One of the most common questions I receive in my inbox these days is “how often should I change my workout?” 

In the muscle building community, it’s fairly well established that altering certain aspects of a weight training routine every now and then can prevent physiological adaptation, reduce injury, and lead to strength “breakthroughs”. 

That being said, if you’re sticking to the most important aspect of weight lifting, progressive overload, each workout should be a bit different because you’re always increasing the weight or number of reps ever so slightly. 

But it’s still probably a good idea to change various aspects of your program occasionally. Try modifying the order of your exercises every 4 to 6 weeks – don’t break the basic rules (compound exercises first), but switch up some of the less important exercises.  

It can also be beneficial to change your training split every few months. I usually move to a new training split every 3-4 months, alternating anywhere from 2-5 training days per week.  

Lastly, I recommend switching and supplementing exercises. If you’ve been doing an incline dumbbell press for 8 weeks, why not switch to a flat bench press or a decline dumbbell press? Small changes like this can make a huge difference in your own motivation, injury prevention, and strength gains.