Thread: Triceps: Cable pushdowns or Skulls?

i say skulls are better since they are a freeweight movement, and hit the long hit a little more than pushdowns, but im not completely sure, i usually do skull crushers, dips, and 1 arm ext. i dont think they will work as good, but that is my opinion.

Originally Posted by LexusGS

Which do you reccomend me doing for tris'?
I've experienced that no matter how i do skulls my elbows still hurt afterwards, and I'm concerned that it is a health issue. My question is: Will doing cable pushdows work my tri's just as good as doing skulls? or not even close?
Thanks in advance.

i used to get this problem when i did them... i got rid of it by altering the movment slightly

Instead of bringing it down to your skull move you arms up higher and bring it down behind the edge of the bench (towards the floor)

http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tricep0ea.jpg

I personally like overhead extensions, JM presses, and Tate presses as far as direct tricep work goes. CG bench presses and dips are great too, but I figured you were talking isolation movements.

thanks for the help guys.
HardTrainer, your illustration is very helpful. Cowpimp, i'll give some of those exercises a try.

my elbows used to kill me when I did skull crushers so I just dropped them all together. I haven't trained arms in months. But if I were to start again I would probably do CG bench or dips for my triceps.

Originally Posted by P-funk

my elbows used to kill me when I did skull crushers so I just dropped them all together. I haven't trained arms in months. But if I were to start again I would probably do CG bench or dips for my triceps.

Hey p, just curious, have you seen any size gains in your arms since you stopped training them? I know it doesn't matter do you anymore, but I just wanted to know.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Hey p, just curious, have you seen any size gains in your arms since you stopped training them? I know it doesn't matter do you anymore, but I just wanted to know.

Well, I did see size gains when I stopped training them the first time as I was still doing general upper body exercises (back work, bench, overhead press, etc...). Once I went to a straight up olympic lifting routine they haven't grown for the simple fact that I do almost no volume for my upper body (3 sets of rows once a week, 3 sets of pull ups once a week, and 2-3 sets of overhead press once a week). I would be foolish to think that they would grow with a low volume routine like this as I am not even going all out on those exercises since with the olympic lifts I put a lot of pressure on my shoulders doing snatches, overhead squats, jerks and cleans and put a lot of pressure on my back doing pulls. But, like I said, when I was training normal compound lifts I did no tricep work and about 3-4 sets of BB curls once a week and my arms grew like hell just from training heavy on my pulls and presses.

p-funk, thanks for the input.
I've never done dips in my life and I will try them this monday.
How do you go about doing weighted dips? Do you need a belt for this exercise or how do you do them?

Originally Posted by LexusGS

p-funk, thanks for the input.
I've never done dips in my life and I will try them this monday.
How do you go about doing weighted dips? Do you need a belt for this exercise or how do you do them?

yea, you need a dip belt to perform them like you do weighted pull ups. I always do them weighted. I used to be really good at them doing BW (which was 195 at the time) with an extra 155-165lbs on my waist. Start with no weight to get used to it though.

I started lifting weights back in 1980....so now 25 years later I do the exercises that feel comfortable and do not hurt my joints....

Rule #1 don't do it if it hurts your joints, tendons or ligaments...
You can do dozens of exercises for each muscle....do the ones that don't destroy your body.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

I started lifting weights back in 1980....so now 25 years later I do the exercises that feel comfortable and do not hurt my joints....

Rule #1 don't do it if it hurts your joints, tendons or ligaments...
You can do dozens of exercises for each muscle....do the ones that don't destroy your body.

Ok man, good advice.

I like extensions because I can really squeeze out the end and hold it for awhile.
Skull's are good as well IMO.
Hell, I like'em both!

I love a good weighted dip. I find them more versatile as well - you can adjust your positioning to concentrate more on chest or tris depending how you manouvre.

maneuver.

#1 on my list of best tricep exercises- the parallel bar dip. great movement, even better
when you get heavy and do em weighted.

Originally Posted by swordfish

maneuver.

#1 on my list of best tricep exercises- the parallel bar dip. great movement, even better
when you get heavy and do em weighted.

Manoeuvre

With our powers combined we can spell manoeuvre - one word down 228,132 words of the english language to go. Together we can make a difference one word at a time. I blame spell checkers for the downfall of my spelling.

no, its maneuver, i had it right. lol

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=maneuver

damn - sorry, I was spelling it the *cough* english way. I didnt realise there was an american variant of it.

CG bench, dips, overhead dumbell. Cable stuff is a finisher if I do them, skulls aren't in my vocabulary any longer.

Originally Posted by P-funk

my elbows used to kill me when I did skull crushers so I just dropped them all together.

ditto...don't think I've done them for 15 years. I don't have any joint problems but that exercise just does not agree with my biomechanics

I do both

Cable pulldown supersets, kickbacks and tricep extension machine get it done for me!



J

They haven't gotten it done for me, since I was tiny.