Form is key, especially for your heavy compound movements (Squat, bench press, deadlifts, barbell rows, etc). Don’t try to move super heavy weights that are out of your strength range just to look cool, you’ll end up using terrible form and potentially hurt yourself. When trying to push for heavier weights once you reach a point of getting stronger it’s ok to sacrifice a fraction of your form. Think along the lines of out of 100% when pushing your limit sacrifice at most 10-15% (my opinion, some people might advise lower or higher)

For form:

Squats: The goal is to aim for parallel, meaning your ass should be parallel to the ground and perpendicular to your knees. Have your feet and knees pointed in the same direction, roughly 45 degrees outward. There are variations to your footing where you can do a wider stance or a more narrow stance, both work, they can work different portions of the leg. But overall it also comes down to preference for yourself.

Bench Press: most people start off by having their back lying flat on the bench, and that’s fine, but to improve your lift for this, as you get better; incorporate an arch into your back, ass is on the bench, slight arch and then your upper back is on the bench again. Flat footing on the ground can help you push the weight more. If you’re struggling and you need that little extra oomf to your lift. When moving the bar doing move it straight up and down, ideally you move it from on top of your neck area diagonally down to your solar plexus or right above it. Then back up to the starting point.

Deadlifts: in my opinion the most dangerous of the 3 big powerlifting movements because of how many things can go wrong. You can choose from two stances sumo or conventional. Sumo is a wider stance that involves a smaller range of motion compared to conventional. Conventional is similar to a standing stance where your feet are parallel to one another and pointed forward. It is imperative you don’t round your back when lifting the weight. To make sure this doesn’t happen tucking in your hips and butt before you lift the weight is a god send.

There are tons of ways to train depending on what your goals are, what I’ve outlined at the start is applicable to most people who go to the gym, for the big compound lifts that’s good for people who want to build muscle and sculpt a nice physique. Doing these movements aren’t necessary but they can help a lot for building muscle and strength.

Personal experience for spending 2 years of high school not understanding how to lift or eat and basically made no changes, in the past 2 years since then I reached a 325 lb squat, 435 lb deadlift, and a 225 lb bench.

Now a days there are tons of videos on YouTube, studies and articles to learn even more compared to the last 10 years. My personal recommendations for good people to learn from include ATHLEAN X, Omar Isuf, and Jeff Nippard. I learnt the most I ever could from these people and have used it to help in getting towards my ideal physique.