French seated dumbbell press for triceps. The French press with a barbell, seated or standing, is a triceps exercise for trained athletes. What are the benefits of performing the French variation while standing?

The standing EZ-bar French press exercise pumps up the long (back) head of the triceps, especially its bottom, giving it detail. Formative exercise.

Seated French press EZ-bar Maximum isolates the load on the long head of the triceps, located on the back of the arm. As a result, this muscle bundle increases in thickness and takes on clear, expressive shapes, which visually expands the upper part of the arm when viewed from the side.

The strength of the triceps brachii muscle, which straightens the arm at the elbow joint, largely determines success in badminton (hitting the shuttlecock from behind the head), volleyball (serving the ball and hitting the ball from behind the head), pole vaulting (especially at the moment of take-off from pole), gymnastics (performing handstands and various exercises on the uneven bars), boxing (straight blows), karate (punching from the body to the side and from top to bottom).

French EZ-bar press sitting (standing) - triceps exercise

1. Place the back of the bench upright, sit on the seat and place your feet on the floor. The trapezoids are pressed against the back of the bench. The back is straight and slightly arched at the lower back.

2. Grab the EZ bar with a close overhand grip, preferably on the curved parts of the bar (palms slightly turned towards each other and the distance between them is less than shoulder width).

3. Raise the barbell up so that the bar is directly above the top of your head. The arms and torso are fully straightened and are in the same vertical plane passing through the sides of the body. The chin is parallel to the floor or slightly raised up. This is the starting position.

4. Take a fairly deep breath and, holding your breath, bend your elbows and lower the bar behind your head.

5. Please note: throughout the entire set, the upper arms (from elbow to shoulder) and torso must remain motionless.

6. Lower the barbell behind your head until you feel your triceps stretch like strings. Then, without pausing, contract your triceps as hard as you can and lift the barbell back to the starting position.

7. Exhale only when the bar has passed the hardest part of the lift or when you have fully straightened your arms.

8. At the top of the exercise, take a short pause and tighten your triceps even more.

French press EZ-bar sitting (standing) - muscles

1. To avoid rounding your back, tighten your psoas muscles and maintain the natural, S-shaped curve of your spine.

2. Don't move your elbows! They should remain motionless throughout the entire exercise, as should your torso, shoulders and legs. All the movement that occurs is only flexion and extension of the arms at the elbow joint.

3. To achieve maximum contraction of the long head of the triceps and anconeus muscles (they are the focus of the load in this exercise), be sure to fully straighten your arms at the top of the exercise.

4. Compared to a straight bar, the EZ bar is much more comfortable, as it significantly reduces the load on the wrists due to the fact that the palms are turned towards each other.

6. Do not perform this exercise if your shoulder joints are not flexible enough and you find it difficult to bend and straighten your arms when your upper arms (elbow to shoulder) are straight up.

7. Do not lean your elbows forward during the exercise. This dangerously shifts the focus of the load from the triceps to the spine, which can lead to loss of balance.

8. If you find it difficult to keep the barbell balanced when doing the exercise while sitting, try doing it while standing. This will engage additional stabilizer muscles in the legs and torso, which will make it easier to hold the barbell overhead in balance.

Any gym goer wants to build up large and sculpted biceps. But not everyone knows that 2/3 of the volume of the arm falls on its antagonist - the triceps.

Many visitors to fitness centers are familiar with such an exercise as the French bench press with a barbell. What muscles work when performing it and what are the nuances of the technique? How to pump up big and strong arms, what types of French press are there and what can replace it? About this and more in this article.

The French press is one of the main exercises for training the triceps. To better understand the nuances of the technique of this wonderful exercise, you need to understand how it is carried out. Let's look at the main aspects related to the anatomy of the triceps.

The triceps brachii muscle (triceps) is located on the back of the humerus, being an antagonist to the biceps. As the name suggests, the muscle consists of three heads (bundles): long (internal), lateral (external) and medial (middle). The long head originates from the scapula, and the lateral and medial heads are attached to the humerus. All three heads form a single tendon that attaches to the ulna (upper part of the forearm).

