Arms · Cable
Cable Incline Skull Crusher
How to do the cable incline skull crusher, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Cable
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Extension
- Mechanic
- Isolation
How to do it
Set an incline bench in front of a low cable pulley and lie back holding a bar or rope attached to the cable, arms extended so the line pulls toward the floor behind your head. Keeping your upper arms fixed and pointing up, bend your elbows to lower the handle toward the top of your head, then extend to straighten your arms. The cable keeps constant tension on the triceps through the whole range.
- 1A stretch and burn through the triceps as you lower the handle
- 2Upper arms staying locked in place while only the elbows move
- 3Constant tension from the cable through the full range
Common mistakes
- Letting your elbows drift forward or flare out wide
- Using your shoulders to swing the weight up
- Bouncing at the bottom or losing control of the handle
Muscles worked
The cable incline skull crusher mainly works the triceps, with the forearms assisting.
- TricepsPrimary
- ForearmsSupport
Kovo programs the cable incline skull crusher for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More triceps exercises
- How to do the bent-over tricep extension
- How to do the crossbody tricep extension
- How to do the cable katana tricep extension
- How to do the cable single arm tricep extension
- How to do the kickback
- How to do the lying tricep extension
Last reviewed June 2026.