Is there an excersise that can replace skull crushers, elbow pain is intense!!!!

[gettinlarger]

How close in are your elbows? I have mine flared out a little bit, and my elbows feel fine. Too close = pain for me.

Try them on an incline too. Feels better than flat or decline to me.

 

[CobraUTAH]

Well I've never experienced much elbow pain from skull crushers but I can tell that if the weight gets really heavy they would cause pain and injury. I've done them on the decline like someone said and it really does relieve alot of the pressure. But for me dips or weighted dips never hurt, and close grip bench also causes me no pain in the elbows, just the wrists when I grip to close.

 

[punch]

dont you take emphasis off of the tricep when elbows flare out?????

 

[gettinlarger]

dont you take emphasis off of the tricep when elbows flare out?????

If you do it too much, yes. But keeping your elbows in too far is unnatural.

 

[punch]

I will try the decline tonight, makes sense. Thanks

 

[karde]

If you do it too much, yes. But keeping your elbows in too far is unnatural.

Agreed. I try to let my elbows stay in a natural motion that I would do with no weight. Try seeing where your elbows like being that way, then when you add weight, try and keep them there.

 

[Prime Rib]

I tore the piss outta my tendons doing Skullcrushers. They did a GREAT job adding mass and strength to my tri's, but no thanks. I plan on working out for many more years and this is one excercise that will take you out of the game if you're not carefull.

Josh

 

[JOKER47]

I had to stop skulls for the same reason.

CG bench, JM press, board presses, tate presses and lying DB extensions are all I use now for tri specific lifts.


Joker

 

[woof]

I, like PrimeRib, messed my left elbow tendon up pretty bad. If the pain is on the inside (medial) side of your elbow it is actually called medial epicondylitis:
http://www.handsurgeon.com/golfer.html
The way you prob got it was that you were bending your wrists when doing skull crushers. This places a lot of tension on this tendon. Once the tendonitis subsides (took a long time - like a year for mine) you might try keeping your wrist locked when doing skull crushers. worked for me.

 

[young guns]

I, like PrimeRib, messed my left elbow tendon up pretty bad. If the pain is on the inside (medial) side of your elbow it is actually called medial epicondylitis:
http://www.handsurgeon.com/golfer.html
The way you prob got it was that you were bending your wrists when doing skull crushers. This places a lot of tension on this tendon. Once the tendonitis subsides (took a long time - like a year for mine) you might try keeping your wrist locked when doing skull crushers. worked for me.

do you think this could also likely explain why it bothers be one close grip also? i currently use a grip where i wrap my thumbs under the bar instead of around it. this causes me to have to bend my wrists backward more than if i wrapped my thumb around the bar. it's just something i've gotten used to doing but could change (although itd be a little akward for awhile) if i know it's adding to the problem. also, how close should my grip be? maybe my grip distance is a problem too.