Nederlands | English | Deutsch | Türkçe

Project Sports

Questions and answers about sports

Skull crusher workout issue?

5 min read

Asked by: Keith Stine

Are skull crushers safe for shoulders?

Skull crushers are an excellent exercise to build mass and strength in your triceps. They’re also an excellent way to work on stability in your shoulders. Remember: The name of the exercise sounds painful, but if you do it correctly, it shouldn’t cause you harm. Always perform the movement slowly and with control.

Why does my shoulder hurt doing skull crushers?

Your elbows and wrists should both be shoulder-width apart; not closer or farther apart. It’s common for people to let their elbows flare out as they’re doing skull crushers; avoid this. That’s a good way to injure your shoulders and it also takes emphasis off your triceps, diminishing the effectiveness of the move.

Do skull crushers damage elbows?

Go heavy on a traditional skull-crusher and the weight can cause elbow pain during the eccentric phase of the movement (when you’re bringing the weight down). In order to alleviate that elbow pain, you might not get a full stretch on your triceps during that eccentric phase.

How do you do skull crushers without shoulder pain?

So normal technique elbows stay in he's gonna go behind his head gently touch the bench for a standard range of motion.

Are dips better than skull crushers?

Skull crushers are the superior choice for developing maximum triceps mass because they train the head—the long head—that accounts for most of your triceps size, much more optimally than dips. Dips, on the other hand, require no equipment because you can do them on a chair or on your sofa.

What can I use instead of skull crushers?

Top 10 Skull Crusher Alternatives:

  • Parallel bar dips. A lot of lifters like to do parallel bar dips as part of their chest workouts. …
  • Close grip bench press. …
  • Diamond push-ups. …
  • Bench dips. …
  • Overhead triceps extensions. …
  • Triceps kickbacks. …
  • Cable triceps pushdowns. …
  • Tate press.

What causes tricep tendonitis?

Causes. Triceps tendonitis is often caused by activities that require forcefully extending the elbow. Examples include throwing a baseball, hammering, bench presses, and gymnastics. These activities can cause more strain if you quickly increase how hard or how often you do them.

How much weight should I use for skull crushers?

Entire Community

Strength Level Weight
Beginner 10 lb
Novice 24 lb
Intermediate 45 lb
Advanced 73 lb

Do skull crushers work abs?

Skull crushers are a strength-training staple for building up your triceps, and jackknifes zone in on your core, targeting both your upper and lower abs in a way that no crunch could ever.

What muscles do skull crushers target?

The skull crusher is a push exercise that isolates the triceps brachii, working it from the elbow all the way up to the latissimus dorsi muscle of the back. 2 The triceps brachii contains three heads. which can be targeted by doing a variety of lying triceps extension variations.

How do I stop my elbows from hurting when I do skull crushers?

You bring the dumbbells. Right. Past your head you keep your elbows in nice and tight you're not flaring your elbows like a like this and by using dumbbells it reduces a lot of the pain.

How do you treat triceps tendonitis?

Home Remedies

  1. Avoid movement. Don’t move your arm or tricep for 2–3 days. Rest it and keep from moving it as much as you can.
  2. Ice the area. Hold a bag of ice wrapped in a towel or a bag of frozen peas on the tendon. …
  3. Brace. Try using a brace or supportive bandage to support the muscle.


Should Skull Crushers go behind head?

Incline Skull Crusher – Proper Form



Instead, you want to slide up more to the top of the bench so that you can lean your head back if you have to. Once you’re in place, you’ll hold the bar above your head, and then come down and behind your head.

Should you do Skull Crushers at an incline?

Tips for Crushing The Skullcrusher



Your arms should automatically be perpendicular to your body when you’re on a flat bench, but won’t necessarily be when you’re doing the movement on an incline or decline bench. Only extend your elbows.

Do Skull Crushers go behind the head?

The behind-the-head skullcrusher is a variation on a triceps exercise that has been a staple of bodybuilders for decades. In this version, instead of the bar coming down lightly to the forehead, the bar tracks over the top of the head without touching it.

What are 3 exercises for the triceps?

Here we go:

  1. Close-Grip Bench Press. Not only does this tricep exercise work on the targeted area, but it will also improve upon your chest and core. …
  2. Cable Rope Tricep Pushdown. …
  3. Lying Triceps Extension. …
  4. Tricep Dips. …
  5. Diamond Push-Ups. …
  6. Bench Dip. …
  7. One-Arm Overhead Extension. …
  8. Standard Push-Up.

Why are my triceps so weak?

Triceps are an important player in our day to day life, but for many of us they become weak because we are not climbing trees and throwing spears to survive from day to day. Triceps are key players in our upper body strength when it comes to holding, pushing or pulling our own body weight around, and wielding tools.

How do you hit all 3 heads of triceps?

What tricep exercise hits all 3 heads? Diamond pushups are a great way to hit all three heads simultaneously, as are close-grip bench presses, kickbacks, and tricep pushdowns.