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8 Tricep Exercises for Women (30-Minute Workout)

By: Lindsey Bomgren, CPT | July 2, 2025

Ready to sculpt strong, defined triceps? This challenging 30-minute workout is designed specifically for women and uses a dynamic mix of dumbbells, a resistance band and your own bodyweight to help you reach muscle fatigue in just 30 minutes. Get ready to feel the burn with a strict set format that includes over 100 tricep dips to break up each strength set. Let’s get those triceps working!

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Your triceps are the three muscles along the back of the upper arm that help you extend your elbow and straighten your arm. They’re essential for all sorts of pushing motions, from doing a push-up to simply pushing away from a table. 

Building strong triceps is really beneficial for women. Strong triceps not only help with toning your arms, but they also contribute to overall upper body strength and functional fitness. Think about it: every time you push a door open, lift groceries or even push yourself up from a chair, your triceps are working. Strengthening them makes these everyday movements easier and more efficient.

They also play a crucial role in stabilizing your shoulder joint. So, when you strengthen your triceps, you’re getting more toned arms and improving your overall upper body power and stability, which translates directly to how well you can move and perform in your daily life.

While you can’t spot-reduce fat from specific areas, incorporating push day exercises will help you build muscle, which in turn boosts your metabolism and contributes to overall fat loss. For toning the arm area, focus on some of the most effective dumbbell triceps exercises, like overhead extensions, tricep kickbacks, skull crushers and triceps dips. These exercises would also be included in a beginner tricep workout – use lighter weights as needed.

two women performing single arm tricep kickbacks in a tricep workout at home

Workout Details

Strengthen your triceps and build strong arms with these 8 tricep isolation exercises for women.

This tricep workout for women combines bodyweight tricep exercises with dumbbell tricep exercises to fully fatigue the back of the arms. Modifications are offered throughout, making this suitable for pregnancy and fitness beginners. If you need additional pregnancy modifications, check out this pregnancy-friendly push-day workout.

Add an upper body dumbbell workout like this one to your home training program 1-2 times a week to build muscle mass and increase endurance.

Workout Equipment:

Medium set of dumbbells, mini loop resistance band and box/chair/bench. I suggest anywhere from 5-20 lbs. I used 10-20 lbs in this tricep workout with dumbbells.

Workout Instructions:

Follow along with the guided full video: 30-Minute Triceps Workout, led by me — your certified personal trainer, Lindsey Bomgren.

Your Workout Looks Like This:

  • Guided Warm-Up and Cool-Down
  • 8 Tricep Exercises
  • Timed Intervals (40 seconds of work per exercise, followed by 20 seconds of rest. Complete as many reps as you can within the timed interval.)
  • Strict Sets (repeat each tricep exercise x 2 sets, back-to-back)
  • Perform 15 Tricep Dips After Each Tricep Exercise (for a total of 105 tricep dips)

Note: I re-filmed this tricep workout to improve the video and sound quality (and changed up some of the moves). You can find the original best tricep exercises for women video here if you’d like to compare them.

Workout Outline

  1. Single Arm Tricep Kickbacks
  2. Overhead Tricep Extensions
  3. Tricep Push-Ups
  4. Narrow Floor Press
  5. Skull Crushers
  6. Side Lying Tricep Press
  7. Banded Tricep Push Down
  8. Tricep Dips

1. Single-Arm Tricep Kickback

Targets: Triceps brachii or all three heads of the tricep muscle (the lateral head, medial head and long head).

two women performing single arm tricep kickbacks in a tricep workout at home

How to Do a Single-Arm Tricep Kickback

  1. Start with your feet hip-distance apart, with a slight bend in the knees. Hinge forward, staggering your feet to support your lower back.
  2. Hold one dumbbell in your left hand at your side (palm facing your body) with your left arm bent at a 90-degree angle. Think shoulders down and back away from your ears.
  3. Perform a kickback by extending the left elbow so your left arm forms a straight line as you push the dumbbell back past your hips. At the top of the movement, the elbow is fully extended.
  4. Slowly return the dumbbell to the starting position.

2. Overhead Tricep Extensions

Targets: The long head of the triceps and all the stabilizing muscles in the shoulders, core, glutes and lower back.

two women performing tricep extensions in a tricep workout at home

How to Do an Overhead Tricep Extension

  1. Stand with your feet hip-distance apart, core engaged and a soft bend in your knees.
  2. Hold 1 or 2 dumbbells vertically overhead and activate your core by squeezing your glutes and abs to protect your lower back.
  3. Bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle, bringing the dumbbell(s) behind your head. Think ‘hide the dumbbell, show the dumbbell’ if you were watching yourself in a mirror. Keep your elbows close to your ears throughout the entire movement (don’t let your elbows flare out as you fatigue).

3. Tricep Push-Ups

Targets: All three heads of the tricep muscle (the lateral head, medial head and long head), chest, shoulders, back, abs and core muscles.

two women performing tricep push ups in a tricep workout for women

How to Do a Tricep Push-Up

  1. Start in a high plank position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists, weight evenly distributed amongst all 10 fingers. Pull your kneecaps up towards your belly.
  2. Hold this position, maintaining a straight line with your body. Your back is flat, your core is engaged and your neck is in line with your spine. Keep your gaze slightly in front of you.
  3. Slowly lower your chest down towards the ground, elbows pinned to your sides. This is a close-grip push-up or tricep push-up. Maintain a straight line with your body — head, chest and legs in one straight line.
  4. Once at the bottom of your push-up, exhale as you push back up into high plank.

