This exercise sounds brutal — but it’s one of the best for working your triceps

This practice sounds brutal — only it's one of the best for working your triceps

a photo of a man performing a skull crusher exercise

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

If i of your 2022 fitness goals is to work on your arm strength, we've plant one of the best exercises for building your triceps. Forth with isolating your triceps, skull crushers are bully at helping yous increment your bench press strength. Just what are skull crushers, and how can y'all make sure you're doing them with the correct form? Read on to find out more than.

Firstly, don't let the name put y'all off hither. Instead, think of it as a lesson about form. Skull crushers are named equally such considering if you drop the weight, you're in danger of it falling on your head, only this shouldn't happen if you grip the weight properly, and don't commencement off with anything besides heavy. If the name does put you off, they're also referred to every bit lying tricep extensions. Beneath, we've summarized how to do a skull crusher, and how to ensure you're getting your form right throughout the exercise.

Looking for more arm conditioning inspiration? We've establish this exercise that sculpts your arms and abs using only your bodyweight, and the best resistance ring exercises that build your arms without weights.

How to do a skull crusher

To do a skull crusher, prevarication on a bench and ensure that your entire trunk is supported by the bench, aside from your lower legs. Keep your lower back pressed into the bench, and extend a weight in a higher place your head, keeping a proficient grip on the weight, without locking your elbows.

Flex your elbows and lower the weight downward towards the top of your head. Your artillery should be perpendicular to your trunk. Continue lowering the weight backside your head, keeping the movement deadening and controlled. Then elevator the weight back upwards to your starting position and repeat.

The exercise can be washed with a dumbbell (nosotros've found the all-time adaptable dumbbells for weightlifting at home here), a barbell, or kettlebells. You can do the exercise holding one dumbbell betwixt both hands, or increasing the weight to a dumbbell in each hand for more than of a challenge.

Here's how to do a skull crusher with correct form:

Common mistakes

When information technology comes to getting your form right during this exercise, there are a few things to watch out for:

Loose grip: We've already mentioned this above, but exist sure to grip onto the weight during the movement to avert injury. Put your ego aside and start with a lower weight to piece of work on your grip and your form during this exercise.

Remember to lower the weight behind your head: At no point should y'all be lowering the weight directly towards your forehead or skull. The weight travels behind the caput.

Rushing through the exercise: The entire exercise should be done slowly, and with control, especially when the weight is moving down behind the head. This forces the triceps to work harder and stops you from rocking back and along during the practise.

Information technology's worth noting, this do tin put pressure on the elbows, so if you lot're recovering from an elbow injury, it'southward a good idea to check with your doctor earlier calculation this to your routine.

What are the benefits of skull crushers?

Skull crushers isolate the tricep musculus and put the tricep through a deep range of motion, which is great for edifice muscle. Compared to other tricep exercises, they also don't put as much strain on the elbows.

Compared to exercises like bench presses, when you lot perform a skull crusher, your shoulders remain still, which ways all three parts of the tricep — the medial caput, the lateral head, and the long head, are engaged.

In improver to potent arms beingness an aesthetic goal, nosotros employ our triceps for pushing and pulling motions, so they're important even if you lot're non a bodybuilder. Strong triceps will make carrying the groceries, or pushing a baby railroad vehicle a picayune flake easier. They tin likewise sculpt the arm muscles and help target the underarm function of the body, often referred to as 'bingo wings'.

Skull crusher modifications to endeavor

If you don't have a weight demote, you lot can modify this exercise past performing it on an exercise mat on the flooring (nosotros've found the best yoga mats that double as exercise mats here).

For more of a claiming, use a barbell during this exercise, and increase the weight and the number of repetitions. You tin can also endeavour doing the exercise on a weight bench at an incline to really up the ante.

Jane McGuire is Tom's Guide's Fettle editor, which ways she looks afterwards everything fitness related - from running gear to yoga mats. An avid runner, Jane has tested and reviewed fitness products for the past four years, so knows what to look for when finding a good running watch or a pair of shorts with pockets big enough for your smartphone. When she's not pounding the pavements, you'll find Jane striding round the Surrey Hills, taking far too many photos of her puppy.