Do you ever find yourself lying on your back with your phone in your hand, your arms burning? You’re basically doing a skull crusher.
This article will cover everything you need about skull crushers, a tricep exercise that not only sounds badass but also makes you feel great.
What are Skull Crushers?
Skull crushing, also known as lying triceps extensions or lying triceps extensions is a traditional move that involves lying on your back, using a pair or EZ curl bars (just one of the many gym barbells). The “skull crusher” is a move where you hold the weight above your head with your elbows pointed up. Next, use your triceps (the muscles behind your upper arm) and straighten your elbow to pull the weight towards the ceiling.
Skull Crushers: The Benefits
Skull crushers can be used to strengthen the triceps and make it easier for you to do everyday functional movements.
These will help you during other strength movements.
Riley O’Donnell is a NASM-certified personal coach and instructor at Fhitting room, a HIIT training studio in New York City. “Triceps improve your pushing strength and are key extensors of the elbow joint,” Riley O’Donnell explains. Strengthening your triceps can help you achieve your goals in overhead presses, push-ups and chest/bench presses.
Push-ups will improve.
O’Donnell says that skull crushers improve pushing because they teach you how to load weight using your elbows bent (or bent) and then press the weight into a locked-out arm. She says that pushing things requires us to not only engage our shoulders, chest and core but also to be able extend our elbows. These are great for anyone who has struggled with push-ups.
Without any interference, you can target your triceps.
Skull crushers, unlike other upper-body and arm exercises, make the triceps the primary muscles involved. This allows you to better target smaller arm muscles. Ash Wilking, CFSC and FRC, a trainer at Rumble boxing studio, says that the triceps are rarely in the lead, compared to biceps or holding weights, or glutes for standing or walking. Wilking says that they help larger muscle groups perform countless movements in strength training and daily activity.
These can be done even if you have limited mobility.
O’Donnell says that skull crushers can isolate the triceps by using the elbow joint. This is true for all triceps-dominant exercise, however. She says that standing triceps extensions or triceps dips, for example, require shoulder mobility that isn’t available to everyone. Skull crushers are best for people with limited shoulder motion and who want to strengthen their quadriceps.
Or an injury.
Skull crushers can be used to build strength and triceps. They are also beneficial for people who are recovering from an injury or want to do a low-impact exercise. Wilking explains that by lying on your back, with your weight overhead, the main focus is on the triceps. This helps to remove pressure from other joints like your wrists or lower back in push-ups.
You will increase your grip strength.
Skull crushers can also help improve grip strength. They prevent you from dropping weight and crushing your head. It’s important that your wrists are straight when performing skull crushers. O’Donnell says that it is tempting to break your wrist during this movement because it makes it easier to hold the weight. However, focusing on your wrist strength will improve your grip strength. Need another lesson on grip strength? This battle rope workout is a great way to improve your grip strength.
You can either use a bench or an exercise pad to perform skull crushing. Wilking says that a bench allows you to place your feet on the floor. This requires different engagement in your lower body, core, and glutes. Engaging your glutes and tucking into your pelvis and maintaining your core tight and ribs up takes thoughtful effort. She says that if you lie on a mat your feet will be flat on the ground, but your knees will be bent more, which allows you to tilt your pelvis, creating a better connection with you rib cage. She says that this connection will prevent shoulder movement and isolate the triceps.
Chris Pabon, a NASM certified personal trainer and fitness manager at Blink Fitness, suggests that you do skull crushers on a mat rather than on the bench if you are new. This will allow you to move more freely and engage your triceps in the eccentric (lowering) or concentric (lifting) phases. He says, “You’ll lose some range of motion but you will learn good form.”
O’Donnell suggests that you practice skull crushing with your own body weight, gradually adding weight to ensure proper form. This means that you should choose a weight that is challenging, but easy enough to do 10-12 reps without slipping. To start, you can use one dumbbell and grip it with both your hands. Then, try one weight in each of the other hands.