As already noted, the triceps account for approximately 2/3 of the shoulder volume, so special attention should be paid to its development. Genetically, the triceps can be longer (with a short tendon) or shorter and more convex (with a long tendon). This feature is congenital and cannot be corrected through training.

Functions of the triceps

Thanks to three heads, one of which is attached to the scapula, the muscle performs several functions:

• forearm extension: straightening the arm at the elbow;
• shoulder extension: lowering the arm in front of you;
• shoulder adduction: lowering the arm to the side.

Let us immediately note that the main movement through which the triceps is trained is the extension of the forearm. The French bench press with a barbell, like other exercises for the triceps brachii muscle, is physiologically an extension of the arms at the elbow joint.

French press technique

The technique of performing the French press with a barbell while standing and sitting is based on the same principles. Let's take the standing option as a basis.

Progress:

1. Take the barbell with a grip narrower than shoulder width (choose an individually comfortable grip width) and lift the barbell above your head with your arms almost straight (the elbow joint should always be included).
2. As you inhale, smoothly lower the barbell behind your head, but no more than to a right angle between the forearm and the humerus: the movement is carried out exclusively in the elbow joint.
3. As you exhale, with a powerful upward movement, almost completely straighten your arms at the elbow joint, keeping your tense shoulders motionless: the movement is carried out exclusively in the elbow joint, which always remains slightly engaged.
4. If necessary, repeat steps 2 and 3 until the planned number of repetitions is completed or until the correct exercise technique begins to break down.

Important nuances

• For most people, it makes sense to use a curved bar: its design allows the movement to be performed without kinks in the wrists or hyperextension of the ligaments.
• Inertia should be avoided by performing the movement under control, without jerking.
• It is important to watch your elbows; your arms should not “spread” to the sides. If this happens, then you need to either reduce the weight of the weight or change the regular bar to an EZ (curved) one.
• The weight of the weight should not be allowed to be too large, as this will entail a violation of the technique of performing the exercise and the inability to do the specified number of repetitions without cheating.
• As already noted, the angle between the shoulder and forearm should always be greater than 90 degrees, i.e. don't become sharp.
• If you experience the slightest pain in the elbow or shoulder joints, you must immediately complete the exercise and understand the causes of the pain by contacting a specialist. This will help you stay healthy and avoid injury.
• The standing French press is the most traumatic form of this exercise. If there is the slightest discomfort or a feeling of hyperextension of any part of the body, it is advisable to replace the standing/sitting press with a lying option, which is biomechanically most comfortable.

It is recommended to do a French bench press with a barbell, as mentioned above, if discomfort or pain occurs when performing it while standing or sitting. In its classic form, it is performed on a horizontal bench.

Exercise technique:

1. Lie with your back on a horizontal bench, having previously asked your partner or coach to place the pre-assembled barbell on your arms, which are almost straightened at the elbow joint (here the rule about constant engagement of the elbows also applies, as in the option described above).
2. While inhaling, smoothly lower the barbell so that at the lowest point of the amplitude the bar is above the forehead; the movement is carried out mainly in the elbow joint.
3. As you exhale, with a powerful upward movement, almost completely straighten your arms at the elbow joint, which always remains slightly engaged.
4. If necessary, repeat steps 2 and 3 until the planned number of repetitions is completed or until the moment when there is no strength left to continue the exercise technically correctly.

Nuances of technology

• All recommendations that were given for the standing/sitting option must be followed.
• In order to shift the emphasis to the long head, you can move your arms back a little in the starting position - the shoulder will not be perpendicular to the body, but forms an angle of 45 degrees with it. Accordingly, in the lower part of the amplitude, the bar descends not to the forehead, but to the crown of the head.
• To shift the load onto the long head, you can perform the exercise not on a horizontal, but on an inclined (up) bench. In this case, the starting position already creates the necessary angle between the body and the shoulder.

Bench press

The barbell bench press is a basic exercise for developing the triceps, as this muscle plays a leading role in the upper part of the amplitude when squeezing the barbell from the chest. But if you use a narrow grip, i.e. If you take a barbell narrower than shoulder width, the load will fall almost entirely on the triceps brachii muscle.

