For triceps growth
For triceps growth, the two are close. Skull crusher rates slightly higher: more stretch.
Bar pushdown is easier to progress.
Both are good choices, and they train the triceps differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed. (Fonseca et al., 2014; Costa et al., 2021)
The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work
Bar Pushdown. Heavy and simple, but with the arms at your sides the long head never gets stretched.
Skull Crusher. Lowering behind the head stretches the long head, but heavy reps can be hard on the elbows.
For triceps growth, the two are close. Skull crusher rates slightly higher: more stretch. Bar pushdown is easier to progress. Both are good choices, and they train the triceps differently. Using both across your week covers more of the muscle than either alone: in studies, varied exercises grew parts of a muscle that one exercise missed.
About the same: both are easy to learn.
Bar pushdown needs a cable station, so for most people it’s a gym exercise. Skull crusher needs an EZ bar and a bench, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.
Bar pushdown: it rates Strong for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric, against Good for skull crusher.