Bonus Triceps Discussion!
Mark Brown
August 2, 2022
The EliteFTS Muscle Mace is a tremendously useful piece of equipment for any gym. I will explain why through a comparison of triceps pushdown and pulldown options.
Triceps are a muscle group that can be isolated through numerous means that all basically hinge on the same premise. By keeping the elbow still or silent, so to speak, when doing presses, extensions, pulldowns, and pushdowns the 3 muscles that make up the triceps can be isolated. Each movement can be used to target 1 or 2 of the 3 muscles. Any shoulder or bench press will have a secondary effect on the triceps when full extended. That’s why locking out every rep is important. If a lifter can’t keep the elbows from moving during a rep, they can’t successfully isolate the muscle(s) they are after. Silent refers to the ability to keep the joint, the elbow in this case, from moving around during the lift. A “noisy” joint is one that moves on all 3 axes (X, Y, and Z) during a lift. Everybody understands the consequences when it happens on bench press, overhead press, deadlift or squat. Pushdowns or pulldowns are just going to result in the lift being less effective.
Some triceps exercises are used with bars and plates. Presses and extensions are lifts I typically do with ez curl bars or straight bars because they more closely resemble lifts they are accessory lifts for. Machines often use preacher style benches to force the elbows to stay silent. Firm pressure on the preacher bench allows the lifter to use it a source of leverage. Pushdowns and pulldowns are done on machines that use cable tension to adjust the resistance. Attachments are usually connected to carabiners. Different designs will isolate some muscles over others. It’s no different than movements with ez curl or straight bars. I find a non-rotating straight bar attachment is best for pushdown and pulldown movements. Pushdowns would be done with a pronated grip and pulldowns with a supinated grip. The standard lat bar attachment is probably the easiest way to find this. Basic handles are used for unilateral work. They are useful for improving imbalances in muscular development. Right now I do at least a 2-3 extra sets with my left arm on pushdowns because my right tricep is a bit bigger and stronger than the left.
Ropes are a gym favorite for neutral grip pulldowns. They create a different challenge for the tricep movement because hands stay neutral until the end where the hands flare at the bottom on the lock out. As a result, rope pulls are done with less weight and the lock out phase is emphasized. They are best used for hypertrophy work. That’s where the beginning of talking about the Muscle Mace comes in. In many ways, it is a rope made out of a 3 handles. Those handles happen to be metal balls that are old school grenade shaped. The lowest grenade is done like a pulldown. The middle one is about half pulldown and half pushdown. The top one is definitely a pushdown. The ability to do all 3 of those with one piece of equipment is exceedingly valuable. Chances are if someone owns decent lat pulldown machine they already own a couple of different attachments. If they don’t already own the v shaped pushdown attachment, aka pyramid in my training logs, the top grenade is basically that.
What really makes the Muscle Mace stand out is the ability to condense 2 different exercises into 1 one piece of equipment efficiently. They can be done separately, of course, but the giant set from the bottom grenade to the top one is an absolute killer. It is a large part of why I got it. I could easily do these exercises separately, but doing them as a giant set is a much better use of my time and equipment. A giant set is a superset taken up a notch. The latter is when a lifter does 2 different lifts quickly in succession and the former is when do 3 to 4 different lifts in succession. Beyond that, a lifter is getting into circuit training territory. I currently superset the giant set of Muscle Mace with EZ curl bar preacher curls on an arm day and it is ruthless. What makes the giant set so effective is the range of motion decreases with each grenade up the chain. That changes how the lift is effecting the triceps. It is an absolute burner. The major thing to remember is this piece of equipment is best used for hypertrophy work. The goal isn’t to do as many as possible on any of the grenades. It is to to get through all of the them with at least 8-10 reps. That’s what will get that signature tricep burn a lifter gets from going max effort on a pushdown or pulldown lift. Getting 15 reps on the initial third of the exercise isn’t worth getting less than 8 on the last or the second because the tricep is fried for the set. This means that the lifter will have use their training to understand what weight they need to put on the machine, selectorized or plate loaded, to get that giant set done.
There are other ways the muscle mace can be used during a training session. It can be used as a unilateral tricep extension the way a dumbbell would. The difference between the lifts is that the Muscle Mace would be employing the concept of accommodating resistance rather than all of the weight in the hand. That does make quite a bit of difference. They would do this by attaching a chain or how many ever they wanted to the “top” grenade via carabiner and holding the the “bottom” one and executing whatever movement they were going to do, which is probably an extension or JM Press. Accommodating resistance is used by lifters to decrease the weight at the bottom of the lift to help them get better at being more explosive in the first part of a lift. The lifter will only feel the full weight of the lift at the very top of it. A chain needs to maintain contact with the floor to have the effect I described to actually occur. The accommodating resistance also has puts less stress on the elbows during a lift like this because it’s not taking the strain of the weight at the top. I have a set of 2 chains that are 29.88 pounds in weight and about about 6 feet long so the Muscle Mace is perfect for laying triceps Extensions or JM Press. The Muscle Mace itself has enough weight to act as accommodating resistance when connected to a chain on a bench press or squat. That makes the Muscle Mace multi-functional, which should always be a major consideration for anyone buying equipment for a home gym.
Just a few notes left to add to the review about quality and other odds and ends. I can’t see the Muscle Mace falling apart anytime soon. It is a very solid piece of equipment. The connections from grenade to grenade are all very sturdy and welded very well. There is no knurling on them. There’s no need for it. For my money, the hardest grenade to use on the giant set is the middle one. A lifter can still pull the balls apart but it is very much a pushdown. When a lifter does get up to the top grenade, they need to widen their stance to “feet outside the shoulders” distance because the bottom 2 grenades will be swinging around. This is especially true if the lifter is being explosive with the pushdown as opposed to slow and deliberate. If the the swinging grenades hit, it won’t be pleasant. It’s very easy for a male lifter to tap or more their nuts with bottom grenade. I’ve done it. I learned my lesson. It also means being aware of them flying around immediately after a set it done and their movement hasn’t settled. Pay attention!
The Muscle Mace gets a big thumbs up from me. It’s a killer piece of equipment for triceps development. It deserves place in every gym. It costs and $50 and comes as a pair. It has definitely been worth the cost. Good news as well: It’s currently in stock!
Life Through Lifting 