Exercise library

How to do the Lying Triceps Press

A intermediate isolation exercise using ez curl bar, working the triceps.

Primary musclesTriceps
Secondary musclesNone recorded
EquipmentEZ curl bar
LevelIntermediate
TypeIsolation
ForcePush

Steps

  1. Lie on a flat bench with either an e-z bar (my preference) or a straight bar placed on the floor behind your head and your feet on the floor.
  2. Grab the bar behind you, using a medium overhand (pronated) grip, and raise the bar in front of you at arms length. Tip: The arms should be perpendicular to the torso and the floor. The elbows should be tucked in. This is the starting position.
  3. As you breathe in, slowly lower the weight until the bar lightly touches your forehead while keeping the upper arms and elbows stationary.
  4. At that point, use the triceps to bring the weight back up to the starting position as you breathe out.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the lying triceps press to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.