maratoolEZ-Bar Skullcrusher
How to do the ez-bar skullcrusher
- Using a close grip, lift the EZ bar and hold it with your elbows in as you lie on the bench. Your arms should be perpendicular to the floor. This will be your starting position.
- Keeping the upper arms stationary, lower the bar by allowing the elbows to flex. Inhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Pause once the bar is directly above the forehead.
- Lift the bar back to the starting position by extending the elbow and exhaling.
- Repeat.
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.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first.
How this movement works
One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
The cambered EZ bar sets the hands half-way between palms-up and palms-in, taking strain off the wrist and elbow compared with a straight bar.
Every exercise using:E-z curl bar
These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Floor Pressbarbell
- Incline Push-Up Close-Gripbody only
- Incline Pushdown with Cablecable
- Incline Triceps Extensions with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 99 triceps exercises in this database, 44 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.