Triceps Straps

Speaking as a person who spends most of their day typing away at a computer, I've suffered the ramifications of what I like to refer to as keyboarditis. Obviously, this is a comical jab at the soreness experienced in my wrists from hours of typing on a less than ergonomically correct keyboard, but many of us aren't aware of all the body parts that come into play when we simply type.

I'm as much to blame as the rest of you. I used to perform simple activities without even thinking about the impact on my body. Unfortunately, it resulted in repetitive motion injury, which is the result of strain on our tendons, muscles and joints in our hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, backs and necks. In time, stress injuries like the soreness in my wrists rears its ugly head during our workouts.

That's why a fitness aid like a triceps strap is of benefit. Triceps straps are used to make cable exercises or stacked weight exercises easier on your wrists. They look similar to a cable rope attachment with their V-shape, but they're typically made from some type of heavy-duty nylon and padded for comfort. The top of the strap hooks to the cable and comes down forming a long V. Two wide nylon hand loops are located at the ends to wrap around your wrists.

To perform exercises with the triceps strap just fasten a loop around each wrist and attach the other end to the cable hook. You can then perform triceps press-downs as you normally would with a rope cable attachment. I often use a triceps strap when I'm doing press-downs because I find that my grip isn't as good because of my wrists. A triceps strap can also be used to perform kneeling ab crunches, bicep curls, triceps extensions and delta raises.

There's a lot of argument concerning training aids like straps and belts. On one hand I understand that by using a triceps strap I'm not developing my hand strength as best I could. However, on the other hand, I'm able to pump out a lot more reps strengthening my triceps (the muscle at hand) as a result. When it all comes down to it, I think the use of a triceps strap is really up to you.

Anna's Tip: You can purchase a good triceps strap online for about $15 or $20, however I encourage you to purchase one through a store where you can try it on to see if it pinches, or chafes your skin, and also to test it for breathability which is important when working out. However, if you can get one online with a good return policy then buy away.