A. A.
B. B. Engage glutes, and pull the rib cage back to avoid arching the low back.
C. Tuck your elbows in and press shoulders down. Slowly bend elbows to lower dumbbells approximately an inch from the forehead on each side of the head. To engage the lats, don’t move your upper arms. Anchor shoulders down and keep your upper arms still.
D. Lift arms back up with control
Decline Skull Crushing
Pabon claims that changing the angle of the bench can engage certain heads (read: parts?) of the triceps more than others. Pabon says that a decline bench, where your head is lower than your feet, will result in more activation of the lateral tricep head. This is located towards the outside of your arm. This is how to decline skull crushers using a pair dumbbells.
A. A.
B. B. Engage glutes, and pull the rib cage back to avoid arching the low back.
C. C. Tuck your elbows in and press shoulders down. Slowly bend elbows to lower dumbbells approximately an inch above your forehead on each side. To engage the lats, don’t move your upper arms. Anchor shoulders down and keep your upper arms still.
D. Lift arms back up with control
Incline Skull Crushers
Pabon says that an incline (with the head on the upper end) will help you work your long head of triceps. This is located towards the inside of your arm. Here’s how you do it.
A. A.
B. B. To prevent the back from arching, press back against the bench.
C. By tucking your elbows in and pressing your shoulders down, you can slowly bend your elbows to lower dumbbells below the head.
D. Lift arms back up with control
Dumbbells vs. EZ Bar Skull Crushers
Pabon believes form doesn’t matter if you use dumbbells or an EZ-curl bar. An EZ bar requires that your hands be at least shoulder width. Dumbbells can be more difficult to control because there are two. You might lose weight if you use dumbbells. However, an EZ bar will allow you to lift heavier and address strength imbalances between your arms. Pabon suggests that an EZ bar can be used instead of dumbbells if you have problems with your elbows being pinched in.
How to fix Skull Crusher Mistakes
Although skull crushers can be done easily, they can cause injury and pain. Here’s how to make sure you get the most from your triceps burner. (
1. Flaring out the Elbows
It’s tempting for you to raise your weights to help your triceps. However, keeping your elbows in place will ensure that you maximize the muscle-burnout. O’Donnell says that you can imagine your elbows hugging a balloon to prevent your elbows flaring, and your upper arms against a wall during the whole movement. This will keep your upper body still on the bench or mat.
Wilking recommends another visual cue: “Imagine that you are grasping a steering wheel and turning your pinky finger down and in to engage the lats.”
It is possible to slow down the movement. Control the weight in both the eccentric and concentric parts of the movement. Pabon says that injuries can occur during rotation and/or deceleration. Therefore, it is important to focus on controlling this weight.
2. Don’t forget to shrug your shoulders
O’Donnell suggests that you pack your shoulders down to isolate your triceps. This will allow you to engage your lats. O’Donnell explains that if your lats don’t engage, your skull crusher will allow your upper arm to move. She says that tightening your core can help stabilize the upper body. She explains that the skull crusher is done on the back. This is because your core is responsible for keeping the ribcage knitted while the movement is occurring and the low back pressing into a bench or floor. To prevent the low back from being compressed, knit the rib cage by pulling the down and bringing the core muscles to the fore.
3. The Low Back: Arching
This can cause pain and injury by putting pressure on the low back. Wilking recommends lowering your rib cage to the floor in order to prevent them from flaring. O’Donnell suggests O’Donnell to think about pressing your feet into ground and knitting your rib cage, while pressing the backs of your ribs into a bench or floor.
How to add skull crushers to your workouts
Are you ready to move? Start by doing 3-4 sets of reps. Wilking recommends doing skull crushers as part of a superset exercise that includes a biceps workout on arm days. They can also be used as an active recovery move. Wilking says that skull crushers can be used to help with leg and full-body exercises. However, the skull crushers should not be used for long periods of time. Pabon said that skull crushers are something he does when he isn’t focusing on his other “push” muscles like the chest or shoulder. He says that skull crushers are a great way of finishing them off (triceps) after they’ve been used for secondary muscles in the first part.
