Skull crushers are up their as one of the best exercises you can do for your triceps. Skull crushers can pack on mass to your tricep muscles like no other and should ideally be used as the first exercise in your tricep workout. Of course this is not set in stone as workouts will vary from one person to another but if you have been neglecting skull crushers in your routine for a while I would recommend adding them into your workout and preferably perform them first. This way you muscles are fresh and will be able to handle slightly more weight compared to performing the exercise second or later on in your workout. Let’s take a look at how to perform skull crushers with good form:
Find Yourself a Bench. Grab a bench and position it in the flat position. You can also perform skull crushers using an incline position on the bench but in this article we will keep it simple and focus purely on the flat bench skull crusher.
Get a Weight. Find yourself a weight that you can lift for at least 8 repetitions. If your unsure as to how much weight you can handle for this particular exercise then purposely go light and pyramid the weight up if your previous set was too easy.
Getting The Weight Into Position. The rep starts with the barbell elevated above your head with arms extended. Unless you have a workout partner to hand you the weight some people may find it tricky getting the weight into position to begin the set. The best thing to do here is use an EZ Bar instead of a traditional barbell. Position the bar on your thighs while sitting down on the bench.
Now you need to use a similar method as you would for the dumbbell bench press. The bar is probably best placed close to your knees while you sit on the bench. Take a little lean forward and using a little momentum, lay backwards onto the bench while kicking your legs up at the same time. This should get the bar up in the air enough for you to manoeuvre the bar into its starting position which is up above your head. You should now be in position for your first rep.
Lowering The Bar. Many people lower the bar differently during the skull crusher. Ideally you should lower the bar by keeping elbows still and in position. They should not move too much from their original starting position. Focus on keeping them still throughout the movement to keep tension on those triceps. Something else that varies between lifters is the position the bar is lowered to. This doesn’t seem to matter too much as long as you are using strict form and keeping those elbows as still as possible throughout the lift.
Some people will lower the bar to their foreheads while others will lower it further back, just behind their head. I feel more comfortable lowering the bar back behind the head. If I fail on a rep I know the weight will be positioned behind my head and I can drop the weight safely to the floor or onto the bench. If you fail on a rep and the bar is positioned just above your forehead there is a higher risk of danger. It’s personal choice, try both methods and stick to one you feel more comfortable with.
When you are lowering the bar you will want to squeeze the bar firmly and lower it in a controlled manor. It’s always best to have the bar under control on the way down even if it means going slow for the negative phase of the lift. If you lower the bar too quickly it takes stress off the muscle, raises risk of injury and just feels extremely awkward on your tricep muscles. Once you have trouble lowering the bar under control, you know the set is nearly over. The bar should be lowered to either your forehead or just behind your head at forehead level depending on which variation of the lift you are using.
Raising The Bar. Once you have lowered the bar to the appropriate position, keep elbows in position while you explode the bar back up. Focus on lifting the bar by simply extending your arm up. As mentioned before, try and keep elbows still while extending arms upwards. A slight variation of raising the bar during the tricep skull crusher is to extend your arm by pushing up and outwards. Supposedly this is meant to place greater emphasis on the long head of the tricep muscle. Feel free to try it. Don’t forget to keep that grip tight!
How to do Skull Crushers – Tips
Bar Position. If you are extending the bar back behind your head you should position the bar above your forehead (or slightly in front) to begin the rep. If you are lowering the bar down to your forehead then the bar will need to be positioned further in front of your forehead.
Elbows Still. Focus on keeping the elbows still. This will help keep tension on the tricep muscle and make the lift feel more comfortable and stable. It will also help you focus on lifting the bar directly upwards instead of lifting the bar up and across your body slightly. If elbows are kept relatively still, once you raise the bar up, it should roughly be in the same place as when you first started the rep.
Lower The Bar Slowly. Lowering the bar too quickly makes raising it back up feel a lot more awkward on your muscles. If you lower it under control you will feel a better contraction in your tricep muscles and make raising the bar feel a lot less awkward.
Grip. Keep that grip tight! Focus on squeezing the bar on the way down. This makes you feel stronger and more stable throughout the lift. It will also stop your wrists from rolling back at the bottom of the movement.
