How Do I Balance My Biceps & Triceps?

If you are routinely lifting weights, you need to make sure your biceps and triceps are balanced. This is because biceps and triceps work together, and if your biceps are substantially stronger than your triceps or vice versa you are putting yourself at risk of injury. This is because you will be able to lift something by moving your arm in one direction, but the minute you reach a point where your weaker muscle needs to take over, it will become overwhelmed. So, you should make sure your weight training program addresses both your biceps and triceps.

Instructions

    • 1

      Focus on compound lifts during your weight training rather than isolation lifts. Compound lifts use muscle groups rather than single muscles, and therefore make it harder for your biceps and triceps to become unbalanced. So, rather than doing endless curls and kickbacks, try to make your workout more focused on bench presses, deadlifts and overhead presses, all of which work your entire arm.

    • 2

      Work your biceps and triceps on the same day if you do isolation exercises. This will keep everything more streamlined and also keep you from overworking one of them. If you've just worked your biceps and they are extremely tired, it will be hard to lift much weight with your triceps. If they're not, however, then it will be easier to lift more and you run the risk of getting unbalanced.

    • 3

      Ensure that every bicep exercise you do has a tricep exercise to match it and vice versa. If you do bicep curls, you should also do tricep kickbacks; if you do a set of chinups, you should also do a set of bench dips. This will make sure your muscles develop at the same rate and keep you from getting injured.