Lying triceps extensions, commonly referred to as skull crushers, are an excellent way to develop the triceps. While they’re easy to do with a barbell, proper technique must be employed in order to avoid injury and ensure maximum results.
Begin by placing your feet firmly on the floor and securing a flat gym bench, before lying back and grasping one end of a barbell with both hands shoulder-width apart. Build Insane Triceps by Doing Skull Crushers – Laz Tymoff
Strength
Skull crushers can provide an incredible return for the amount of effort put in when it comes to increasing upper arm muscle mass. Not only can they complement other pressing exercises like bench presses and lateral raises, they’re also great as an independent triceps movement. Whatever form you use though, focus on the movement itself – not simply flexing arms away from your body but pushing them closer in towards you to ensure maximum triceps activation!
Another effective technique to consider when performing skull crushers is lowering the weight further behind your head as you near the bottom of the movement. This places more focus on your lateral head of triceps and can add another level of difficulty for your muscles, according to Pabon. Be careful with controlling weight during both eccentric and concentric movements to avoid injury; using barbells or EZ curl bars are effective alternatives but may put additional strain on wrists so make sure you’ve gained adequate strength before trying them out!
Flexibility
The skull crusher — otherwise known as lying triceps extensions — is an effective exercise for toning your triceps and strengthening the shoulder joint. However, using too much weight or not performing it properly can easily result in injury – make sure the weight drops gradually without sudden movements to protect wrists and elbows from straining! A spotter may be useful if increasing load gradually so as to stay safe when increasing loads – particularly if injuries are prone.
The Barbell Skull Crusher is an ideal exercise to build up the strength and lockout in the bench press. Additionally, this exercise targets rear deltoids and scapular stabilizers, which play a crucial role in keeping shoulders aligned during pressing. For best results, incorporate this exercise as part of horizontal presses, with three to four sets of 10-12 reps as an accessory lift.
Coordination
Skull crushers are a single-joint exercise to isolate the triceps, but require coordination to perform correctly. Common mistakes include dropping weight onto your forehead instead of behind the head or performing it too quickly without proper muscle control – both can reduce time under tension while increasing risk of injury due to dropping onto either head or face.
Skull crushers require great balance, but can also put strain on your wrist joints. To reduce this strain, try performing this movement using an EZ curl bar or dumbbells. If this still proves challenging for you, try lying triceps extensions on an incline bench instead; these exercises place weight at a lower angle while targeting different segments of your triceps.
An excellent alternative is overhead triceps extensions, which can be performed using dumbbells, barbells or an EZ curl bar and may be less painful on wrist joints than skull crushers; however, overhead extensions don’t offer as much of a stretch in your triceps muscle as skull crushers do.
Injury Prevention
Skull crushers are an excellent exercise to build bigger triceps and increase bench press strength. You can do them using a straight bar, EZ curl bar or dumbbells – and often find they’re easier on your elbows than overhead triceps extensions!
However, to minimize injury risk it’s crucial that every movement be performed properly. To do this safely, start with light weights and gradually build them up, prioritizing quality over quantity when performing repetitions.
To reduce further stress on your elbow joints, you can also try lowering the barbell towards your forehead rather than your head; using a decline bench for increased emphasis on the lateral head of your triceps; or placing both feet on the floor to engage more of your core and lower body muscles. Furthermore, mix things up by including other exercises like triceps pushdowns and close-grip bench press for additional variety.