The advantage of the barbell is its widespread availability and reasonable price when compared with the cost of exercise equipment. It is also one of the most versatile sports equipment. Today, many people prefer to purchase a barbell and exercise on their own, setting up a sports corner at home or in the garage.

Both the French and close-grip bench press are among the most effective triceps exercises at home, provided you have the appropriate equipment. But it’s worth considering that it’s always better to practice with a partner who can back you up at any time, which significantly reduces the risk of injury.

Dumbbells

You can perform French presses with dumbbells. You can do it sitting or standing, or lying down. With one dumbbell or two. Since almost everyone can afford to buy a pair of dumbbells, triceps exercises at home with them are practiced by many fitness and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts. Let's consider, as an example, performing this exercise while sitting with one dumbbell, because... This is the most common and safest option.

1. Sitting on a bench, with your feet firmly planted on the floor, lift a dumbbell above your head with straightened arms, holding it with the palms of both hands at the top edge.
2. While inhaling, slowly lower the weight behind your head until a right angle is formed at the elbow joint. It is necessary to ensure that the elbows do not “spread” to the sides.
3. As you exhale, use a powerful triceps force to return the projectile to its original position.
4. Repeat points 2 and 3 until the planned number of repetitions is completed or until the moment when there is no strength left to continue the exercise technically correctly.

Let's sum it up

The high effectiveness of the standing French press exercise with a barbell is undeniable. This is confirmed by many athletes. You can also perform the French press with dumbbells, which makes it extremely popular, including among those who prefer to exercise at home.

Most of the shoulder volume (two thirds) comes from the triceps muscle. A common mistake made by beginners is to over-train the biceps, since they are half the size of their antagonist. You should always remember that the main thing on the path to physical perfection is to preserve, or better yet strengthen and increase your health. A good warm-up and proper exercise technique will help with this.

Ours to you with a brush, ladies and gentlemen! Today is Wednesday, on the calendar 1 July, and we will cover the technical side of the pumping process, namely, we will talk about the French standing press. After reading, you will learn everything about the muscle atlas, the advantages and technique of performing the overseas exercise, we will also get acquainted with some practical calculations, learn how and what is best to do to achieve better results.

So, make yourself comfortable, let's begin.

Standing French press. What, why and why?

To be honest, I don’t know what kind of weirdo came up with the idea of ​​calling the exercise the French press. Why exactly, why not Russian or, at worst, Bab-el-Mandeb? :). In my opinion, the latter sounds much more fun, but let’s leave the etymology of the word and get to the essence. We are all accustomed to working in the gym with standard exercises in their classic version, and when it comes to rearranging them or introducing any innovations, we are hostile to this. And really, there’s no point in changing anything if everything suits me and, most importantly, everything works. Such a conservative approach to bodybuilding is not good, and in order to constantly develop and progress, you need to introduce new tricks and make some changes to the training. Changing the angle of inclination and position are some of these options for variety. We'll talk about the latter later.

Note:

For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.

Muscle atlas

The French press is an isolation exercise that primarily targets the triceps brachii muscle. The standing/sitting position, in contrast to the lying position, allows you to use a greater range of motion and stretch more strongly, stimulating the growth of the triceps.

The muscle ensemble of the exercise includes:

• targeted – all three (lateral, medial, long) triceps heads;
• synergists - no;
• stabilizers – anterior deltoid, pectoralis major (clavicular head), wrist flexors.

The complete muscle atlas in the picture version looks like this:

Advantages

By performing the standing French press, you will receive the following benefits:

• general development of triceps strength and mass;
• complete isolation of the triceps and impact on all three heads at once (especially the biggest long one);
• larger ROM (range of motion) in comparison with the classic version, better stimulation of the triceps;
• improved results in pressing movements (bench press, from the chest);
• more toned arms (putting “jelly” under them);
• greater stability of the shoulder and elbow joints;
• greater detail of the triceps brachii muscle;
• elimination of imbalance/asymmetry in the development of triceps muscles.

