Intensity is quite a subjective term, and I think we confuse it with simply meaning how heavy the weight someone is throwing around. I know for myself... I tend to be bigger then most other trainers, (on or off gear), but I am not very strong, in relation to my size. I often see others that will throw around a lot more weight then I do, but I look considerably better then they do.
Then again, I am very anal about using good form, so I could probably throw around more weight then I do, but I usually leave my ego out of it.
I am kind of reminded of Vince Taylor...who used good form, but always what seemed like the lightest weights around...but who knows.. they may have been Heavy to him. Size and strength do not have a direct correlation.
Lifting heavy doesn't always means lifting intense, but it also doesn't mean that it's always not intense either. No one who sees Ronnie deadlifting 800 lb in The unbelievable is going to say that wasn't intense. Look at Flex or Paul T bar rowing 200 lb and tell me it's no different than Ronnie T bar rowing 9 x 45 lb plates, breaking the damn handle he was using and having a nose bleed afterwards.
People say size and strength do not have a direct correlation, but the people who are strong and aren't very big simply don't have the genetics to look big. They won't get big if they stopped lifting heavy and switch to cables or lifting light either.
And form is one of the most overrated things in lifting. It's good to know about proper form when you start lifting, so you have some guidelines to go by, but most experienced lifters know what suits their body best. People with the best form don't have the best builds nor is perfect form or the weight you lift a guarantee against injury.
You can perform any exercise with intensity, be it on a free weight or a cable or whatever. My point is that there are guys who lift intensely and the majority who don't. By their own admission, guys like Flex (post injury) and Paul Dillett belong to the latter group.
Speaking of intensity, here's a great pic
