# Skull crushers vs standing cable extensions?



## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

I'm just getting into my new hypertrophy routine after 9 months of starting strength and for the first time I'm now directly training these pipe cleaners protruding from my upper torso that resemble arms.

My routine has an upper A and an upper B workout.

Workout 'Upper A' has tricep press downs which I use the rope attachment for and all is well.

Workout 'Upper B' has skull crushers as the alternative tricep exercise, which is what I was doing last night.

Now I'll admit, a video of me trying to do strict skull crushers might have gone viral on social media had it been recorded, but joking aside, I really struggled getting it strict and effective. I ended up either doing narrow grip bench presses over my face, or a weird kind of pull over, despite trying to keep my elbows tight and stable.

I tried using an ezee bar and also dumbells but it just felt all wrong.

In my frustration, I went back to the pulley, set it at the bottom, grabbed the rope again and did standing overhead extensions and BOOM there it was - instant tricep burn.

I get that the idea of Upper A and Upper B is to give two differing exercises for the same muscle group to ensure variety and to make sure the heads get hit fully, so can I substitute skull crushers for standing rope extensions on 'B' and count that as a different enough movement to complement the traditional high pulley press down used on 'A'?


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

I use both of these - Skullcrushers on Monday & pushdowns on Friday.

I would suggest you persevere for a few more workouts to see if you can get the knack, because I find skullcrushers a very effective exercise. Experiment with the grip / bar to see what's most comfortable.

You can either do them really strict (keeping the upper arm still and pivoting on the elbow so the weight travels in an arc) - or you can increase the weight & do it as more of a pressing exercise, lowering the bar to your jaw rather than your forehead and moving it in a straight line. I find the strict method irritates my elbow tendons, whilst the looser method gives me a great pump & burn in my triceps.

As with any bodypart, it's a question of finding exercises that you find comfortable and that hit you where they are supposed to. If you can;t get on with skullcrushers, there are plenty others.


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Major Eyeswater said:


> I use both of these - Skullcrushers on Monday & pushdowns on Friday.
> 
> I would suggest you persevere for a few more workouts to see if you can get the knack, because I find skullcrushers a very effective exercise. Experiment with the grip / bar to see what's most comfortable.
> 
> ...


I found the exercise easiest with a EZ bar, but it really hurt my wrists at the bottom, especially when I tried to keep the elbows closer together.


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## r1234 (Jun 16, 2012)

I do skull crushers on the low pulley. For some reason with an ez bar it causes discomfort in my elbows, with the cable it is pain free


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## funkdocta (May 29, 2013)

Love skullcrushers! I like to superset them with a close grip press.... so 10 x skullcrushers keep the upper arm still and not going past that 90 degree angle... then straight into 10 x close grip press! the burn is awesome!


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

The Sweeney said:


> I found the exercise easiest with a EZ bar, but it really hurt my wrists at the bottom, especially when I tried to keep the elbows closer together.


I use an EZ bar too - doing it as more of a press than a pivot takes the pressure off my wrists, especially if you get the bar onto the meaty bit of your hand with your thumbs under the bar.


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## simonthepieman (Jun 11, 2012)

The Sweeney said:


> I'm just getting into my new hypertrophy routine after 9 months of starting strength and for the first time I'm now directly training these pipe cleaners protruding from my upper torso that resemble arms.
> 
> My routine has an upper A and an upper B workout.
> 
> ...


there are much of a muchness, so long as you keep making progression on weight and reps you'll get there.

I've found straight bar push downs gave me crazy progress after stalling on skulls, but now i find the reverse is the case.

Progression is king. there is no perfect of best exercise.


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## captain pancake (Jan 2, 2015)

I don't do either of them anymore but cable extensions worked best for me


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## JuggernautJake (Nov 6, 2013)

cable push downs and pull down variations for me

skull crushers is not good for you, don't care what anyone says... once you get to a decent load anyway


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## Major Eyeswater (Nov 2, 2013)

r1234 said:


> I do skull crushers on the low pulley. For some reason with an ez bar it causes discomfort in my elbows, with the cable it is pain free


I'm assuming that with the your head having to go between your shoulders and the pulley, this moves the direction that the weight is pulling from by 45 degrees or so. That would completely transform the exercise


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## Prince Adam (Mar 17, 2012)

Platform : Lying Triceps Extension - YouTube


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## The Sweeney (May 8, 2014)

Prince Adam said:


> Platform : Lying Triceps Extension - YouTube


Excellent video - thanks - I'll try again.

It explains why I get a tricep burn when doing pullovers on the nautilus machine.

I've a lot of time for Mark - he clearly knows his stuff.

Shame he sometimes comes across as very arrogant.


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## nWo (Mar 25, 2014)

Different exercise really. Skullcrushers are a bit of a mid-range movement and work all heads of the tricep to varying degrees. Whereas overhead extensions with the head between the elbows will isolate the long-head (back of the arm) to a much greater degree.


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