You could give ballistic training a try. This is a technique for increasing intensity where you drive a weight with explosive power, yet remaining smooth in form, rather than just throwing the weight as hard or as fast as you can, which leaves you at a very high risk for injury if you're not careful, especially if you're using really heavy weights. This training requires the central nervous system to coordinate and produce the greatest amount of force in the shortest time possible.
Now with this technique you use a relatively heavy weight, so when you drive the weight, or explode it, you're not really going to be moving the weight very fast. However, you benefit from this effort in numerous ways.
First of all, ballistic training creates variable resistance. As you explode the weight, you accelerate it, and it become heavier (physics). So at the beginning of the lift, when you are stronger and more able to explode the weight, you're essentially lifting a heavier weight due to a mathematical mix of leverage, speed and gravity. So towards the end of the set, after you've become somewhat fatigued and you're weaker, you're not going to be able to explode the weight with the same force and acceleration, therefore the weight is not as heavy. Therefore, the weight is heavier when you are stronger, and not as heavy when you are weaker. This is known as variable resistance.
Ballistic training also tend to recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers, due to the nature of the movements and forces being applied. Fast-twitch (white muscle fibers) are larger and stronger than slow-twitch (red muscle fibers).
Also, after each rep you should be getting weaker and weaker as your energy levels deplete to match the effort you're putting into the lifts. Even though every rep should be performed with maximum effort and intensity, obviously the muscles aren't going to be able to keep up chemically, so each following rep should become harder and harder. Therefore, ballistic training is a great way to increase intensity, for whatever reason.
To clarify how ballistic training is performed: lower the weight smoothly, at a constant speed, like usual. Pause at the bottom, like usual, but as you drive the weight, explode it, accelerating it in a controlled manner (rather than just throwing it up and letting it fall to bounce off of you, or something like that, which unfortunately happens all the time.) Also, ballistic training is usually performed with exercises that involve multiple large muscle groups (heavy compound lifts). Use a weight that you could normally lift anywhere from 8-12 reps. With ballistic training, you're probably going to fall within a range of about 3-4 reps lower than what you're used to, due to the nature of this training technique.
Hope that can prove useful to someone out there!
Good luck with your training, bro!
