Skull Crushers

Lie on a flat bench holding an EZ-bar with an overhand grip, arms extended straight above your chest. Lower the bar toward your forehead by bending only at the elbows, keeping your upper arms stationary. Extend your elbows to press the bar back to the starting position.

Pro Tips

• Keep your upper arms perpendicular to the floor throughout the movement
• Lower the bar to your forehead or just behind your head for a deeper stretch
• Use a moderate weight — this exercise stresses the elbow joints

Muscles worked

Primary: Triceps brachii — all three heads, with particular emphasis on the long head because the overhead arm position stretches it across both the shoulder and elbow joints. Lowering the bar toward or behind the head increases the shoulder extension angle and the long-head stretch, producing more complete tricep loading than pushdowns or close-grip pressing.

Supporting: Anconeus (small elbow stabiliser assisting extension), shoulder stabilisers (maintaining the upper arm position throughout).

Common mistakes

Upper arms drifting from vertical: The defining technical element of skull crushers is that the upper arms stay stationary and perpendicular to the floor throughout the movement. If the elbows flare forward or backward, the movement is no longer a pure tricep extension — it becomes a partial press. Set the upper arms vertical and hold that position every rep.

Bar path toward the nose or chest: Lowering to the nose is the classic target — hence the name. Lowering significantly further (toward the chest) turns the movement into a close-grip press partial. For maximum long-head stretch, the bar can pass slightly behind the head — but this requires greater shoulder mobility and should progress gradually.

Going too heavy: Heavy skull crushers produce significant elbow stress because the tricep tendon is under maximal eccentric load at the fully bent-elbow position. Elbow tendinopathy is a common result of overloading this exercise. Use moderate weight with controlled technique — the tricep should be the limiting factor, not elbow pain.

Bouncing off the forehead: Not recommended for obvious reasons. Use a spotter for very heavy sets, or switch to dumbbells which naturally stop short of the forehead.

Programming notes

Skull crushers are one of the most effective tricep hypertrophy exercises because they load the long head through a stretched range that pushdowns cannot reach. They appear in most bodybuilding-oriented programmes as a primary tricep exercise, typically placed before isolation cable work.

Typical programming: 3–4 sets of 8–12 repetitions. They pair naturally with close-grip bench press in a superset — the close-grip bench finishes the tricep when the elbows have already been pre-fatigued by the stretch-loaded skull crusher.

Frequently asked questions

Should I lower the bar to my forehead, nose, or behind my head?

All three are valid targets, each shifting the emphasis slightly. Lowering to your forehead is the standard starting point and keeps elbow joint stress manageable. Passing the bar slightly behind your head increases the long-head stretch but demands greater shoulder mobility and more elbow stability — work into it gradually rather than immediately reaching for the deepest range. Lowering to your nose splits the difference and suits many lifters with average shoulder mobility. Choose the endpoint where you feel maximal tricep tension without elbow pain.

Why do my elbows hurt during skull crushers?

Elbow pain here is almost always a load or technique problem. The tricep tendon is under its greatest eccentric stress at the fully flexed position, making this exercise particularly unforgiving when you go too heavy. First, strip the weight back and check that your upper arms stay truly vertical — drifting elbows change the joint angle and increase shear. Second, slow the eccentric down and avoid locking out aggressively. If pain persists, replace skull crushers temporarily with cable overhead tricep extensions, which allow a more natural elbow path and are easier on the joint.

Are skull crushers better than tricep pushdowns for building mass?

For overall tricep mass — especially the long head — skull crushers have a meaningful advantage. The long head crosses the shoulder joint, so it is only fully stretched when the arm is raised overhead (as in skull crushers). Pushdowns work the tricep in a shortened position, missing that stretch-mediated growth stimulus. Research consistently shows that training a muscle through a longer range and with greater stretch produces superior hypertrophy. In practice, the two exercises complement each other well: use skull crushers as your primary tricep movement and pushdowns as a finishing exercise.