The lateral head of the triceps is what forms half of the "horseshoe" shape of the tricep along with making your arm look thicker from the front.
Ironically enough, you can see the lateral head quite well in this picture of me doing a bicep curl...
The Elevated Neutral Grip Tiger Bend is a bodyweight movement that sets your hands on the SIDES of a bench, so you can achieve a neutral position. Your hands and legs are elevated for this.
This neutral position is what shifts a good portion of the loading onto the lateral head of the triceps (not all of it...you'll never truly isolation any head of the triceps).
The Tiger Bend, if you're not familiar with, is an excellent tricep bodyweight exercise on it's own, normally done on the floor. Hands are pointed forward while you're at the top of a close-grip push-up position, then you come down until you're lying flat on your forearms on the floor.
Then you push back up using only your triceps.
How to do Elevated Neutral Grip Tiger Bends
First off, DO NOT turn this into a close grip push-up!! The only action should happen at the elbows.
To do this one with full bodyweight resistance (which is tough!), you'll need a flat bench and something to elevate your feet onto...this could be another flat bench or a bar. I'm using a bar set on the rails of a power rack. A Smith machine bar would great for this, too, and would upset fewer people in a crowded gym. Really, you can use whatever works.
I have the bar set to about mid hip height. You can adjust it higher or lower however feels best to you once you try the exercise.
The bench should be set about 3 to 4 feet away. Again, adjust this as needed once you see the exercise.
Grip onto the SIDES of the bench, right at the end, and hook your feet over the bar, knees bent a bit.
Now the fun begins...
Bending only at the elbows, lower yourself down until your face touches or almost touches the bench.
Keep your elbows tucked in tight then push yourself back up, using only your triceps.
I HIGHLY recommend resetting your shoulder blades DOWN at the top of every rep. You'll find the shift up a bit on the way up and purposefully locking them down again will help a lot.
The neural position of your hands with your grip around the bench like this will really put tension onto the lateral head of the triceps.
I was really impressed with this one. It's tough but very effective for this.
If you're not strong enough to do it with your feet elevated, you can set your feet on the floor, too.
The concept is pretty much the same, just the resistance is a lot less.
This is an exercise I'm definitely going to be doing regularly. It's a fantastic bodyweight exercise for overall tricep mass but especially building up the lateral head of the triceps.
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