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Skull crusher
It's the exercise that builds the most triceps and also the one that bothers the most elbows when it's rushed. It all comes down to where the bar ends up and how much weight you load.
What it works
- The whole triceps, especially the long head, the one that runs from the shoulder blade
- The shoulder, which works without moving to hold your arm in place
How to do it
- 1Lie down with the bar up
EZ bar or straight bar, hands shoulder-width apart, arms straight over your chest. Feet planted on the floor.
- 2Tilt your arms back a little
Instead of keeping them straight over your chest, angle them slightly toward your head. That way your triceps doesn't rest at the top and your elbow suffers less.
- 3Lower by bending only at the elbow
Your upper arm stays where it is. The bar comes down toward your forehead or slightly behind your head, slowly.
- 4Straighten without snapping into lockout
Press up with your triceps and stop just before lockout. Snapping into lockout under load is what punishes the joint.
The mistakes you see most
- Flaring your elbows. When your elbows drift out, your chest helps and your triceps works less. Elbows pointing forward and still.
- Too much weight. It's a small-muscle exercise with a long lever. The weight you'd handle on a bench press makes no sense at all here.
- Moving your shoulder to help. If your upper arm moves up and down, the exercise turns into a half pullover. The elbow is the only hinge.
- Going for the short range. Lowering only a few inches doesn't train the part of the range where the triceps stretches most, which is where it works best.
Variations
- With an EZ bar. The angled grip keeps your wrist more comfortable. It's the version that bothers most people the least.
- With dumbbells. Each arm on its own, and your palms can face each other, which usually feels better on the elbow.
- Lying, on a cable. The tension holds at the top and the bottom, and the pull of the cable is gentler on the joint.
- Seated, with the bar behind your head. A bigger stretch on the long head. It calls for a shoulder with good mobility and modest loads.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my elbows hurt when I do skull crushers?
Almost always because of too much weight, jerky lowering or snapping your arm into lockout at the top. Try an EZ bar or dumbbells, lower the load, control the descent and stop before lockout. If the pain persists, it's a matter for a physical therapist, not for switching exercises blindly.
To the forehead or behind the head?
Slightly behind your head keeps the tension through the whole range and stretches the triceps more. To the forehead is the classic and it works too. What doesn't work is lowering straight down over your chest: that's where the triceps rests.
How many reps?
Eight to fifteen. Below eight, the load usually goes beyond what the elbow handles well in this exercise.
Before or after the bench press?
After. Your triceps already works in the bench press, and if you exhaust it first it takes weight off the big lift.
And to keep track of what you lift
In the Reverfit Workout app every exercise comes with its animation, and you log the weight and reps set by set, with what you did last time right in front of you. Free and with no ads.
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