Lying Triceps PressMuscles Worked
The lying triceps press, often called a skull crusher, works your triceps, with a lot of emphasis on the long head because your arms are raised in front of you. Using an EZ bar puts your wrists at a more comfortable angle than a straight bar.
PrimaryTriceps
- Equipment
- EZ curl bar
- Level
- Intermediate
- Type
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
How to do it
- Lie back on a flat bench with your feet planted and hold an EZ bar on the angled grips, palms facing toward your feet.
- Press the bar up until your arms are straight over your shoulders, then let them tilt back slightly toward your head.
- Keeping your upper arms still, bend at the elbows and lower the bar slowly toward your forehead or just behind your head.
- Stop just short of touching, then extend your elbows to drive the bar back to the start.
- Finish with straight arms without letting the bar drift forward over your chest, which takes tension off the triceps.
Form tips
- Keep your elbows pointing at the ceiling and about shoulder width apart; letting them flare out turns it into a press.
- Choose a weight you can control for clean reps and lower it slowly, since the bar travels toward your head.
Why it made the list
No. 3 of 12
Best Tricep Exercises
Targets the long head of the tricep, which is the largest head. EZ-bar version is wrist-friendly. Classic mass builder.
More tricep exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Lying Triceps Press sets in KasMaker and watch your triceps fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
