Keeping/Working up to M.Melt Tri's

[~Elsie]

I know for many of the advanced Cathletes we have, this may seem ridiculous, but I suppose my Triceps are my weakness or one of them anyway. lol. I am the owner of a bit of a scrawny upper body!
I was being challenged to keep up with the pace of this one and while pausing between the rounds is fine by me (I do this with many workouts to dynamically stretch more), I find pausing too often during the round/between sets out of the way. So, during the last two rounds, I reduced my reps to 9 - To stay in the flow of the routine I suppose. Do you think this may have any effect on the targeted results for using giant sets? I don't have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to how the different set-ups like push pull, drops sets, giant sets etc. go towards a strength goal. Just that some fit nicely into certain workouts.

I am having a fun time with ICE overall!!

 

[maddiesmum]

Elsie:

just chiming in to way, welcome to the official Cathlete Club of Scrawny Upper Bodies (CCSUB), with particular attention to the triceps!! Known membership = 2!

Clare

 

[BlakKat]

Elsie - It's not ridiculous at all. No matter how fit or strong I am, my tri's are always weak it seems. Even when I'm doing an intense rotation, hardcore 6 days a week. My tri strength and definition never seem to budge. And with the ICE MM tri-it is even more apparent to me. All the MM's are tough, but this one is especially tough. The first time I did it, I had to drop in weight. By the 3rd time I did this MM, I could finally use the weight Cathe does, except for once or twice I had to drop in weight for that exercise and then go back up for the others. I'm hoping these giant sets will burn some sense into my tri's and get them working! Keep working em & Good Luck!

 

[MomInVT]

I haven't done MM tris, but I always find that smaller muscle groups poop out more quickly and suddenly than larger muscles. Same for isolation work vs. lifts that involve more muscle groups. Also on something like tri isolation work, going from, say, 8s to 10s is a 25% increase, which is a ton! So it always feels to me like lifts with smaller muscle groups make slow, slow progress. Probably why I like deadlifting so much better than overhead pressing!

 

[~Elsie]

Probably why I like deadlifting so much better than overhead pressing!

Same here!

welcome to the official Cathlete Club of Scrawny Upper Bodies (CCSUB), with particular attention to the triceps

Haahaha Clare! Yes, thank you for the invite to your Club.

By the 3rd time I did this MM, I could finally use the weight Cathe does

Wow, that's excellent! You go! Thanks for your reply and your encouragement.

 

[Beth-B-Fit]

Well, I was using my 3 lb. weights by the end. As far as I'm concerned, I would rather go a little lighter and not get injured at this point in my life than to go really heavy. I still get DOMS so I'm listening to my body to avoid injury. So I guess that's my advice: listen to your body and do what you can! We all have different muscle tissues.

Beth

 

[Justinef]

Worth remembering, for all those of us with lanky upper bodies, long arms will make triceps (and biceps) moves much harder. That's always been my excuse

 

[nsaeolian]

I have a hard time with tricep exercises and shoulders too. My elbows hurt when doing tricep work and if I try to up my weight doing shoulders, my traps get overworked and I get wicked headaches. Any tips?

 

[Justinef]

Have you tried different hand positions? That can make a huge difference to the tendons, but it takes some experimenting. I can't do tricep dips off a step, but I'm better off parallel bars, for example.

 

[CeciFifi]

Thanks for the info ladies!

 

[Nanbo]

The Muscle Melts are brutal! I was shocked at how tough the triceps superset is! The first time I was like WHOA!!!!!! No way can I use 12#!!! I have been using 10# and 8# the last 2 times I've done the tricep MM and it's starting to get just a little easier on some of the moves....I have a wonky elbow (kind of like tennis elbow) that I've been nursing since May when I injured it doing pull-ups. The close grip chest presses really aggravate it so I have only been using 10# for that. I have really scrawny arms (can I join the club @maddiesmum ?) and am hoping that these MMs will give me the definition I've been craving.

 

[maddiesmum]

Welcome Nancy! Actually, I can join you in a subset of our group: wonky elbow sufferers. God it really sucks, doesn't it? Some days it feels fine, other days I can feel it even when just swinging my arms walking along ...

Clare