The triceps make up 60-70% of your upper arm, so if you’re looking to have T-shirt popping arms, you need to work your triceps. One of the best ways to develop your triceps is to perform skull crushers. However, what happens if you can’t do skull crushers?
Whether you don’t have the equipment, can’t perform them due to injury, or fancy a change, you’ll need to find another way to train your triceps.
In this article, I’ll show you the 10 best skull crusher alternative exercises you can add to your workout to build a fantastic set of triceps.
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10 Best Skull Crusher Alternative Exercises
If, for some reason, you can’t perform the skull crusher movement in your home gym, the list below details 10 of the best skull crusher alternatives and shows you how to do each one.
1. Rope Pushdowns
The rope pushdown is one of my “go-to” triceps exercises. I’ve found that using the rope handle allows you to stimulate your triceps using a comfortable neutral grip that doesn’t place much stress on the shoulders or wrist joints.
It’s a simple skull crusher alternative that most people can perform without much guidance.
Traditionally you need a cable machine to perform this exercise, but I have seen it done using resistance bands with a high anchor point, making it the ideal home gym exercise.
Suggested Equipment - 7 Best Cable Crossover Machines
How to do it:
2. Parallel Bar Dips
Many gym-goers love this alternative for skull crushers. One of the main reasons is it's an excellent way to work your lower chest and triceps in one movement.
Leaning forward creates more tension on the chest while remaining upright places more emphasis on your triceps.
Even though this movement is traditionally body weight, you can use an assisted dip machine which is brilliant for beginners looking to learn the movement. But, you can also increase the weight by using a dipping belt or weighted vest, making it a good exercise for all experience levels.
See Also - How To Use A Dip Belt
How to do it:
3. Bench Rolling Triceps Extension
The bench rolling triceps extension is one of the most effective skull crusher alternative exercises you can perform to develop your triceps’ muscle mass.
It’s a multi-joint exercise and allows you to achieve a maximum stretch in your triceps by taking the dumbbells beyond your head. By doing so, the long head of the triceps is forced to work harder in order to move the dumbbell.
How to do it:
4. Close Grip Bench Press
Traditionally, the bench press is a chest exercise. However, adjusting your hand position, so you've got a narrow grip places more emphasis on the triceps and a lot less on the chest muscles.
This alternative for skull crusher is a powerful triceps exercise that allows you to overload the triceps with large amounts of weight.
When performing this movement, ensure your grip isn’t too close together as it may cause shoulder, elbow, or wrist pain.
Read More - Close Grip Bench Press Alternatives
How to do it:
5. Straight Bar Pushdowns
The straight bar pushdown is a fairly similar exercise to the rope pushdown. As you're using a straight bar, you can lift more weight than you would when using the rope so that you can place a load of stress on the triceps.
However, even though this exercise is a brilliant barbell skull crusher alternative, it can place a lot of stress on the wrist joint, so if you have joint issues, swap the handle for a rope or V handle.
Straight bar pushdowns are also an excellent alternative to dumbbell pullovers!
How to do it:
6. Reverse Dip
The reverse dip, commonly known as the bench dip, is a brilliant skull crusher alternative.
The exercise doesn’t require much equipment; you need a bench, step or chair, and your body weight. This makes this alternative for skull crushers an excellent choice of exercise if you're struggling for space in your home gym or if you're traveling. It’s a good alternative as it places your triceps through a full range of motion.
Suggested Equipment - Best Dip Bars For Home Use
How to do it:
7. Diamond Push-Ups
No gym equipment? It’s not a problem. The diamond push-up can be performed anywhere, whether you’re at home or on the move.
This push-up modification engages your triceps more than the regular push up, making this exercise a brilliant skull crusher alternative.
While the movement uses only your body weight, some gym-goers struggle to perform a push-up, so it’s not suitable for everyone.
It’s worth noting the exercise places a lot of stress on your wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints, so if you’ve got any injuries in those areas, I’d give this skull crusher alternative a miss.
