There are a lot of theories out there on topics such as "muscle confusion" which advocate that you constantly barrage your body with different types of exercises, changing it up often to "confuse the muscle" into not being able to prepare itself for what is about to come next, and thus shocking it into thinking that it should put on size and mass quicker to prepare itself for anything that may come its way, and therefore produce gains at a faster rate than if you were to stick with the same routine every day.
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Maybe you're interested in changing up your routine to see if this muscle confusion theory works, or maybe you've just become bored with your routine. If your case is the latter, then there's not much I can do for you. Your issue is one of finding out what's important to you, and how bad you want to achieve something rather than trying to maximize your muscle growth in the most efficient way possible. If that's NOT the case, please continue reading.
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Personally, I'm not sure if I buy the muscle confusion theory. This is not to say that I don't agree with adding in new techniques and exercises to your routine, as it's good for advancing your technique / understanding as well as stimulating each muscle group with different angles that you wouldn't normally be doing with your current routine. For the most part though, I recommend sticking to a routine that has given you results and has shown you the best progress.
Your body responds very well to whatever patterns you start giving it. For example, if you start going to sleep at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each day, your body will eventually be in tune with this pattern and you'll start to notice you get more and more tired at the same time you've been consistently trying to go to bed at. If you constantly walk around in a shoe that scrapes across a certain part of your foot, your body will create calluses in that same area of your foot to prevent your skin from easily being scraped apart. There are countless other examples that illustrate this point, but I think you ge the idea.
Your muscles in my opinion work in much the same way. If your body doesn't expect a certain stimulus to happen on a regular basis, it won't be in tune with the need to prepare itself for said stimulus. If you constantly put your muscles through the same exercises that consistently strain them over and over again, your body will eventually catch on and believe that it needs to respond by doing something that best prepares itself for dealing with the stress it keeps being put through......i.e.: start growing muscle.
In fact, in my years of being part of the bodybuilding scene, my routine looks very similar to the way that it did the first time I started lifting. In talking to bodybuilders who have actually competed, they chuckle when the whole "muscle confusion" concept is brought up and then begin to go on about how their routine has been the exact same for the past 20+ years.
What I believe to be important is not the routine you're doing so much as the advances you make and how often you keep challenging yourself. If you're trying to put on as much muscle as possible for example, swapping one exercise for another is no as important as say making progress in the amount of weight you use or the increase repetitions you do (all of which going until muscle failure). Also, there are some exercises that are so good for putting on size for certain muscle groups (dumbbell presses, curls, rows, etc), that not incorporating them into your routine for their corresponding muscle group would be doing you a disservice. If you really have to mix things up, I recommend maybe changing the days you do the exercises, which muscle group you start with if you're doing multiple muscle groups that day, and / or changing the order to which you do the exercises.
Also, keep in mind that muscle growth is a very.....VERY.....slow process. Don't believe the hype of someone saying that they "gained 25 pounds of muscle" in a year or whatever. It just doesn't work that way. It's not like losing fat which takes a relatively short amount of time compared to building muscle. What you might view as "not making progress" could in fact not be the case. You might be gaining, just at a slower pace. Furthermore, the pace to which you grow muscle gets slower and slower the longer you bodybuild / lift weights for, and eventually you reach a genetic cap that you will not be able to bust through without the help of synthetic drugs.
Muscle growth takes time. Lots of it. What may not look like progress could in fact just be slow progress
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But the main point I want you to take away from this post is this. WHATEVER workout routine, and even nutrition plan, you choose, stick to it. Stick to it for a long time. Body transformation is not and never will be an immediately gratifying experience. It will never happen overnight. Don't bail on a routine because you don't have six-pack abs the next week. This is a labor of love that requires another level of commitment. Furthermore, if a routine has been working for you, I recommend sticking with what got you to where you are and has shown you the most success. If anything, just do minor tweaks in the routine that has shown you this success without changing over to a completely different routine.
When it comes to lifting, don't make things too complicated. Your body isn't some sinister villain out to try and battle you in some crazy game of whit and confusion. Just lift the weight. Lift hard, constantly push yourself, and bring tons of intensity into the gym with you. If you stick with that mindset you'll see gains I guarantee you. Find a routine that works for you and commit to it.
-Jtrain
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