How to Do Tricep Pushdowns
A tricep pushdown is a triceps isolation exercise on a high cable pulley. Hold a straight bar overhand at shoulder width, pin your elbows to your sides and push the bar down until your arms are straight. It trains all three heads of the triceps. Most lifters do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps.
- 1Start. Pulley at the top, overhand grip on a straight bar. Elbows pinned to your sides and bent, bar at chest height.
- 2Bottom. Keep your upper arms still and push the bar down until your arms are straight, then let it rise under control.
Watch 3 video demonstrations
Find more video demonstrations in the Gravitus app
How to do a tricep pushdown
- Set the pulley to the top notch and clip on a straight bar.
- Grab the bar overhand with your hands about shoulder width apart. Stand close to the stack with your feet hip-width apart and lean forward slightly from the hips.
- Pull the bar down until your elbows are at your sides and your forearms are about level with the floor. This is the start.
- Keep your upper arms still and push the bar down by straightening your elbows until your arms are straight.
- Let the bar rise over 2 seconds until your forearms are level again, without letting the plates touch.
Which attachment to use
Gravitus lifters log the same weight on a straight bar and a V-bar. They log less on the rope, and less again with a reverse grip. The handle changes your grip and how much you can lift, not which muscle works: triceps activity did not differ between three handle types in one pushdown study (Rendos 2016), and a 2024 review found little evidence that any grip targets one head (Vargas-Molina 2024).
Straight bar vs V-bar vs rope
| Attribute | Straight bar | V-bar | Rope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grip | Palms down | Palms angled in | Palms facing |
| Weight | The most | Same as the bar | Less than the bar |
| At the bottom | Hands fixed | Hands fixed | Hands split past your thighs |
| Best for | Heavy sets, steady progress | Sore wrists, heavy sets | Higher reps, a longer finish |
Pick the one that feels best on your wrists and elbows. Against a push-up, the rope drew 74% of the triceps activity and the straight bar 67%, a gap smaller than the spread between lifters (Boehler 2011). Use the bar or V-bar for your heaviest sets and the rope if your joints prefer it.
How much weight should you tricep pushdown?
On Gravitus, the median man lifts 85 lb (37.5 kg) for 10 reps on the tricep pushdown, and the median woman 40 lb (18 kg).
- Most lift
- 60 to 120 lb
- Top 10% lift
- 160 lb or more
- Starting out
- under 60 lb
- Most lift
- 30 to 60 lb
- Top 10% lift
- 80 lb or more
- Starting out
- under 30 lb
- Most lift
- 27.5 to 55 kg
- Top 10% lift
- 72.5 kg or more
- Starting out
- under 27.5 kg
- Most lift
- 14 to 27.5 kg
- Top 10% lift
- 35 kg or more
- Starting out
- under 14 kg
Muscles worked
Pushdown or overhead? What the research says
Overhead extensions grew the triceps more than pushdowns in a 12-week study. In Maeo 2023, 21 adults trained one arm with cable pushdowns and the other with cable overhead extensions, 5 sets of 10 twice a week. The overhead arm grew 19.9% in the whole triceps against 13.9% for the pushdown arm, and 28.5% against 19.6% in the long head, while lifting 34 to 39% less weight. A shorter 6-week study in 9 novice women found the same growth from both (Stasinaki 2018).
The pushdown still grew every head of the triceps. Three claims about it the research does not back:
- Pushdowns skip the long head. With the arm at your side, the long head produced more force and activity than the lateral and medial heads (Kholinne 2018). Measured against a push-up, bar and rope pushdowns drew more of the long head's activity than of the lateral head's (Boehler 2011).
- A reverse grip targets the medial head. Surface EMG cannot reliably record the medial head, which lies under the other two (Vargas-Molina 2024). One study that tested a palms-up pushdown found more long head activity and fewer reps than palms down (Villalba 2024).
- The cable keeps constant tension, so squeeze at the bottom. The stack pulls with the same force, but its leverage changes. Standing close, the cable runs almost parallel to your forearms at lockout, so the bottom is the lightest part of the rep. It pulls hardest with your forearms level, at the top. Control the top of every rep, and take a half step back to keep some load at lockout.
Sets, reps and progression
Stop each set 0 to 2 reps short of failure. Sets taken close to failure build muscle across a wide range of reps (Schoenfeld 2021), so pick a range you can keep strict. The pushdown arm in Maeo 2023 did 5 sets of 10 twice a week. Do pushdowns after your presses, and add an overhead extension on another day or in the same session.
Stack jumps of 5 to 10 lb (2.5 to 5 kg) are big for the triceps. Add reps first: when every set reaches the top of your range, move up one pin and drop back to the bottom of the range.
Common mistakes
-
Elbows drifting forwardYour shoulders and lats start pushing the bar. Keep your elbows at your sides for the whole set.
-
Leaning over the barYour body weight moves the bar, not your triceps. Lean forward only slightly, and go lighter.
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Cutting the top shortThe top is where the triceps is stretched and the cable pulls hardest. Let the bar rise until your forearms are level.
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Bending the wrists backA heavy bar folds your wrists. Keep them straight, or switch to a V-bar.
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Letting the bar fly upLet it rise over 2 seconds without the plates touching.
Tricep pushdown variations
Questions people ask
What does tricep pushdown work?
All three heads of the triceps, including the long head, which did the most work with the arm at the side in one EMG study (Kholinne 2018). Your forearms grip the bar and your core and lats hold you still.
Is tricep pushdown a compound exercise?
No. It is an isolation exercise, since only the elbow moves. It is a push movement, so most programs put it on push day, after the presses.
Which grip is best for tricep pushdown?
The one you can load and keep strict without wrist or elbow pain. A straight bar and a V-bar take the same weight, and the rope runs lighter. Handle type did not change triceps activity in one pushdown study (Rendos 2016).
What does V bar tricep pushdown work?
The same muscles as the straight bar, all three heads of the triceps. The V-bar only turns your wrists partway in, and Gravitus lifters log the same weight on both.
Is the tricep pushdown better than the overhead tricep extension?
Not for size. Overhead extensions grew the whole triceps 1.4 times more than pushdowns over 12 weeks (Maeo 2023). The pushdown still grew every head and is easier to load heavy, so it makes a good second triceps exercise.
Does the tricep pushdown work the long head?
Yes. With your arm at your side the long head produced the most force of the three heads (Kholinne 2018), and the pushdown arm grew the long head 19.6% in 12 weeks (Maeo 2023). Overhead work stretches it more and grew it more.
How much weight should I tricep pushdown?
For 10 reps, the median on Gravitus is 85 lb (37.5 kg) for men and 40 lb (18 kg) for women. The strongest quarter lifts 120 lb (55 kg) and 60 lb (27.5 kg) or more.
Log every set and see your percentile on every lift, tricep pushdown included.
Get GravitusRelated exercises
- Maeo et al. 2023. Eur J Sport Sci 23(7):1240-1250.
- Stasinaki et al. 2018. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol 3(2):28.
- Kholinne et al. 2018. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc 52(3):201-205.
- Boehler 2011. Electromyographic analysis of the triceps brachii muscle during a variety of triceps exercises. MS thesis, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
- Rendos et al. 2016. J Strength Cond Res 30(7):2001-2009.
- Villalba et al. 2024. Int J Strength Cond 4(1).
- Vargas-Molina et al. 2024. J Phys Educ Sport 24(10):1456-1464.
- Schoenfeld et al. 2021. Sports 9(2):32.