EZ-Bar Skull Crusher
Trains the Triceps.
- Equipment
- An EZ bar and either a flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Load an EZ-bar and lie on a flat bench with your feet flat on the floor.
- Take an overhand grip on the angled sections, hands about shoulder-width apart, and press the bar up to arm's length above your chest.
- Tip your arms back so the bar is over your forehead rather than your chest, with your upper arms angled slightly toward your head.
- Keeping the upper arms fixed at that angle, bend your elbows to lower the bar toward the top of your head or just behind it.
- Stop when your forearms are roughly parallel to the floor or a little past, then extend the elbows to press the bar back up.
- Keep the upper arms still throughout; only the forearms move.
Common mistakes
- Letting the upper arms drift back and forth to help. Once the shoulders start moving, the movement becomes a pullover and the triceps do less.
- Holding the arms perfectly vertical. Angling them slightly toward the head is what keeps tension on the triceps at the top; straight up gives the arms a rest at lockout.
- Going heavy on a movement where the elbow is fully loaded at the bottom. This is a controlled exercise, and the weight should be one you can stop and reverse rather than one you have to catch.
- Doing skull crushers and pushdowns and calling the triceps trained. Both keep the upper arm near the torso, so the long head is short at the shoulder throughout. Something overhead covers the rest.