First I'd like to start with saying that it's totally ok if you want to change your routine. When taking a step back and looking at your training routine and given all the exercises we have to choose from now-a-days, we can feel the need to change our routine quite often. While it can be a great idea to expand your exercise library this may also come with a cost.
Imagine you try this new training program for a few weeks and at first and you love it. But then, at the 4 or 6-week mark (or you opt for one of those 30 day challenge routines) you find yourself getting bored again. So you decide to switch the routine for something else, just as new and as different as the last. This is actually quite common given the fact that people sell training routines for so cheap (or not) on social media, on almost every "influencers" page you might end up seeing something.
While it's not the best to always switch your routine often, we should stop to appreciate the fact that training guidance, some even with instructional videos and more are just that available now! It's pretty amazing just to think how far the fitness industry has come when you think about how people were relying on fitness magazines for their training and diet routine just a few years ago.
Back to what I was saying before, if you constantly change your routine you won't be giving yourself enough time to progress and get better with those exercises. Sure, expanding your exercise library is great but if you only know how to do 8 of the 200 exercises with proper form, what good will the others be if you can't do them correctly? One question you may have is "But how soon is too soon?" Don't worry i'll get into that. But before I do, I would like to point out that CrossFit routines change all. the. time. According to the CrossFit Level 1 training guide CrossFit is:
“constantly varied, high-intensity functional movement.”
Constantly varied training. On the flip-side powerlifting is doing 3 specific exercises over and over again until you reach your own astounding strength levels.
Point is, there is no right or wrong answer. It is ultimately up to a few things on when it's more appropriate to change/rotate/swap exercises or your whole routine...
When it's best to change exercises or a routine:
#1. An exercise is causing you pain
Seems like an obvious one, but some will not know how or what to change. Say you perform the Rope cable face-pull and right as you perform your first couple of reps you feel this pinching, pain in your neck or shoulder. You may feel obligated to keep doing it because you paid for the program, hired a PT to write you one, or spent hours making it yourself. Don't waste time by doing what hurts, change it as soon as you realize there's more risk than reward. A swap for rear delt fly or similar will suffice. Don’t know what exercise to swap for? Google>trap & rear delt exercises>search! Do this for all the exercises you need help with or reach out to a professional!
#2. When the under-developed muscle(s) becomes "less" under-developed
Say you added a hip thrust variation to your routine to help develop stronger glutes to help you lockout the top of your squat. After training the glute muscles more exclusively for say, 8 weeks, you find that your quads seem to be the next weak-point/limiting factor to increasing your squat. You will then have to lower the amount of glute work you do to then add more quad work to help. This will be a never-ending thing when trying to get stronger, build muscle, etc. and then these necessary rotations or exercise swaps will be more appropriate. Rotate exercises accordingly so they can help you bring weaker muscles into the game and help your overall physique and strength.
#3. When your goals change, your routine might too
When you start out as a beginner with the goal of burning fat, you may perform your exercises in a circuit fashion (and hopefully work on technique and things like that, too!), work on being in the gym for 2-3 days consistently and eating whole, minimally processed foods, maybe tracking your calories, you know, the full nine. But, maybe a year or so later you decide to focus on getting really, really, REALLY strong. Maybe even set a goal of competing in a strength sport like powerlifting. For sure, you would have to make some adjustments --not just like going from circuit training to maximal strength specific training (which may seem obvious), but with exercises too. If every chest day you started with the incline dumbbell press as your number one lift and you chose to really progress with it, you will have to change it to what is used in powerlifting competition (the flat bench press). It doesn't mean don't do incline dumbbell presses anymore, it just means do them as a secondary exercise to help build the main one you need to focus on for your new goal. This is just an example, so this can be very different, but try to keep the goal, the goal!
#4. When you don't want to be in or even go to the gym anymore
Even some of the top fitness lovers, trainers, coaches, athletes, etc. will eventually get bored or feel "stuck" on a highway with bumper-to-bumper traffic when it comes to their training (all my Queens, NY friends who are reading this, does this remind you of a certain parkway?). It's ok to switch things up when you find yourself not enjoying what you're doing anymore, even when things seem to be going pretty well, if you don't enjoy what you're doing what are the odds you'll stick around long-term for the results? The big picture is that you're consistent and enjoy it. Making a small or even a large change from time to time might show you something new that will really help you. Even if it doesn't you experienced something different for a little while and that's ok, too!
