How to do Skull Crushers Properly with EZ Bar! 3 Amazing Benefits!!!

Skull crusher as the name suggests is really a crushing exercise but not of the skull but the Triceps muscles! This is one of the best triceps exercises with high potential to pump up your triceps muscles. The variations in the skull crusher make it even more fun and powerful to perform. To get those great triceps we need to understand ‘How to do skull crushers with EZ Bar in detail!

Before diving deep into the details of skull crushers let me first make you go through the whole article in short. First, we will see the Proper guide and muscles worked in the skull crusher, then the 3 benefits, common mistakes & the safety tips to be taken during this exercise. ( Click the Table Of Content links for quicker redirection.)

How to Do Skull Crushers with EZ Bar-

Equipment Needed– EZ bar for normal skull crusher. You can use dumbbells or a normal bar.

Step-By-Step Instructions-

• Lay down on the incline or a normal bench with the EZ bar in your hands. Make sure that your arms are fully extended and the hands are perpendicular to the bench.
• The weights should be directly above your chest line. This is your starting position.
• Now lower the EZ bar by bending your arms in the elbows such that the bar is almost an inch above your head. Inhale while doing this. Feel the squeeze in the triceps while curling your arms.
• Exhale and elevate the weights in the same pattern without any movement in the shoulders or other parts.
• Hold this position ( Starting Position) for a couple of seconds and repeat the steps mentioned above.
• Do skull crushers 12 to 15 times in a set of 3, if you don’t have any other workout plans. Doing it thrice a week would suffice!

Muscles Worked in Skull Crushers-

It targets the muscles in the backside of the upper arm called Triceps Brachii. They have a three-headed attachment and hence the name. The same type of muscle is present in the leg, called triceps surae muscles.

So what are the names of the three unit muscles making the triceps?

• Long Head
• Medial Head
• Lateral Head.

These muscles are pressurized while doing the exercise which ultimately leads to their development. These muscles within few days of workout stand out which later becomes more prominent with time. For a more detailed view on triceps muscles, visit Wikipedia.

3 Major Benefits Of Skull Crusher-

1. Builds Stronger Triceps-

This is the most obvious and discussed benefit. Force applied while doing the exercise makes the triceps grow strong. Make sure that you don’t cheat while doing to avail maximum benefits possible.

To reduce the duration and reap the benefits faster, you can increase the reps and include other workouts in your plan.

2. Good for Wrists and Elbows-

As the condition of the exercise is to not move the elbows forward or backward, this leads to better development of elbows. The wrists are forced to stay tight & calm that ultimately results in good wrists over time.

The squeezing movement of the muscles is a time taking process during which elbows are forced to curl at a slower pace. This makes sure that your elbows along with your triceps are advanced.

3. Assists the Body Physique-

Indeed the arm muscles are the prime point of attention one can get easily in public places. Pumped-up biceps and triceps are easily seen through tight shirts. This is a good indication that you are physically fit and healthy.

Building triceps would have great impact on your daily as well as social life.

Know the right time to do exercises. Read this full free article- When is the Best Time of Day to Exercise? Know the Benefits of Each!

Common Mistakes-

1. Elbows Pointing Sideways-

This is the most common mistake a person can do while performing skull crushers. Remember that your elbows should be pointing forwards and up.

Maintaining this position of elbows results in better development of the triceps muscles. The pointing out way of elbows puts more pressure on the triceps which makes them grow stronger.

2. Touching the Bar to Head-

I have already mentioned that you should maintain a distance of at least an inch between your face and the bar. This ensures that the force applied is directed effectively and you reap maximum benefits from it.

Swinging the EZ bar back of the head is allowed to some extent. If you try to take support of your head for diverting the weight, then the exercise gets useless. So try to follow the perfect steps and position while doing this exercise.

3. No Tight Grip-

This can be very harmful since loose grip may cause slipring of the bar which may bang on your head. You need to have a tight grip on the bar. For this purpose, you can use the friction increasing powder or rubber soles over the bar.

If you feel like you are loosing your the grip due to any reason stop the exercise immediately. Continue again when you have rectified and resolved the issue.

4. Too Fast & Too Slow Curls-

This is the biggest mistake or cheating one attempts while doing the exercise. A trainee increases the speed of curl when he feels it hard to curl. In this case you may reduce the reps, but increasing the speed won’t help you in any way. In other words, you are just making the use of the momentum to curl faster.

Another case is of very sloppy curling. Here the trainee supposes that doing the curls slowly may increase the pace of triceps building. But this doe not happen. Rather it may just decreases few days on the route to achieve great triceps, but not more than that.

Building up any muscles takes time, which is an absolute requirement. You should not cheat in any way to lower the duration in order to achieve success. Remember, ‘ Rome was not built in a Day!’ neither your muscles would be!

Safety Tips & Precautions-

• Take care of the grip and the bench you are using while doing the skull crushers. They have important role in your overall growth.
• Don’t do any sort of exercises after having meals.
• This exercise is not recommended for elderly people, injured or pregnant ladies.
• Try to do the exercise or other workouts in the morning. Morning workouts has additional benefits when compared to other time.

Related Article-

Thanks for reading!

Also read our other amazing articles-