Alright, let’s talk about the dumbbell French press. For the longest time, that was my go-to for hitting the long head of the triceps. You know, get that good stretch at the bottom. But honestly? My elbows started complaining. Not like a sharp pain, more like a nagging ache afterwards, sometimes during the lift itself, especially going heavy.
So, I knew I had to switch things up. Didn’t want to push through pain, that’s just dumb. My first thought wasn’t even to look up alternatives online. I just started thinking about the movement itself – arms overhead, extending at the elbow. What else does that?
Next gym session, I skipped the dumbbells for that exercise. I looked over at the cable machine. Saw the rope attachment just sitting there. Figured, okay, let’s try overhead cable extensions. Stood facing away from the stack, grabbed the rope, stepped forward, leaned slightly. Pulled the ropes apart at the top. You know what? It felt way smoother on my elbows. Like, immediately noticeable. The constant tension from the cable felt different too, less stress at that bottom stretched position where my elbows usually protested with the dumbbells.
So, I stuck with the cable overhead extensions for a while. Definitely a solid replacement for me. Felt the triceps working hard, got a good pump, and best of all, my elbows were much happier. It became my main overhead extension move.
I also started playing around with other stuff just to see. Sometimes, instead of overhead work, I’d focus more on dips. Not chest dips, but real upright, elbow-tucking triceps dips. Either on parallel bars or sometimes just using a bench. Had to really focus on form to keep the stress on the triceps and off the shoulders, but it’s a great compound movement that hits them hard. Felt different, obviously, not the same stretch as the overhead stuff, but still effective for building mass.
I briefly tried barbell skullcrushers too, thinking maybe the fixed bar path would be different. Used an EZ bar, brought it down towards my forehead. It felt okay-ish, maybe slightly better than dumbbells for my elbows, but still not as comfortable as the cables. So, I didn’t stick with those long-term, but they might work for someone else.
Here’s what I sort of landed on:
- Cable Overhead Rope Extensions: This became my main replacement for the dumbbell French press. Much kinder to my joints, great stretch and contraction.
- Triceps Dips (Bench or Parallel Bars): I cycle these in pretty often. Great compound movement, feels powerful.
- Close-Grip Push-ups: Sometimes I finish off with these. Don’t underestimate them, especially after pre-exhausting the triceps.
End of the day, the dumbbell French press just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore because of the elbow thing. The key was just trying different movements that hit the triceps from similar angles or just hit them hard, period. And listening to my body, you know? If something hurts consistently, find another way. The cables were the winner for that specific overhead stretch movement for me. Way better. Give ’em a shot if you’re feeling the same kind of strain.
