In the world of working out, many of us have a workout routine that we repeat each week.
However, some people get so used to this weekly schedule that they end up following it for months. Without making any changes.
This causes the question to arise, when should you change up your workout routine?
This is a great question and while there’s no definite answer, there are certainly signs you can look for to help you decide when it’s time for some change.
Here’s everything you need to know when changing up your workout routine.
Do you need to change your workout routine?
You’ve most likely heard the familiar saying, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!”. Well, the same thing goes for your workout routine.
If you’re continually seeing progress, genuinely enjoy your routine, and are still excited to workout, then there’s no need for change.
When you decide to change up your workout routine is extremely personal, and it varies from person to person.
It depends mostly on how you’re currently feeling in your routine. Along with what you hope to get out of your workouts.
What are some signs it’s time to change up your routine
There’s no set time when you need to change up your routine. Some people suggest changing your routine every 6-8 weeks, while others suggest changing it less frequently.
Regardless, how often you change your routine is up to you to decide.
While this may seem complicated, there are some pretty good signs that you can look for to help you decide if it’s time to start mixing things up.
You’re not excited to workout anymore
Finding yourself dreading your workouts and having no excitement in your routine could be a clear indicator that it’s time to switch things up a little.
This most likely means that you’re becoming bored with your workouts.
And that’s not something you want. Boredom causes you to lose interest in things, so if your workouts are beginning to bore you, chances are you’ll lose interest in working out.
Once this happens, you’ll most likely become less consistent and start losing progress.
Even though your ability to stay consistent in the gym shouldn’t solely be based on your motivation, having motivation and a desire to be there certainly helps.
To avoid becoming bored and losing motivation, try changing up your routine a bit to keep it more interesting for yourself. If you have an interest in what you’re doing at the gym, you’ll be sure to keep going.
Consider adding some new workouts that you find fun and engaging and can bring joy to your workout.
You stopped hitting PRs
If you’ve stopped hitting PR’s, chances are it’s because you’re not making as much progress as you should be.
You might’ve even hit a plateau in your journey.
The cause of this could be that you’ve exhausted your workout routine. Meaning maybe you’ve been following the same routine for some time now and it’s no longer as much of a challenge to your body.
If you’re consistently doing the same workouts, they become less of a challenge to your muscles. Because your muscles have the ability to adapt to workouts and a routine.
If you come across this issue, one thing you know for sure is that you’ve been staying consistent. So congratulations on your commitment and consistency!
However, it also means it’s time to switch things up to provide a greater challenge for your muscles. In order to continue making the most amount of progress.
Your goals have changed
One of the biggest indicators that it’s time to change your routine, that I don’t see talked about enough, is if your goals have changed.
If you want to make different progress and see different results from the gym, it doesn’t make sense to keep the same routine.
If you want a different result, you need to change what you’re doing.
For example, if during the summer I was trying to grow my upper body but in the winter I want to prioritize leg growth, does it make sense to keep the same upper body biased split I used in the summer? Definitely not!
If you want to see different changes in your body composition or strengthen different muscles, then you’ll need to change up your workout routine accordingly.
You stopped seeing changes in your body
Again, if you’ve stopped seeing changes in your body, chances are you aren’t making as much progress as you should be.
This again is another sign you’ve hit a plateau.
Maybe you aren’t leaning out like you used to be, or maybe your muscles look less full.
Whatever the case may be, this can be a sign that your routine just isn’t working for you anymore. It isn’t providing enough stimulation for you to see the same amount of progress.
If this happens, some changes to your routine, even small ones, can do exactly what they need to kickstart your progress again.
You no longer get sore
If you don’t get sore after your workouts, this is a great indicator that your muscles are too comfortable with the workouts that you’re doing.
Although there are plenty of reasons why you aren’t getting sore after your workouts, the most common ones are that you aren’t training hard enough or that you’ve been following the same routine for a long time.
If you’ve ruled out that you’re training intensely enough, then the culprit is likely that your body has gotten enough out of your routine.
