Lying Close-Grip Barbell Triceps Press to Chin

Execution

1. Brace your belly with both feet planted on the floor so the body cannot rock.
2. Inhale and lower the bar along a slight arc, elbows pointing at the ceiling and staying there.
3. Keep lowering until the bar lightly touches your chin, with your head still comfortably tipped back.
4. Exhale and press the bar back along the same arc to the position over your chest, squeezing the triceps at the top.
5. Keep the upper arms still for the whole set, with the movement coming only from the elbow.
6. Have a spotter close by if you are working near your top weight, since the bar travels close to your face.
7. When the bar will not go back up, do not try to hold it over your face: bend the elbows so it keeps travelling past the top of your head and set it down on the floor behind the bench, or let the spotter take the bar.

Quick cues

• Bar arcs down toward the chin.
• Elbows point straight at the ceiling.
• Head tips back, relaxed not tense.
• Upper arms stay still all set.
• Get a spotter when it's heavy.

Common faults

• Fault: Lowering the bar straight to the forehead instead of arcing to the chin

  Fix: Slow down and actively guide the bar backward, level with the chin.

• Fault: Training heavy near the face with no spotter

  Fix: Have a spotter stand ready to take the ends of the bar, or drop to a load you can control safely alone.

• Fault: The elbows splaying open as the bar nears the chin

  Fix: Drop one weight increment and rehearse the path empty-handed to lock the elbow direction in.

• Fault: Bridging the hips off the bench for momentum

  Fix: Root the feet into the floor, press the glutes into the bench and lower the load if the hips still lift.