best way to crush garlic is on a chopping board and a not-very-flexible bladed knife. You crush with the flat of the blade, point of knife is fulcrum (which you hold down firmly), clove of garlic close to fulcrum, adn then exert donward force on handle.

I have to disagree with you on this: the technique you described sounds kind of dangerous, since you've got to fix the fulcrum somehow. In general, slow, forceful movements present a lot more opportunity to slip and injure yourself than fast, forceful ones. Especially when the crushed object will give way in an unpredictable manner. I can see several different ways to cut fingers this way; the best cases I see involve lots of bumped knuckles, which are no fun.

The usual way to crush garlic is:

1. lay the clove on its side
2. hold a large, non-flexible, wide-bladed knife (typically chef's) level with one hand, resting on top of the garlic.
   You want the garlic centered across the blade, about two inches/5cm out from the handle. Also, make sure the sharp edge is facing away from you!
3. using the heel of your other palm, quickly smash directly down on the center of the blade. You can do this slowly, too, just be aware.

You can also not quite center the garlic. Putting it a little bit closer to the top/unsharp of the blade means that any slips will put the cutting edge down, away from your smashing hand. Just make sure not to get your smashing fingers caught between the work surface and your blade (if you manage to do that, you have no business handling anything sharper than left-handed safety scissors).