Modification: Add an incline by placing your hands on a chair or bench. You can also modify the tricep push-ups by dropping down to your knees. Check out this post for more ways to modify push-ups.

4. Narrow Floor Press

Targets: Chest (pectorals), shoulders and triceps.

two women performing a narrow floor press in a tricep workout for women

How to Do a Narrow Floor Press

  1. Lie flat on your back with one dumbbell in each hand. Your elbows are at your sides with the dumbbells resting at mid-chest. Your legs are bent at 90 degrees with your feet firmly planted on the floor.
  2. Activate your chest by pressing the heads of the dumbbells together.
  3. Exhale as you press the dumbbells up in a straight line directly overhead. Straighten through the arms, stopping when your wrists are stacked over your shoulders.
  4. Lower the dumbbells back towards your chest with control.

5. Skull Crushers

Targets: Triceps and core.

two women performing dumbbell skull crushers as part of the best tricep exercises for women

How to Do a Skull Crusher

  1. Lie flat on the ground with your legs bent at 90 degrees.
  2. Hold one dumbbell in each hand and extend your arms so the dumbbells are directly overhead (palms facing one another).
  3. Bending at the elbow joint, slowly lower the dumbbells towards your temples.
  4. Press the dumbbells back overhead, straightening through the back of your arms to return to the starting position.

6. Side Lying Tricep Press

Targets: Triceps, shoulders, abs and core.

two women performing a side lying tricep press as a bodyweight tricep exercise

How to Do a Side Lying Tricep Press

  1. Lie down on your left side, stacking your shoulders, hips and feet. Legs are extended long.
  2. Plant your left hand on the mat directly in front of your right shoulder. Gently hold your left shoulder with your right hand. (This keeps the shoulder stable and ensures the work is coming from your triceps.)
  3. Pressing through the palm of your left hand, push yourself up off the mat until your left arm is almost fully extended.
  4. Lower yourself back to the mat with control, returning to the starting position.

Modification: Option to bend your legs.

7. Banded Tricep Push Down

Targets: All three heads of the tricep muscle (the lateral head, medial head and long head).

two women performing banded tricep push downs as part of the best tricep exercises

How to Do a Banded Tricep Push Down

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and slightly staggered, knees slightly bent.
  2. Loop your right hand through a resistance band and hold it in place at your left shoulder. Loop your left palm through the bottom of the resistance band.
  3. Hinge slightly forward at the hips and perform a tricep kickback on the left arm. Extend the left arm long behind you as you push the band back towards your left hip. Stop when your left arm is straight.
  4. Slowly pull back, bending your left arm as you return your left hand to the starting position.

8. Tricep Dips

Targets: The lateral and medial heads of your triceps.

two women performing tricep dips as part of the best tricep exercises for women

How to Do a Tricep Dip

  1. Stand in front of a sturdy bench, box or chair. Bend your knees and lower your hips down as you grip the edge of the box. Fingertips are pointed toward your butt and elbows are bent. Walk your feet out away from you (as far as you can).
  2. Keeping your back close to the box, lower yourself towards the ground, bending at the elbows until your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
  3. Press through your palms, using your triceps to push you back up to the starting position.

Modification: Keep your feet closer to the bench to make this easier. Range of motion will look different for everyone, but try not to let your shoulders creep up near your ears. You can also perform tricep dips without any equipment. Sit on the ground with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your hands behind you (fingertips facing your butt). Use your triceps to push yourself off the ground.

FAQs

How can I tone my triceps fast?

To quickly tone the triceps, focus on a combination of upper body strength training exercises and a high-protein, healthy diet. Keep in mind that realistically, it can take 4-6 weeks to see initial results from strength training, including improved endurance and muscle tone. It will likely take at least 12 weeks of incorporating compound exercises with heavier weights to see significant changes in body composition, like decreased body fat and muscle growth.

Why are triceps hard to tone?

Triceps, like most muscle groups, require repetition. Since they’re a larger muscle group than the biceps, they require more focused effort and intensity. I suggest including tricep toning exercises in your weekly workout routine 2-3 days a week. Since the triceps are commonly undertrained, they are smaller. Thus, the larger push muscles (like the chest and shoulders) tend to overcompensate or take over during push exercises.

Can you recommend tricep exercises for women at home without equipment?

Tricep dips and push-ups are some of the most effective tricep exercises for women without equipment. These exercises isolate the tricep muscles and use your bodyweight as resistance. Focus on controlled movements through each repetition and proper form to reduce your risk of injury.

What is the most effective tricep exercise for women?

The most effective triceps exercises for women engage all three heads of the triceps muscle and allow for progressive overload. Diamond push-ups, triceps dips and overhead triceps extensions are some of the best exercises for the arm muscles (ACE Fitness).

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woman holding a low push up as part of the best tricep workout for women

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9 comments

  1. This was a tough one! I’m glad you didn’t cut out the struggles – makes you human like the rest of us! Thanks again for working hard to help make us stronger!

    Reply

  3. Triceps workout are most important workout for women and men,
    Because Many women suffer from the problem of fat accumulation in the triceps area, which can cause them to look thinner.
    This article helps me lot to find best exercises for triceps for women

    Reply

  4. Triceps workout are most important workout for women and men, because Many women suffer from the problem of fat accumulation in the triceps area, which can cause them to look thinner.
    This article helps me lot to find best exercises for triceps for women

    Reply
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