What you'll gain
The fixed path means the triceps can be loaded with no balance demand at all.
Simple to teach and quick to adjust between users in a circuit.
Supports pressing strength by training elbow extension directly.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Adjust the seat so your upper arms rest flat on the pad and your shoulders stay down.
- 2
Sit with your back against the support and your feet flat on the floor.
- 3
Take the handles with a neutral grip and start with the elbows bent.
- 4
Brace your abs so the lower back stays against the pad.
- 5
Exhale and extend your elbows to push the handles forward.
- 6
Stop just short of lockout, then return the handles slowly and repeat.
Common Mistakes
Locking the elbows hard at the end of each rep, which shifts load onto the joint.
Arching the lower back to press the handles, which recruits the trunk instead of the arms.
Letting the upper arms lift off the pad, so the shoulders help the triceps.
Turning the head to watch the stack, which puts the neck in a loaded rotated position.
About This Exercise
The machine tricep extension seats you with the upper arms braced and the hands on neutral grip handles, then asks for one thing: straighten the elbows. Because the frame fixes the shoulder and the path of the handles, the triceps work without the balance and stabilizing demands of a free weight extension, and the load changes a plate at a time. Stopping just short of lockout keeps tension on the muscle instead of parking it on the elbow joint. The abs stay braced so the lower back does not arch as you press the handles away. In a library this is the low skill triceps clip that suits any machine based program. It fits beginner arm sessions, pressing support blocks in strength templates, and circuit content where a fixed path keeps form consistent across users.
Looking for an exercise animation collection for your app, coaching platform, or content workflow? MoveKit gives you consistent quality across every movement so your product feels cohesive from first launch through scale.
Build faster with related MoveKit resources
Machine Tricep Extension
Seated machine triceps extension that drives the handles forward on a fixed path with the arms supported.
Need more than one animation?
Choose a focused 104-exercise pack or unlock all 412, with commercial licensing included.
Specifications
Built for
- Beginner arm sessions in a training app.
- Pressing support blocks in strength program templates.
- Machine circuit content for commercial gym plans.
- Triceps option on a machine-filtered browse page.
Muscles Worked
Details
License Includes
Ski Erg
$4.99Standing double-pole pulls on a ski ergometer, hinging at the hips to drive both handles down past the thighs.
Smith Machine Close Grip Bench Press
$4.99A close-grip bench press on the Smith machine that bias-loads the triceps — the guided take on the classic triceps mass-builder.
Barbell Close Grip Bench Press
$4.99A narrow-grip horizontal press that loads the triceps hard while still working the chest — the heaviest triceps lift in the gym.
Bench Dips
$4.99A bodyweight triceps dip off a bench or chair that builds arm pushing strength — the go-to home and hotel-room arm exercise.
Cable Bar Pushdown
$4.99A standing triceps pushdown using a straight bar attachment — the most efficient way to isolate the triceps with cables.
Cable Rope Overhead Tricep Extension
$4.99Overhead rope extension from a high pulley that stretches the triceps long head before every elbow extension.