The skull crusher lowers a bar to your forehead while lying down, keeping the upper arms angled back so the triceps are stretched at the bottom of every rep. It loads the long head far better than a pushdown and lets you use real weight, which is why it survives despite a name that tells you exactly what happens if you lose it.
How to do it
- Lower to your forehead or just behind it, with the upper arms angled slightly back.
- Use an EZ bar if a straight bar bothers your wrists — for most people it does.
Common mistakes
- Going too heavy on a movement named after what happens when you do.
What it trains
- Triceps
- extend the elbow against a bar trying to fall onto your face — all three heads, the long one stretched
- Forearms
- hold the bar and keep the wrists from folding back at the bottom
- Shoulders
- hold the upper arms at a fixed angle for the entire set
Variations and alternatives
- Close-Grip Bench Press
- Overhead Triceps Extension
- Triceps Pushdown
- Machine Triceps Extension
- Rope Pushdown
Common questions
To the forehead or behind the head?
Behind the head, if your shoulders allow it. Going past the forehead keeps tension on at the top and stretches the long head further, whereas stopping at the forehead means the bar arrives over your elbows where the triceps get a rest. The name is older than the better version of the movement.
Why do skull crushers hurt my elbows?
Usually a straight bar plus too much weight plus dropping fast into the bottom. Switch to an EZ-bar so the wrists are not twisted, angle the upper arms slightly back instead of straight up, and control the lowering. If it still bites, dumbbells or a cable version put less shear through the joint.
Should my upper arms be vertical?
No, angle them back towards your head by 15 to 30°. Vertical upper arms means the bar sits directly over the elbows at lockout with no load on the triceps at all, which throws away the top of every rep.
In StackUp. Logged as weight and reps per set, and your heaviest working set decides whether the weight goes up next time. Get the app.
Arms