Execution technique

Despite the fact that the exercise is isolation, it belongs to the class of complex ones, so it makes sense to consider step by step the technique of its implementation.

Step #0.

Take the barbell (straight or EZ bar) with a close grip and lift it above your head until your arms are completely straight. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and point your elbows slightly inward. This is your starting position.

Step #1.

As you inhale, begin to bend your elbows, keeping them close to your head. Lower the bar in an arc behind you until your elbows are perpendicular to the floor and your forearms touch your biceps. Using your triceps, return the bar to the starting position and exhale. Repeat the specified number of times.

In the picture version it looks like this:

In motion like this:

Variations

There are tons of variations of the French press exercise, in particular, you can use these:

• with an EZ bar sitting on a bench;
• sitting on a bench with a dumbbell behind your head;
• with a barbell sitting on a bench at an upward angle;
• sitting from the lower block of the simulator.

Secrets and subtleties

To get the most out of the exercise, follow these guidelines:

• lower the barbell down slowly and under control as much as possible;
• at the lowest point, hold for 1-2 accounts;
• do not spread your elbows too far to the sides;
• do not cheat by helping yourself with your body, remember - only your forearms move;
• do not use heavy weights;
• don’t nod off, look ahead;
• recommended number of approaches 3-4 , reps 8-10 .

Actually, that's all in theory, now some comparative calculations.

Arm extensions with a dumbbell behind the head VS with a barbell.What's better?

I think you are wondering which version of the French press is more promising in terms of triceps development. The kinematics of movement of both projectiles are similar, and therefore there is no need to say that one exercise is better than the other. As for the weight of the weight and the comfort of taking it, the option with a dumbbell behind the head (due to a slightly shorter lever) allows you to use a larger load and, as a result, load the triceps more strongly. In addition, dumbbells provide less stress on the joints. Holding a barbell above your head is not always convenient (heavy weight pulls back) and she “breaks” her wrists.

Therefore, all other things being equal, arm extensions with a dumbbell behind the head are the more preferable option.

Standing French head press VS Bench French press. What's better?

The long head of the triceps is the main contributor to the mass of the triceps brachii muscle and therefore it is important to know how best to load it.

Triceps exercises that place your arms above your head fully stretch the long head because... the latter is not attached to the humerus, but is attached to the scapula. Stretching the muscle allows you to contract with greater force, so in the version with a head press, the triceps work harder. Research shows that the French bench press also stretches the long head, but significantly less than the first option, shifting the emphasis to the lateral part. Thus, in general, extensions of the arms behind the head (and in particular the standing/seated French press) will give your arms more volume than lying options.

The most effective strategy for training triceps is the following. First executed 1-2 exercises with emphasis on the long head, then 1 exercise on medial and lateral.

Afterword

Today we were introduced to the standing French press exercise. Now there is one more tool in your hand arsenal, there is only one thing left - to take the last one into service. Therefore, we finish reading the lines and go into the hall to test the theory in practice. That's it, you can blow :)…

PS. What exercises for triceps do you use?

P.P.S. Did the project help? Then leave a link to it in your social network status - plus 100 points for karma, guaranteed :).

With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.

- this is the most “basic” version of the French press, which allows you to work out the target muscle group in the most accentuated manner. Pump up your triceps This exercise is easiest because the elbows are in the most comfortable position, which provides better isolation of the triceps bundles, and also allows for better stretching of the muscle fibers. At the same time, the standing position allows you to swing the weight a little if the athlete is already ready for “cheating”, although the correct one, of course, is always better.

The standing French press is also good because a comfortable position of the joints provides not only better muscle pumping, but also wears out the joints themselves less, which, of course, is most important in the long term! Despite the fact that the exercise is performed standing, the spine is completely safe, because the athlete does not use very large training weights.

Here you should pay attention to the fact that the standing French press is an isolating exercise, although it is often performed as a “base”, which can cause injury to the elbow joint. In any case, the wear and tear on the elbow joint will greatly increase, so to avoid this, you should first do the bench press with a narrow grip, which will tire the triceps.