Read Also - Diamond Push Up Benefits
How to do it:
8. Overhead Tricep Extensions
This alternative for skull crusher helps strengthen your long head of the triceps. It can be performed using dumbbells or a rope (depending on your equipment) and is a simple movement most people can perform.
It’s an iso-lateral movement, so both sides are required to work equally as hard, ironing out any muscle imbalances. If you’re looking to develop your triceps, this exercise is one you need in your workout routine.
How to do it:
9. Tricep Kickbacks
Tricep kickbacks are a super-controlled movement that most gym-goers perform incorrectly. They often use far too much weight and end up swinging the dumbbell rather than controlling it.
If you lower the weight and move the dumbbell in a much slower fashion, the tricep kickback is an excellent skull crusher alternative.
The movement involves elbow and shoulder extension, creating one of the most intense tricep contractions you’ll get from an exercise.
Related Article - 20 Single Dumbbell Exercises
How to do it:
10. Band Pushdowns
The band pushdown is a variation of the rope pushdown; it works all three heads of the triceps, making it one of the best skull crusher alternatives.
It can be performed iso-laterally or bi-laterally depending on your resistance band setup.
By using a band, the pushdown is no longer reliant on a bulky cable machine. This makes the exercise ideal if you’re struggling for space in your home gym or traveling and need to keep your exercise equipment lightweight.
As a resistance band is being used, the strength curve of the band makes the movement more difficult at the bottom, allowing for a brilliant contraction and the end of each rep.
See Also - How Long Do Resistance Bands Last?
How to do it:
Benefits Of Skull Crusher Substitutes (Are They Effective?)
The skull crusher substitutes mentioned in the list above are best suited for most gym-goers. However, a few exercises on the list are difficult to perform, so depending on your strength, you might find you can’t do them, e.g., the diamond push-up.
Many skull crusher alternatives work all three tricep heads, which is essential for arm mass and strength.
The advantages of performing the skull crusher alternative exercises are:
What Muscles Do Skull Crusher Substitute Exercises Work?
Tips For Mastering Skull Crusher Alternatives (Mistakes To Avoid)
No Arch
To help create stability, you want to maintain an active core and flat back. If you arch your back during the skull crusher movement, you’ll struggle to find the right angle for your triceps to feel the exercise.
Shoulder Position
Your shoulders play a huge role in your upper body’s stabilization. During the skull crusher, you should drive your shoulders into the bench while using a 92-95 degree angle in your arms to maximize tricep activation.
Elbows Tight
Tucking your elbows tight to your body helps emphasize the triceps. Flaring your elbows is a quick way to injure yourself.
One Lever Only
The skull crusher is a single joint movement, and this means your elbow should be the only joint that moves. If you find yourself rolling your shoulder joint, you’re removing some of the stress from the triceps and using your lats.
People Also Ask (FAQs)
What’s the difference between skull crushers and lying tricep extension?
They are pretty much the same exercise, and often the name is interchanged between gym-goers. If it wasn’t confusing enough, the movement is sometimes called the French press or French extension.
Some argue the name change refers to the various placements of the barbell at the bottom of the movement, e.g., behind your head, to your nose, or forehead.
Do skull crushers work the entire tricep?
During the skull crusher exercise, the entire tricep is put to work, but the main area worked is the long and lateral heads of the triceps.
Why do my elbows hurt while doing Skull Crushers?
Skull crushers place stress on your elbows and wrists, but you can make a few adjustments to help negate any elbow pain, such as lowering the barbell past your head, focusing on lightweight and high reps, or switching from a straight bar to an EZ bar.
Conclusion
The skull crusher is a brilliant triceps exercise many gym-goers love to perform. It helps develop fantastic looking triceps and helps increase your lockout performance on other lifts.
However, if you can’t perform skull crushers, then you should check out the skull crusher alternatives on the list above. They give you everything you need to hit all three heads of the triceps, giving you the horseshoe-shaped muscle everyone’s after.
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Last Updated on March 22, 2023
