Triceps exercise
Skull Crusher (EZ Bar)How to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the Skull Crusher?
- Lie on a flat bench, holding an EZ bar on the inner grips.
- Hold the bar straight up above your face, elbows pointing at your knees.
- Bend only your elbows to lower the bar towards your forehead.
- Stop just above your forehead, then straighten your arms.
Cues
- Elbows in, pointing to knees
- Upper arms stay still
- Stop just above your forehead
Common mistakes
- Elbows flaring out: keep them shoulder-width and pointing at your knees.
- Upper arms swinging: only your elbows should bend.
- Lowering too fast: control the bar all the way down.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Lying on a flat bench (pad top about 45 cm). Head, upper back and hips on the pad, feet flat on the floor, knees about 90°. Natural low-back curve, no big arch. Hands about 25–30 cm apart (NSCA gives about 30 cm for a straight bar). Wrists straight. The bar is pressed up from the chest (or handed off) before the first rep.
The movement
Only the forearms move, the bar travelling in an arc down towards the forehead and back up to straight arms. Upper arms stay fixed, elbows stay shoulder-width and pointing at the knees. Wrists stay straight. Head, back, hips and feet stay on the bench and floor. Sources differ on the start point: ACE starts with the bar above the face, the NSCA text over the chest.
End position
(turnaround point): bar lowered to about 3–5 cm above the forehead, never touching. Upper arms still in the start angle; ACE stops earlier if the upper arms begin to drift back. A brief stop.
Tempo
About 2 s down, a 0.3 s stop, about 1.5 s up, about 0.4 s at the top.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hands apart | 28 cm | 25–30 cm (inner EZ grip) | |
| Upper arm from vertical, towards the head | 5° | 0–10°, fixed all rep | |
| Elbow at the top | 175° | 170–180°, no snap | |
| Bar gap to the forehead at the bottom | 4 cm | 3–6 cm, never touching | |
| Elbows apart | shoulder width | 0.9–1.1× shoulder width |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Skull Crusher is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
