Preserve your elbows now thank Joe later! @hypertrophycoach ・・・ Can I tell you a secret? We're friends right? I can trust you? Ok confession time: You know all the seemingly "neat looking" exercises I post from time to time for arms? With cuffs? And cables? And one arm braced, sideways, and backward? I hate them. (Gasp). Having to take the time to set that *** up, train one arm at a time...fauk. I hate it. It pushes my patience to the limit. And it literally makes me angry just typing about it right now. ••• So why bother with it? Well, there's only one thing I hate more than setting up those exercises: Fucked elbows. And not being able to get my arms to keep growing. ••• I like cambered bar skull crushers, overhead DB triceps extensions, weighted dips and close-grip presses. They are fun. They are "manly". Require little set up and I can hit both arms at the same time. I did all of them, for over a decade. Religiously. Tracking weights in log books, sometimes 1/4 pound at a time (yes, I own the platemates). My form was pretty AF, even then. BUT, despite those being the "best" exercises for triceps, my elbows eventually ended up fkd. ••• Why? My elbows did not PERFECTLY align with the direction force was being applied. Here's the test, if you're using gravity (DBs and barbbells). For skull crushers and overhead extensions your upper arm needs to be perfectly perpendicular to the ground. For close-grip presses and dips, your forearm needs to remain perpendicular to the ground. The entire ROM. So next time you do them, check. Even if they are even SLIGHTLY off, eventually, your elbows will be fkd. (And "they don't hurt now" is not a good reason to keep doing them). ••• If you can maintain the above mentioned positions, then those may be great exercises for you. That's why it is idiotic to imply those exercises are "good or bad". They will only be something FOR YOU. That's also why I think it's also ridiculous to say an exercise "is the best for..." any body part. When you understand how many things there are between a load in your hand, and the muscle you're trying to grow, and how much those things can vary from person to person.