Although soreness does not equate to progress, you can still be making progress even if you’re not sore.
However if you are sore, then you KNOW you’re making progress and you KNOW you’re training hard enough.
Soreness isn’t necessary after workouts but it is nice to be able to know that what you’re doing is correct.
It’s a good sign that your workouts are working and you’re going to be making progress.
What are some ways you can change your workout routine
Now that we’ve gone over some signs that you might need to change up your routine, now we can cover ways to do that.
Focus on progressive overload
Progressive overload is a type of training that allows you to continually challenge your muscles.
If you start training to progressively overload, you’ll routinely be increasing the volume or the intensity of your workouts.
Meaning that you’ll either be increasing the weight you lift or the number of reps you do.
This is a great strategy to keep your workouts changing without actually changing up the exercises you do.
Essentially, your workouts will adapt as your muscles adapt.
Implementing progressive overload helps to ensure that your routine will always be intense enough to stimulate muscle growth.
This is one of the best ways to consistently make gains.
Train more intensely
How intensely you train is a combination of how many reps you do, how much weight you lift, and how close to failure you train.
Training to failure means you train to the point where your muscles physically cannot do any more reps. The best way to grow your muscles is to try and train as close to failure as possible.
I’ve seen the most growth in my 2 years of lifting when I started pushing myself as close to failure as I could.
If you want to mix up your workout routine, try implementing strategies to help yourself train more intensely. Try increasing the weight to a point that makes it possible for you to hit failure in a reasonable number of reps.
For example, what I like to do is lift heavy enough where I’m able to train to failure, where I’m hitting failure in the 8 to 12 rep range.
Meaning the weight is heavy enough to hit failure after a reasonable amount of reps, but isn’t too heavy that I hit failure after the first couple reps.
Change up your exercises
One of the best ways to change up your workout routine is to change up the exercises you do.
You don’t need to scratch your entire routine and change every exercise you’re doing.
Even just making a few swaps will be effective. You can try swapping out exercises for different ones or just adding some new exercises in.
I like to keep a few staple exercises in my routine that I never swap out. By doing this, I always have the basis of a routine with a few guaranteed, solid movements.
For example, in one of my leg days, some of my staple exercises that I’ll always keep are hip thrusts, leg press, and squats.
I find these exercises work really well for muscle growth and I can continue progressing on them.
Keeping these base exercises helps to make sure that the new routine will be just as strong and effective as the previous one.
Switch up the muscle groups you train together
Another easy way to switch up your routine is to switch up the muscle groups you train together.
Your muscles can actually become familiar with your workout routine. They can get comfortable knowing when they train and what other muscles they train with.
For example, if you always train back and bis together, since your bis are warmed up and engaged, your back may become too comfortable relying on your bis during back exercises.
You want to avoid your muscles becoming dependent on each other.
The best way to avoid this would be altering the muscle combinations you train together.
Maybe instead of training back and bis together, you try training back and tris together for a little while.
This allows for enough change to keep your muscles engaged and challenged.
What happens after changing your routine
After changing your routine, you’ll most likely notice a boost of progress after starting your new routine.
This increased progress will likely die down once your body settles in to your new split. However, it’s nice to get some new, additional encouragement and progress.
Can you ever switch back to a previous routine?
Once you’ve changed your routine, it doesn’t mean you can never go back to a previous routine you had.
Your routine depends a lot on the goals you have and sometimes you’ll have the same goals as before.
It’s not always about changing your routine to something entirely new. Usually, it’s just about mixing things up for a little bit and giving your body a routine it’s not currently comfortable in.
Takeaways
The question of how long you should keep the same workout routine is tough to answer.
The truth is, it’s really up to you.
Now that you know more about what signs to look for, you can better make the decision of when it’s time to switch things up.
More posts on women’s weightlifting:
5 Tips you need to start a weightlifting routine
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!
I’m so happy to hear that and yes there is! Most of the posts on my blog are related to working out and weightlifting. If you click the posts dropdown, you’ll find them all under the exercise section.