#5. Change an exercise when it stops working
You've been doing barbell bent over rows for 9 months now and went from just the barbell to 315 total lbs with pristine form. But the next time you do them you feel that the weight is heavier, you're more sore, you can't add any more weight, and your form isn't as good. After doing something for such a long time you stop adapting to it as much as you did in the beginning. Swapping the barbell bent row for something else will give those muscles a bit of a break with that particular movement and while training another movement, you may train other muscles that have been getting neglected when doing the bent row.
#6. When you need to progress or regress an exercise
If you've been doing sagittal plane step-ups (forwards to backwards step-ups like stairs) for 8 weeks and you've progressed well with them, say, from 0 weight in each hand to 60lbs in each hand, progressing to another plane of motion (like the frontal or transverse plane) can be a great swap. You'll be doing a similar movement, training muscles in a different direction, training some different muscles, too, with more sustainable work ahead --by that I mean you'll have to lower the weight eventually, instead of going up and up without a time for lower weight or volume. Getting strong in multiple planes of motion is essential for building a resilient or strong musculature.
When NOT to change things:
So, we've gone over when it's a good idea to change things, but when should we keep things the same? Again, it depends.
#1. You need more time to practice an exercise
Simply, if you need to work on an exercise or group of them, be patient and keep practicing. With frequent practice, time, and effort, you'll get the time with the exercise(s) you need.
#2. You want to further progress with exercises
If you have been progressing with an exercise or your routine and you feel that you can push further, without getting too ahead of yourself (like adding 100lbs to your squat in a week), keep trying to make progress and change when you need to.
#3. If you enjoy what you're currently doing
Another simple one. If you enjoy your current routine, keep doing it and keep progressing with it! Just be sure to check if what you're doing is helping you get results every so often.
#4. It's helping you get the results you want
An example for this would be if box jumps are helping you jump higher, don't stop doing that!
#5. If you just started doing an new exercise or routine
This one may contradict a few points above, but if you just start a new routine stick with it to first see if it's doing what it's supposed to. However if it causes you pain, or you need to regress it due to difficulty, or your goals change consider making a switch to something else.
Key take-away points:
Beginners
All-in-all as a beginner you will see great results with most of the training you do because this will come new to you. When picking exercises you can progress with and truly learn with proper form, you won't need to change them that often. Having a substantial collection of exercises in your "database" (or program) will make it more difficult for you to learn each of them. Rotate exercises if it helps you stay pain free, consistent and on track for your goals and focus on getting really good at a handful of exercises before moving onto a more complex range of them. Have patience when trying a new routine or exercises. This will help you build a strong foundation and practice learning progression with exercises.
Intermediate
Someone who is an intermediate, changing exercises may be more practical to work on better developing weak-points, helping prevent injury, when your goals change, and also when you just get bored, because it happens to ALL of us! At this point you're likely knowledgeable enough to know how to do a good amount of exercises so when trying to see if its appropriate to make a change or not, use the tips above.
Advanced
For someone who is considered an advanced lifter, you may need to rotate exercises that more often to prevent the "over-development" and overuse or under-development of some muscles. Also to prevent maxing out or reaching the most amount of recoverable work on lifts unless you plan for a lower volume training phase. Rotating exercises will also help "bring-up" certain muscles to help you have a more "complete" or well rounded physique and/or musculature. Some exercises you will have to have as a staple in your programming for a while because of how much you can truly progress with them.
General Health
If you want to, start slow and change one exercise. If you need a more substantial change, go with half of your exercises. If you're sick of your routine entirely and you're thinking about calling it quits at the gym, change all of your exercises. Change exercises every 6-10 weeks or so according to the tips above and keep the big picture in mind...
Enjoyment
Consistency
Outcome based decision making (to keep you on track for your goals)
Staying hurt and pain free
I hope this helps clarify when it's a good idea to rotate exercises (or when not to), how often, and helps you see the big picture of why we're all here in the gym in the first place.
Questions, comments, and feedback are all welcome in the comments section. Thank you for reading! --Tom
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