There have been a number of threads on this. Do some searching.
In the meantime, I'll try to reiterate a little of what I've said before.
1 - You want to develop athletic ability through weight training. Therefore, focus on moving a big weight through a big range of motion as quickly as possible.
Exercises like snatch, cleans, push press, squats, deadlifts, bent over rows and the dozens of barbell and dumbbell olympic lift variants are great for this.
Again, big weight, big range of motion and fast. Try to make all of your lifting explosive or ballistic.
2 - The slow feeling. After hitting the weights hard, your muscles will grow. While they are healing up, they will be a bit sore and tight. This causes people to feel sluggish because they're muscles don't respond normally while they are healing.
