Decline Close Grip Bench to Skull Crusher

Muscles worked

The prime mover is the triceps brachii, which straightens the elbow, and through its long head helps pull the arm back at the shoulder.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the chest adds pushing force at the shoulder; the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.

Every exercise for:TricepsChestShoulders

How this movement works

The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.

Every exercise using:Barbell

These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Decline Triceps Extension with Dumbbelldumbbell
• Dip Machinemachine
• Dips - Triceps Versionbody only
• EZ-Bar Skullcrushere-z curl bar
• Incline Pushdown with Cablecable

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 99 triceps exercises in this database, 26 are listed at intermediate level.