Skullcrushes not an effective tricep exercise ???

[Razien99]

Ok on another board a guy posted this statement & explained why. Here it is, see what you think:

MYTH 1: Skull crushers are NOT an effective exercise

Yes i said it. Skull crushers are NOT GOOD. Let me give you a lil lesson about Triceps. This will lead on to some other myths but just one for now. Your baby minds will not be ready for the whole truth in one go.

Now. Time for an interactive  functional anatomy lesson with me.... Ultimate Gentleman. You can try this at home . This is all fact and simply HOW IT IS.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/cdybs/Triceps.jpg

From thepicture you can see, the long head (2) arises from the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula (shoulderblade) (5) It comes out just infront of teres minor and behind teres major. the medial head originates from the groove of the medial nerve (3) lil less than half way but still fused with the rest. also the dorsal (rear) surface of the humerus (9) and intermuscular septum (10)** big words but stay with me,** The lateral head(4) originates from the humerus's radial groove (12)just below the greater tubercle (13).
ALL THREE HEADS FUSE INTO THE OLECRANON OF THE ULNA!!!!!


So one part originates from the shoulder blade meaning if you straighten your arm out forward.... you stretch out a part but since one part is attached to the humers. do it now. FLEX YOUR ARM FORWARD AS IF DOING A FRONTAL RAISE AND EXTEND YOUR ARM. NOW FEEL YOUR LONG HEAD....feel it? it isnt quite rock hard is it?

NOW....put your arm down by your side and extend your arm....youll see all three heads are now fully contracted. Since one of the heads is attached to the shoulder blade... it also extends the arm backwards. along with the lats, teres major, deltoid but thats for another day.

here you have it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/cdybs/Tricepaction.jpg

CONCLUSION: any tricep exercise is fine as long as your arm is down by your side or behind. This is why push downs are so good unil you outgrow the machine even with weights attached (45lb plate between the pin)
Kickbacks are cool but you cant do too much weight on them. so Dips (weighted) are also one of the best exercises..

weighted dips
cable push downs

 

[Lol]

What he seems to be focusing on is the position of the uper arm for maximum contraction of the triceps.

One thing that is very clear from studies relating to hypertrophy is that stretch of a muscle is also an important factor (there's a lot of info in the HST-FAQ and in Vicious' Pimp my HST thread about this). All push downs, of whatever kind, limit the amount of stretch that can be applied to the triceps.

As most folks using HST principles use mainly big compounds it is likely that the triceps get worked hard by these (dips and presses). So if an isolation exercise is needed there is very little point in doing extra pushdowns when dips have already been done. However, exercises like skull crushers or overhead triceps extensions provide some extra stretch. That's a good thing.

Nothing wrong with pushdowns, but you might as well do another set of dips.

 

[Bryan Haycock]

I'm sorry, but that is a very funny post. Unfortunately it's hard to take seriously because of his/her arrogance.

One principle he/she might consider is the importance of microtrauma in the hypertrophic response. As a muscle is loaded in a fully shortened position (i.e. multi-joint position is reduced), microtrauma is lessened. When loaded in a more stretched position, microtrauma is increased.

As for triceps, this means that as the arm is abducted, or lifted up, the long head of the tricep experiences more stretch. When loading the tricep in the stretched position, a great deal of strain is placed on the long head where as the other heads experience little change in strain.

For my money (and experience) getting a real meaty tricep requires some isolation work with the tricep in the stretched position.

 

[Fausto]

Undoubtedly agree with Bryan

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Your baby minds will not be ready for the whole truth in one go.</div>

Who is he talking about? Himself

Defintely not for the HST crowd, I tell yah.