Barbell Overhead Triceps Extension
Also known as: barbell french press
- Secondary muscles
- Delts
- Body part
- Upper Arms
- Position
- Standing
- Laterality
- Bilateral (both sides together)
- Category
- Strength
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Pressing a straight bar up from behind your head trains the long head at its full stretch, something no pushdown position can match. The barbell lets you load heavier than a single dumbbell held in both hands, but the straight grip asks more of your wrists than an EZ bar, so start moderate and add weight slowly.
How to do the Barbell Overhead Triceps Extension
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a barbell with an overhand grip.
- Raise the barbell overhead, fully extending your arms.
- Keeping your upper arms close to your head, slowly lower the barbell behind your head by bending your elbows.
- Pause for a moment, then raise the barbell back to the starting position by extending your arms.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Keep a slight bend at the top on lying extensions to protect the elbow, but lock out fully on cable pushdowns.
Muscles worked
Primary
Triceps · Arms
The triceps straighten the elbow, and overhead variations stretch the long head at the bottom, so you should feel the whole back of the upper arm working with a hard squeeze at lockout.
Secondary
- Delts — The front delt holds the upper arm in position on overhead extensions and should feel tension but not be lifting.
Common mistakes
- Elbows flaring out — on overhead and lying extensions the elbows should stay pointed forward or up, not out to the sides, since flaring turns it into a press.
- Upper arm moving — the upper arm should be pinned in place and only the forearm should move; if the elbow drifts, drop the weight.
- Not finishing the rep — take every rep to a full triceps squeeze; on pushdowns that means a complete lockout for a count.
- Cutting the stretch — on overhead extensions let the weight travel down behind the head until you feel the long head stretch before pressing up.
Where it fits in a workout
Triceps extensions go after the presses in a push session or at the end of an arm day. Superset them with biceps curls.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Without barbell
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
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More exercises
- All arms exercises
- All triceps exercises
- All barbell exercises
- Barbell triceps exercises
- Kneeling Cable Concentration Triceps Extension
- Rope Cable Lying Triceps Extension
- Straight Bar Cable Lying Triceps Extension
- Rope High Pulley Cable Overhead Triceps Extension
- Cable Overhead Triceps Extension
- Single Arm Cable Overhead Triceps Extension
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.