Chain Handle Extension
Trains the Long Head.
- Equipment
- A chain and handle
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Attach a handle to a length of chain and hold it overhead with both hands, upper arms beside your ears.
- Stand tall with your stomach braced and your ribs down.
- Bend the elbows to lower the handle behind your head, letting the chain pile up.
- Go down until you feel the stretch along the back of the upper arms.
- Straighten the arms overhead, picking the chain back up as you rise.
- Keep the upper arms beside your ears throughout.
Common mistakes
- Letting the chain swing. A loose chain behind your head moves where a bar does not, and controlling it is part of the exercise.
- Letting the upper arms drift forward. Beside the ears is the position, and it is what keeps the long head stretched at the shoulder.
- Expecting a bar's resistance curve. The chain unloads as it piles up at the bottom and loads as it lifts, which makes the top of the extension the hardest part — the opposite of a dumbbell.
- Arching the lower back as the handle drops behind the head. Ribs down and stomach braced.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Long HeadTriceps