Muscles worked
The triceps kickback trains your triceps, and all three heads straighten the elbow. The back of your shoulders and your back muscles hold your upper arms in place along your body, while your trunk keeps your upper body still in the hinged position. The resistance is uneven. At the start, with your forearms hanging straight down, there is almost no load at all, and the exercise is hardest when your arms are straight. That is why light dumbbells are enough.
Common mistakes
- Never reaching straight arms. With a dumbbell that is too heavy, the movement stops halfway and you miss the part where your triceps work hardest. Pick a lighter weight and straighten your arm fully on every rep.
- Rounding your back. The hinged position is easy to lose as the set goes on. Keep your back flat with your chest up, or support one hand and knee on a bench and work one arm at a time.
- Rushing the reps. Fast reps let the dumbbell fly up on momentum. Hold briefly with your arms straight and lower slowly.
Variations and alternatives
- The triceps pushdown gives your triceps resistance through the whole movement, not only at the end.
- The overhead triceps extension with a dumbbell, when you want to give the long head of the triceps more to do.
- The skull crusher when you want to lift heavier.
- Bench dips train your triceps at home with nothing more than a bench or a chair.
Sets and reps
The kickback is a light isolation exercise and suits higher reps. To build muscle, 10 to 15 reps over 2 to 3 sets works well, and 12 to 20 for endurance. Heavy, low-rep sets do not suit it, as a heavy dumbbell forces you to swing straight away. It often fits last in the session, once your triceps have already worked in the pressing exercises. Read more in the guide to sets and reps.
Add reps first. The jump to the next dumbbell is often big for a single triceps, so only move up once you reach the top of your range on every set, with 1 to 3 reps in reserve. Log your weight and reps so you know what to beat next time. That is progressive overload on a small scale.