Most of my workouts are done with four sets of eight reps. I weigh 155. What do you mean by big 3/4 numbers up?
Big 3=Bench, deadlift, squat (the three powerlifting competition lifts)
Big 4=Bench, deadlift, squat, strict OHP
I dropped my barbell curl from my biceps since I got a pair of 30 pound dumbbells. I was using 25 pounders for most of my workout. I'll drop the seated lat raise and bar overhead press. What would you suggest for the post delt workout?
Hmmm...I didn't see that you were using the same weight DBs for everything. I'll address this in the second post quote that you made after I posted.
My posterior delt work is rear delt cable flies and at the end of my OHP/delt training, I finish off with supersetted swinging lateral & swinging posterior raises. The posterior delts flies are essentially a fly as you would do for the pectoral muscle, except you start with the weight in front of you (beginning & end point) and then use your rear delts to pull your arms straight out to the side. A quick youtube search would yield a video for a demo if you need it. Don't need a lot of weight with these.
Or you can do the reverse pec dec. This machine (usually) allows you to move the handles more towards the machine so that you can sit backwards on it and do, well, reverse flies. I'm pretty old school lifting wise, give me a barbell, a cage, and some weights & I'll be happy, but I actually love doing rear delt flies on a pec deck. My current uni gym just doesn't have one.
Then, obviously, some indirect work from any sort of pulling motion (pullups, lat pulldowns, any rowing, etc).
By chest supported I assume you mean with an incline, my bench doesn't convert to an incline. Is there another alternative?
Yeah, you set a bench to an incline, lay on it on your stomach, then row. Doing this will result in you being able to use almost no momentum, which means you are effectively training the lats, rear delts, & traps. I'm assuming you're working out at home, or a super, SUPER small gym given the lack of an adjustable bench & the few DBs.
To set it to an incline, if you have something you can set under one end of the bench, you can make it into an incline bench. Just be sure it's stable before you start performing movements on it (& I wouldn't do any benching on it). Or I guess if you have T-rex arms you could do it on a flat bench.
The twisting bench is using two dumbbells (30pds) and pressing them while rotating them 180 degrees, I saw it on a workout website under best chest exercises. I'll move deadlift.
Ok, I believe I know what you are talking about, although I've only seen rotation to 90 degrees (think that's what your meaning?) Valid exercise - basically a press/fly hybrid. I rotate it in and out of my training.
So I should toss out all the ball work? I don't really have a problem with being sore after or the next day from my workout. I feel like I should be doing more exercises...
The issue with work on a ball is that you have to use less weight. And while I have no issues with lowering weight (in fact I encourage 99.99% of the people who ask me for advice to lower the weight because most people use wayyy to much; I also deload every 8 weeks & it is not uncommon for me to drop 15-20lbs off my main lift estimated maxes every 3rd or 4th deload before my next cycle begins resulting in lower work sets than if I had not dropped those 'maxes') you cannot effectively train the muscle you want to train if you have to lower the weight due to instability.
As I mentioned, if I want to train my abs or lower back, then I will do so, but when I want to train, say, my chest, then I want to use the most weight I can with good form for a given rep range. This is what will cause the microtears in the tissue & lead to a bigger, stronger muscle.
Soreness is not an indicator of a good workout, and most people will actually get MORE results from LESS work. A lot of people seem to think that you get stronger in the gym - not true. You grow when you are NOT in the weightroom, when you are resting and sleeping. Training simply provides the trauma to the tissue that the body will then repair, creating bigger and stronger muscles and tendons.
My training is pretty much on par, volume wise, with yours and I am a much more advanced lifter than you (nothing wrong with that BTW everyone starts somewhere). I have also been doing this for a pretty good amount of time and my body has become accustomed to an extremely high workload.
My goal would be to get stronger. I would like to build muscle endurance and gain some size but not alot. I'm getting into rock-climbing and it would hinder me to get really big. I go pretty hard, I wait about 30 seconds until I start my next set. Is there anything else you recommend to up the intensity.
How many workouts should I keep to each group? Should I have two workout plans and switch them off every other week?
You are an interesting one, given your goal & your hobbies.
Best rep range for strength: 1-5 reps
Hypertrophy rep range: 8-12
Endurance rep range: 15-20+
Now, as I mentioned, I am a powerlifter/bodybuilder, so much of my training is focused around the big 4 with less than or equal to 5-6 rep per set with most supplemental movements in the 6-15 rep range, although for legs I am known to hit up around 20-25 reps per set. And even for things like incline cable flies, I try to get above 12 reps per set - usually want at least 15 & I will go up to 20.
Given your goals & hobbies, I think it would be beneficial for you to train in all three of the above rep ranges. The low rep range will develop strength, hypertrophy range will give you some size (both of these two are given enough calories, so above your maintenance caloric intake), and the higher rep stuff will give you the endurance you desire.
ALTERNATIVELY: there is this 'powerbuilding' rep range of 6-8 reps per set. It will provide strength gains, because the reps are still fairly low, but also size gains, because that range is on the lower end of the 'hypertrophy' rep range.
You may want to consider an actual gym. You seem limited in basically your entire goal by the equipment you have available to you.
As for getting 'too big', you don't need to worry about this. No one gets 'too big' by accident. You have to eat an insane amount of food over a long period of time to pack on size. And trust me, it is not fun; currently bulking season for me, so 5500-6000 calories per day is the norm for me at this time of the year. And those guys you consider 'too big' are also on grams and grams of hormones and IUs and IUs each day of HGH and slin. Don't be like those girls who think that if they touch any DB over 5lbs that they'll turn into Arnold overnight...not gonna happen lol.
Whew, this was a long post!