Intermediate

Single-Arm Reverse-Grip Pushdown

Turning the palm up rotates the forearm and lets you drive the elbow into full extension with the medial head doing more of the finishing work. Training one arm at a time exposes side-to-side differences and keeps the wrist in a strong, supinated position. Use it as a detail move after your heavier pressing to round out the back of the arm.

Equipment
Cables
Body part
Triceps
Type
Strength
Browse by movement
Elbow Extension
Muscles worked
Target
Triceps Brachii Medial Head, Triceps Brachii Lateral Head, Triceps Brachii Long Head
Tertiary
Extensors

How to do it

  1. 1

    Attach a single stirrup handle to a high pulley and grip it with your palm facing up.

  2. 2

    Stand tall with a slight forward lean and pin your working elbow to your side.

  3. 3

    Brace your core and hold the upper arm completely still.

  4. 4

    Extend your elbow, driving the handle down until the arm is fully straight.

  5. 5

    Squeeze the triceps hard for a beat at lockout.

  6. 6

    Let the handle rise under control until your forearm passes parallel, finish the set, then switch arms.

Tips

  • Keep the wrist firm and supinated; don't let it roll over as you press down.
  • Move only at the elbow and keep the upper arm glued to your ribs.
  • Match reps and load on both arms to keep them even.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The free hand grabs the frame and presses down on it, so your bodyweight quietly helps the working arm. Let it hang or rest it on your hip.
  • Standing bolt upright under the pulley puts the cable line in front of the elbow and drags the upper arm forward at the top of every rep. The small lean toward the stack is what keeps the elbow underneath it.
  • The handle only rises back to where the forearm is level, which cuts out the stretched half this version is worth doing for. Let it come up until the forearm passes parallel before pressing again.
  • Wrist tips toward the little-finger side under load, so the handle sits diagonally and the strain lands in the joint instead of the triceps.
  • Setting the weight at half what you use for a two-handed pushdown. Palm-up and one arm at a time is far weaker than that, and the first sign is the shoulder rolling forward to help.

Frequently asked

How many reps of the single-arm reverse-grip pushdown, and when in the session?
Put it at the end of a pressing or arm session, after the heavy triceps work, for two or three sets of 12 to 15 per arm. Start with your weaker side and give the other side the same number of reps even if it could do more. Rest is short, roughly the time it takes to swap hands. Add reps to 15 on every set before you move the pin, and watch the elbow rather than the stack: when it drifts off your ribs, that is your ceiling for the day.
What can I use instead of a cable for the single-arm reverse-grip pushdown?
Loop a band over a door top or a pull-up bar, take the end in one hand with the palm turned up, and press down the same way; band tension climbs toward lockout, which suits a movement built around the finish. A light dumbbell kickback with the palm rotated up trains the same elbow extension one side at a time, though the load falls off at the top. Neither needs much weight, since this is a detail exercise rather than a strength move.
Why do a pushdown one arm at a time with the palm up?
Two reasons: the palm-up grip draws the elbow in and biases the medial head that finishes the lockout, and working one side at a time shows you which arm quits early, which a straight bar lets the strong side hide. It suits intermediate lifters adding detail work and anyone whose elbows dislike a fixed bar. It is a poor choice for heavy triceps work, since the wrist and grip give out long before the muscle does, and it is not the exercise to reach for if turning the palm up under load pinches your wrist or elbow.

Related exercises

Other movements among FitRay's 2,000+ exercises that load the same target muscle — same equipment and level first.

All Triceps exercises