement also causes the elbow to move back, effectively taking the emphasis off the triceps.

PROGRAMMING

The average bodybuilder needs 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week. The triceps are already partly trained with compounds such as (narrow) bench presses, shoulder presses and dips. These count towards the training volume. In addition, do some isolation exercises and see this article for that . Do the seated French press once or twice a week with three sets each time.