Rickey Dale Crain was a phenomenal powerlifter in his time. He was also one of the strongest advocates for the importance of lifting well. That was one of the key factors behind his success.
When it comes to these factors, there are of course several things that play a role. To make it easier to understand and talk about, he broke it down into three parts.
Rickey often talked about “Form, Style, and Technique.” So maybe what we usually just call “technique” actually needs to be divided into these three. Through this breakdown, he not only helped himself but also many others. Ricky was a smaller lifter, yet he coached much bigger guys—people with completely different body types to great success.
Form
Form is the visible structure, the look or posture of a movement — how it appears when performed correctly.
It’s the ability (or inability) to execute a lift properly how the different parts of the body move through the eccentric and concentric phases. Especially as the weight gets heavier. In the squat, there are three common points where most lifters tend to struggle:
Knees collapsing in.
At the bottom of the squat, the knees cave in because the lifter can’t keep them aligned. This often causes the hips to shift back.
Hips rising up and back.
Sometimes you even see the lower back arching hard as the hips shoot up and back. The lifter can’t keep the hips under the bar like they could with lighter weights.
Back folding forward.
A forward lean isn’t always bad, but when it becomes more aggressive as the weight increases, it’s probably not ideal.
In the bench press and deadlift, we see similar breakdowns in form. In the deadlift, the back might round much more at the start with heavy weights than with light ones, and the knees might cave in as well. In the bench press, it’s common to see the elbows drift back toward the head under heavier loads, or the hips start to move too much.
Form is general it applies to everyone. No matter what style or technique you use, the execution of that chosen method is yours to own. Anyone can lose position in a lift; that’s not a matter of technique, it’s a matter of weak points or poor execution.
Style
Style is what’s most connected to the individual. It’s the part that says the most about you in a still photo. Some simple examples of what defines style are:
Bench press
- Grip width
- Arch
- Foot placement
Squat
- Bar placement on the back
- Stance width
Deadlift
- Stance width
- Grip style
Your style can and probably should change over time, especially early on. Most of us don’t lift the same way now as we did when we started. Maybe you had one style during your first months of training, another a year later, and several years in, it may have evolved again.
Your style should be influenced by your body’s leverages, but also by your strengths and weaknesses. Of the three concepts, style is the most and maybe the only truly individual one.
Technique
Technique is the broader concept that ties all three together. It’s the method you choose to lift with how you breathe, how you set up, create tension, start, and drive the lift.
We often talk about cues short reminders or commands that help the lifter focus on key elements of the lift. The technique you use forms the basis for those cues: bracing the core through the entire squat, driving the chest up toward the bar in the bench press, or pushing the hips through in the deadlift.
Technique is where the finesse and fine details come in the things that turn a lift from just moving the bar from A to B into how you move it. Technique is also partly shaped by style; some technical details fit certain styles better than others. It also supports form, helping you lift as efficiently and safely as possible.
Summary
No matter what form, style, or technique you use, there are a few things that always matter. You have to maintain your form once that breaks down, your style will fall apart, and you’ll have to work much harder technically.
By constantly refining your technical details, you can maintain your form and lift in the style that makes you feel strong, confident, and efficient.
Here’s a video of Ricky talking us through his squat workout, discussing technique and working up to 363 kg / 800 lbs.
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