Work of muscles and joints

The standing French press, as noted above, provides a very comfortable position for the elbow joint, which makes it possible to very well emphasize the load on the triceps bundles. Also, since the entire load falls exclusively on the triceps, it is possible to use all its bundles, which is especially important for us, since it is usually difficult to load the internal bundle.

In addition to the effectiveness of the French standing press, there is also such a factor as safety, which is ensured by a number of things, but primarily by the fact that the bar does not press from above, but pulls the arms down, due to which the joints wear out less. But it is also important that it is much easier to maintain the position of your elbows while standing than lying down.

French bench press - diagram

1) Stand with the barbell, holding it at waist level, with your legs in a scissors position.
2) Squat down a little and throw the barbell over your shoulders, from where you should squeeze it out, as when doing a military press, this position is the starting point.
3) Turn your elbows parallel to each other so that they look forward and bend them slightly.
4) Exhaling, slowly lower the bar as low as possible, but do not linger at the bottom point.
5) Having reached the limit of muscle stretching, with a powerful push, while exhaling, straighten your arms to the starting position, but leave your elbows slightly bent.

French Press - Notes

1) During the exercise, the back should be slightly bent back and the shoulder blades should be brought together. This is necessary not so much to remove the load from the spine, since the weight of the bar is not large, but so that you better control the distribution of the load.
2) The previous technique completely allows you to isolate the triceps, but, nevertheless, you cannot apply force with your shoulders, so they should be fixed in one position.
3) Don’t move your neck, your head should look forward all the time so that you don’t lose your breath.
4) The standing French press should be performed in the 12-15 rep range, which can cause muscle failure, so ask your partner to back you up so you don't have to drop the barbell.
5) The knee joints should also be bent so that the load is distributed over the quadriceps, which, again, is important not for the safety of the joints, but for better stability.

Anatomy

From an anatomical point of view, the standing French press is a very convenient exercise. Firstly, it isolates the triceps from other muscle groups, which allows you to better load the lagging bundles, primarily the internal triceps bundle. Secondly, the weight of the barbell stretches the muscles and joints, rather than putting pressure on them from above, which provides greater safety and diversifies the load compared to other exercises. In addition, the standing position allows you to “swing” the weight and “finish off” the muscles in the last rep failure.

The joints also benefit because the French standing press allows you to choose the most comfortable body position without limiting the athlete to the size of the bench or anything else. Together with the light weight and other advantages, this exercise can be called the safest for the elbow joint, along with

Video One Arm French Press

Analysis of the exercise

Anatomy of exercise - which muscles work

Benefits of Exercise

Flaws

Preparing for the exercise

The first rule for safely training triceps using presses is that the elbow joints must be pre-warmed. In addition to joint gymnastics, you should always perform a warm-up approach with a light weight apparatus.

In addition, preliminary stretching of the pectoral muscles makes it possible to work at maximum amplitude.

When performing a seated bench press, use the help of a partner - ask him to deliver the apparatus after you take the starting position on the bench.

Proper execution

Errors

Efficiency Tips

Inclusion in the program

As part of triceps training, the first exercise is bench presses, which are most often performed by beginners. For experienced athletes, in most cases this is an auxiliary exercise, the purpose of which is to finish off the muscles after working with heavy weights. As an exception, the press can be used as a main triceps exercise after a global pectoral workout, during which the triceps are already significantly fatigued.

This movement is characterized by a high-repetition mode of work - 12-15 repetitions. At the same time, the selection of weight in the exercise should be taken with full responsibility, since it is extremely easy to “plant” the elbows. To effectively stimulate the triceps, it is enough to perform 3-4 sets of presses.

Contraindications

Some people consider the French press to be a killer exercise for the elbows. However, adherence to technique and adequate selection of loads will preserve the health of the joints and allow the athlete to progress for a long time.

However, in some situations, performing bench presses is still undesirable - in case of previous injuries to joints and ligaments, we recommend excluding this element from the program at least for the duration of rehabilitation.

How to replace the exercise

In addition to classic presses with an EZ barbell, athletes can practice variations of the exercise with a plate from a barbell, from a lower block, or in special simulators, which give a good effect and add variety to the training process.