Tate Press

What the Tate press actually trains

A Tate press is a lying dumbbell exercise in which you rest the dumbbells against your chest with the elbows flared out wide, then press the weights up and inwards until the arms are straight above you.

The triceps performs the elbow extension, which is the point of the movement. The chest and front deltoid contribute, since the upper arm also travels through space, but the elbow extension dominates.

The exercise comes from powerlifting, where it was used as a lockout accessory for the bench press. That origin explains its shape. It is not designed to stretch the triceps or take it through a long range; it is designed to make the final portion of a press harder.

With the elbows flared, the upper arm sits roughly perpendicular to the torso. Kholinne and colleagues examined the different roles of the three triceps heads and found each behaves distinctly, and this arm position tends to favour the lateral and medial heads over the long head.

That is often quoted as the reason to do the exercise. It deserves a caveat. Vigotsky and colleagues cautioned that muscle activity readings do not map neatly onto growth, so claims that this movement uniquely targets the lateral head should be taken as a plausible tendency rather than a fact.

The bigger issue is range. The dumbbells travel a short distance, and Schoenfeld and Grgic's review of range of motion found that fuller ranges generally favour muscle development. A Tate press is a short movement that leaves the long head shortened throughout, which is a lot of ground not covered.

It is a legitimate accessory. It is not an important exercise, and most people do not need it.

Setting up and executing

Lie on a flat bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your feet flat on the floor.

Turn the palms to face your feet, so the dumbbells sit vertically, and rest the lower heads against your chest.

Flare the elbows out wide to the sides. This is what makes it a Tate press rather than a close grip press. Set the shoulders back and down against the bench and brace the abs.

Press the dumbbells up and inwards at the same time, finishing with the arms straight and the dumbbells almost touching above your chest.

Pause for a beat at lockout, then lower slowly over about three seconds without letting them drop the last few inches.

The mistakes that cost you the most

Going too heavy is the first and most common error. The arc is unfamiliar, the leverage is poor and the triceps is working close to alone. The honest working weight is a fraction of what you press with a tucked elbow, and treating that as a problem leads straight to the second mistake.

Turning it into a floor press happens as soon as the weight climbs. The elbows tuck in, the dumbbells travel straight up and you are now doing a close grip dumbbell press, which is a fine exercise but not this one.

Dropping onto the chest is uncomfortable and wasteful. Schoenfeld and colleagues found eccentric and concentric actions produce broadly similar hypertrophy when equated, so the lowering phase is genuinely half your training, and here it also keeps the dumbbells off your sternum.

Losing the shoulder position matters more with the elbows flared than in most exercises. Keep the shoulder blades set back and down against the bench rather than letting the shoulders roll forward under load.

Expecting it to build the whole triceps is the programming error. The range is short and the long head never lengthens, so this cannot be the only elbow extension work you do.

Sets, reps and rest by goal

Moderate loads and moderate to high repetitions suit the movement.

For muscle gain, three sets of ten to fifteen with ninety seconds rest. For strength, three sets of six to ten with two minutes, which is closest to the exercise's original purpose as a lockout builder. In a fat loss phase, three sets of twelve to twenty with a minute.

Take the descent slowly and deliberately. Because the concentric is short and awkward, the controlled lowering is where much of the useful tension sits.

Progression is coarse. Dumbbells usually jump in two or two and a half kilo steps, which on an exercise where you might be using ten kilos is a large increase. Add repetitions across several sessions before moving up.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, and these sets count towards your triceps total alongside pressing and pushdowns.

Refalo and colleagues found stopping a rep or two short of failure produces comparable growth to training to failure, which is sensible advice on a lying dumbbell movement where a failed rep leaves weights above your face.

If you find yourself needing a spotter for a Tate press, the weight is wrong.

Where it fits in your split

As accessory work after the pressing.

On push, pull and legs it goes on push day once the bench and overhead work is done. On an upper and lower split it fits as accessory work in either upper session. On a bro split it belongs on arm day after the main triceps movement. On a full body programme it rarely earns a slot over simpler options.

The honest assessment is that this is a specialist exercise with a narrow use case. If you bench press competitively and your sticking point is the lockout, it makes sense as a targeted accessory. If you are training for size, a skull crusher covers more range and an overhead extension covers the head this one neglects.

The one general argument in its favour is novelty and joint comfort. Some people whose elbows dislike skull crushers find the Tate press tolerable, and having an option that does not aggravate anything is worth something.

Once a week is plenty. Treat it as one of several triceps movements rather than the anchor of the session.

Variations worth knowing

The skull crusher lowers the weight to or behind the forehead with the upper arms angled back, which gives a longer range and a better loaded stretch, and is the more useful exercise for most people.

The close grip dumbbell press tucks the elbows and presses straight up, allowing far heavier loading and training the chest and triceps together.

The floor press restricts depth by having the elbows meet the ground, which biases the lockout in a similar way to the Tate press with a more conventional bar path.

The overhead dumbbell extension trains the long head at length, which is precisely what a Tate press does not do.

The cable triceps pushdown offers steadier tension, a simpler setup and easier progression, and is the default triceps isolation for good reason.

And the JM press is another powerlifting hybrid between a close grip press and an extension, occupying similar territory with a barbell.

What the evidence says

Kholinne and colleagues examined the distinct roles of the three heads of the triceps during elbow extension, which underpins the idea that upper arm position changes the balance of work between them.

Maeo and colleagues found that elbow extension trained with the shoulder flexed overhead produced substantially greater long head hypertrophy than the same work performed with the arm in a neutral position. Since the Tate press keeps the upper arm perpendicular to the torso, it sits well away from that favourable position for the long head.

Vigotsky and colleagues cautioned that surface electromyography amplitude does not translate directly into growth, which tempers the common claim that this movement uniquely develops the lateral head.

Schoenfeld and Grgic reviewed range of motion and muscle development and found fuller ranges generally favour hypertrophy, which is the clearest structural criticism of a short arc movement like this one.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found eccentric and concentric actions produce broadly similar hypertrophy when equated, supporting a controlled descent rather than dropping the dumbbells onto your chest.

Schoenfeld and colleagues, in their volume review, found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, which is the main reason to include any accessory triceps movement.

And Refalo and colleagues found stopping short of failure produces comparable growth to training to failure, which is the right approach with dumbbells above your face.

Common questions

Why can I barely lift anything on this?

Because the arc is unfamiliar and the leverage is poor, and because the triceps is working nearly alone with very little help from the chest. Low numbers are the normal outcome, not a sign you are doing it wrong.

Does it really target the lateral head?

The flared elbow position probably shifts the balance towards the lateral and medial heads, but muscle activity readings are an unreliable guide to growth. Treat it as a reasonable tendency rather than a targeted tool.

Is it better than a skull crusher?

For most goals, no. The skull crusher covers a longer range and loads a better stretch. The Tate press is worth choosing if skull crushers irritate your elbows or if you specifically want lockout work for a bench press.

Do I need this exercise?

Almost certainly not. A pushdown and an overhead extension cover the triceps more completely and are easier to set up and progress. Keep the Tate press for variety or for a specific lockout weakness.

Is this the same as a JM press or a floor press?

They are relatives rather than duplicates. All three limit the range and bias the lockout, but the Tate press flares the elbows and presses inwards with dumbbells, while the other two keep a more conventional path with a bar. Running one of the three at a time is enough.