Overhead Triceps Extension

Muscles worked: Triceps.

How to do it

1. To begin, stand up with a dumbbell held by both hands.
2. The resistance should be resting in the palms of your hands with your thumbs around it.
3. Keeping your upper arms close to your head with elbows in and perpendicular to the floor, lower the resistance in a semicircular motion behind your head until your forearms touch your biceps.
4. Go back to the starting position by using the triceps to raise the dumbbell.
5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Coaching cues

The two cues IronPack shows on this exercise's card mid-workout:

• Elbows close to your head
• Deep stretch at the bottom - that's the point

Logging it

IronPack suggests working in the 8 to 12 rep range, progressing in 2.5 kg jumps when you own the top of the range. Records are tracked automatically at every rep count from 1 to 12. Check your estimated 1RM from any hard set.

Related exercises

• Dips - chest, triceps
• Triceps Pushdown - triceps
• Skullcrusher - triceps
• Close-Grip Bench Press - triceps

Photos and steps: free-exercise-db (public domain). Cues, muscle weighting and logging guidance are IronPack's own app data. Last generated 2026-07-17.