EZ Bar California Skullcrusher
Target your triceps with the EZ Bar California Skullcrusher. This variation emphasizes a longer range of motion, promoting muscle growth and definition.
Description
An exercise that targets the triceps by bending the elbows with a weight in hand while lying on a bench.
How to Do EZ Bar California Skullcrusher
- 1Setup
Lie supine on a flat bench with your feet firmly planted on the floor, ensuring your lower back maintains a slight natural arch.
- 2Setup
Grasp an EZ bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly narrower than shoulder-width apart, and extend it directly over your chest with your elbows slightly bent.
- 3
Keeping your upper arms stationary and elbows tucked, slowly lower the bar by bending your elbows, allowing the bar to travel towards your forehead or slightly behind your head.
- 4
Continue lowering until your forearms are close to touching your biceps, feeling a deep stretch in your triceps.
- 5
Contract your triceps to extend your elbows, pushing the bar back up to the starting position directly over your chest.
- 6
Fully extend your arms at the top, squeezing your triceps, but avoid locking your elbows completely to maintain tension.
Tips
- Maintain constant tension on your triceps by avoiding full elbow lockout at the top of the movement; keep a slight bend to maximize muscle engagement.
- Control the descent of the bar, performing the eccentric phase slowly to increase time under tension and enhance muscle activation.
- Keep your elbows relatively tucked in and pointed forward throughout the movement, preventing them from flaring out to the sides to isolate the triceps effectively.
- Breathe correctly: exhale as you extend the bar back to the starting position and inhale as you lower the bar towards your head.
Common Mistakes
- ×Flaring your elbows out to the sides reduces triceps isolation and can strain your shoulders; keep them tucked to direct tension to the triceps.
- ×Using excessive weight often leads to momentum and recruitment of other muscles; reduce the weight to maintain strict form and optimize triceps engagement.
- ×Performing a short range of motion by not fully extending or lowering the bar limits muscle activation; ensure a full range of motion to maximize triceps development.
Variations
Band Skull Crusher
Strengthen your triceps with the Band Skull Crusher. This effective exercise targets all three heads of the triceps, building arm definition and strength
Cable Incline Skull Crusher
Target your triceps effectively with the Cable Incline Skull Crusher. This exercise isolates the triceps by extending elbows on an incline, providing
Related Exercises
Barbell Reverse Grip Skullcrusher
Strengthen your triceps with the Barbell Reverse Grip Skullcrusher. This isolation exercise targets all three heads for impressive arm definition and
EZ-bar Close Grip Bench Press
Master the EZ-bar Close Grip Bench Press to build powerful triceps and improve pressing strength.
EZ Barbell Preacher Curl
Target your biceps effectively with the EZ Barbell Preacher Curl. This isolation exercise builds peak bicep strength and definition using an EZ bar on a
EZ Barbell Close grip Curl
Maximize bicep growth with the EZ Barbell Close Grip Curl. This isolation exercise effectively targets the biceps brachii, promoting peak development and
Assisted Standing Triceps Dip
Build triceps strength with machine assistance that lets you focus on proper dip form at a manageable load.
Body Up
Master this advanced bodyweight move that combines a pull-up with a dip for complete upper-body strength.
Track EZ Bar California Skullcrusher in your workouts
Log sets, reps, and weight. See your progress over time.
Get Ellim — Free