In bodybuilding, intensity techniques allow you to push beyond conventional failure in order to work your muscles harder, providing an irresistible stimulus for the muscles to get larger and stronger.

Try these techniques in your next workouts. You can even try using several of these techniques in one set if you really want to work yourself hard. Be careful not to overuse them, however, as they can be extremely demanding and difficult for your body to recover from.

1. Triple Drop and Rebound Sets

This is a variation of a bodybuilding technique known as the "Triple Drop Set".

The Triple Drop Set is where you start with a heavy weight, do a set to failure, reduce the weight, do another set to failure, reduce the weight a third time and do a final set to failure.

Do the regular Triple Drop Set then quickly go back and do your starting (heaviest) weight again for a more few reps.

Usually you will be able to get one or two reps with it.

The reason for this is that the last of the drops uses a lighter weight, which recruits different muscle fibers than when you are using heavier weights.

2. Isolation/Compound Rebound Sets

Do a Triple Drop Set of an isolation exercise, e.g. flyes, then immediately go back and use your starting (heaviest) weights for a set of a compound exercise for that muscle group, e.g. dumbell bench press.

This is a type of advanced "Pre-Exhaust" training.

Pre-Exhaust training is when you do an isolation exercise (an exercise that involves motion at only one joint, such as a dumbell flye) immediately followed by a compound exercise (an exercise that involves motion at two or more joints, such as a bench press).

The idea with the Pre-Exhaust training is to basically exhaust your target muscle group (in this case the chest), by first working directly with one exercise, then doing another exercise that utilizes other muscles to assist it. This increases the intensity of the work done by the chest as the assisting muscles will you allow you to push the chest further.

By utilizing a triple-drop set format for the isolation exercise, you dramtically increase the exhaustion of the target muscle, allowing you to push it extremely hard.

3. Jump Sets

This is a way of doing a large number of heavy sets for several muscle groups without losing as much strength from set to set.

Jump sets are best used on antagonistic bodyparts such as back and chest, biceps and triceps, or hamstrings and quads.

For example, if you plan on doing 5 sets of chin-ups and 5 sets of bench, start with 3 sets of chin-ups, then 3 sets of bench, then go back and do your remaining 2 sets of chin-ups and 2 sets of bench. The extra rest will allow you to be stronger on your last 2 sets than you normally would.

Jumping between antagonistic muscle groups also seems to benefit strength development.

This can also be done going back and forth on every set instead of groups of sets.

This is not a superset - take your normal rest period between each set.

This technique enhances recuperation by providing more rest to the bodyparts but within the same workout time and allows you to do more weight for each exercise.