The Skull Crusher Barbell Arm Exercise

Video Transcript

" Hi! This is Manny Castro, Exercise Physiologist. This exercise is amicably called a skull crusher, or in more scientific terms, a supine barbell triceps extension. We’re going to be targeting, again, the back of the arm. Really, in general, all 3 heads for this particular movement, but more than 60% movement from the middle to the lateral or outer head of the triceps. Now, for this tricep, what you want to do is lay back on the bench. You’re going to get a narrow grip. You want to look at the knurlings to make sure you get your pinkies inside the first knurling. By the knurlings, I mean the rough spot that you get on the outside and then you feel the smooth spot on the inside. That’ll be your grip. Now, what you want to do is bring it up above your forehead. Keeping your elbows up and your elbows in, not out this way. What you’re going to do is bring it down to your forehead or the bridge of your nose and then right back up. Again, a nice and slow 3 count, start very light. In some cases, you want to use just the barbell weight, which is about 45 lbs., in most cases. Or you can use an easy curl bar, which is the bar that has the zigzags on it. That’ll be a little lighter, that’s probably about 25 lbs. So you want to start off light. Do about 12 or 15 repetitions. Same concept, as you increase in weight, you want to come down in repetitions."