▸ Arms

Lying Close-Grip Barbell Triceps Press To Chin

TricepsE-Z Curl Bar

intermediate · isolation · strength

A lying EZ-bar extension that stops at the chin rather than travelling past the forehead. The shorter arc keeps the upper arms perpendicular to your torso throughout, which spares the elbow tendon the deepest part of the stretch and lets you hold a heavier bar.

▸ How to

Own the movement

Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.

Before the first rep

Lie on a flat bench with your head at the very end so the bar has room to descend to your chin.
Take an EZ bar on the inner handles with palms facing away; on a straight bar use shoulder width, not a narrow grip.
Press the bar to arm's length directly over your chest so the upper arms sit perpendicular to your torso.
Tuck the elbows in to roughly shoulder width and set them there before the first rep.
Have the bar handed to you if you are working above 25 kg — pulling it into position from the floor is where wrists get tweaked.

Every rep

Lower the bar in an arc by bending the elbows only, until it lightly touches your chin.

Keep the upper arms vertical and still throughout; the elbows should not travel back over your head.

Touch, do not rest. The bar taps the chin and reverses without any bounce off your jaw.

Extend back to straight arms over the chest, squeezing the triceps hard for a second at the top.

Take three seconds on the descent and about one on the press — the lowering is where the work happens here.

Breathing & tempo — Inhale as the bar descends, exhale as you press it back over the chest. Three seconds down, a light touch at the chin, one second up.

Before you load it

The bar passes directly over your face. Use collars, and have a spotter or bench inside a rack when working near failure.

▸ Programming

Sets, reps & load

Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.

Strength

4 sets of 6-8

Hypertrophy

3-4 sets of 10-12

Endurance

2-3 sets of 15-20

Start with a loaded EZ bar at 15-20 kg total and control every descent to a chin tap. Working sets for a lifter benching bodyweight usually sit around 25-35 kg for sets of 10. Add 2.5 kg when you hit the top of the rep range twice with a three-second lowering and no elbow drift — add reps before weight, and never both at once.

▸ Fix your form

What goes wrong

The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.

Elbows drifting back over the head so the bar lands behind the face.

Keep the upper arms pointing straight at the ceiling and aim the bar at your chin, not your hairline. Lighten the load until the elbows hold still for the whole set.

Bouncing the bar off the chin or jaw.

Slow the last few centimetres to a crawl and treat contact as a light tap. If you cannot stop the bar, take 5 kg off.

Turning it into a close-grip bench press by letting the shoulders help near failure.

End the set at the last rep the elbows alone finished. The moment the upper arms start swinging towards your feet, you have changed exercise mid-set.

Using a hands-touching grip because it sounds more triceps-focused.

Set the hands at shoulder width or on the EZ bar's inner handles. A very narrow grip loads the wrists without adding anything to the triceps.

▸ The case for it

Why bother

The final centimetres of a skull crusher, where the bar drops behind the head, are where the elbow takes the most strain and where most people lose the fixed upper-arm position. Stopping at the chin cuts that segment off. You lose some stretch and gain the ability to run the movement week after week without elbow trouble.

With the upper arms held at 90 degrees to the torso, the resistance arm on the elbow is longest at the bottom and shortest at lockout. That means the bottom half is the training stimulus and the top is close to a rest — so the rep is judged by how controlled the descent is, not by how hard you jam out the lockout.

Where it fits

Second or third movement on a push day, 3-4 sets of 8-12, after your main press. Pair it with an overhead cable extension in the same session to cover the long head, which this angle does not stretch much. One barbell extension movement a week is the sensible ceiling for most elbows.

▸ Swap it out

If this one isn't it

No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.

▸ Questions

Asked and answered

Chin or forehead — which should the bar touch?

Chin, if your elbows have ever complained. Going past the forehead adds stretch at the cost of the most tendon-stressful part of the range, and most people lose the fixed upper-arm position there anyway. Going to the forehead is fine when your elbows are healthy and you keep the weight honest; there is no reason to force it.

Is this the same as a skull crusher?

It is a shorter-range skull crusher with the upper arms held strictly vertical. The classic version lets the bar travel behind the head and often lets the elbows tip back. This one deliberately does not, which is why it feels heavier at the bottom and easier on the joints.

Why does the top of the rep feel like nothing?

Because at lockout the bar sits directly over the elbow and shoulder, so there is almost no leverage for gravity to work with. That is normal for this angle. Get your stimulus from a slow, controlled descent rather than trying to manufacture a hard squeeze at the top — or add a cable movement, where the top stays loaded.

Can I use dumbbells instead?

Yes, and it is a reasonable swap if the fixed bar bothers your wrists — a neutral grip with two dumbbells lets each arm find its own path and stops the stronger side carrying the weaker. You will use less total weight, and the two arms will need separate honesty about depth.