When it comes to choosing and prioritising exercises in a routine you should be looking at what exercises have the highest room for progression over time.
Exercises such as the big 5 squats, deadlifts, bench press, barbell rows, and overhead press + their variations have a high degree of loading capacity over time.
You can load these exercises to infinity. Resulting in more muscle mass and strength.
Where as certain isolation movements (single joint exercises) either have a short life span or poor load progression going forwards.
Lets look at everyones favourite muscle group: Chest
The Bench Press, Dumbbell bench press, Incline bench press, and weighted dips are BIG compound movements (multiple joint exercises) that will allow you to lift a lot of weight. They are your heavy hitters!
Other exercises such as a chest flies have a limited loading capacity. You will be short changed by the inferior leverage they provide. You'll never be able to load these types of movements as much as the compound exercises.
The maximum amount of weight, for the maximum amount of reps is what builds muscle mass.
This is why getting stronger on the compound movements should always be prioritised in your routine/program.
Certain exercises also have a limited life span before they become obsolete.
The goblet squat is a great exercise, but as you become stronger and advance through your training journey, the movement becomes more of a hindrance. Getting a DB heavy enough into the correct position will become difficult. Even if you are able to do this, all that pressure will sink into the wrists.
Suddenly, goblet squats have served their use and now the life span of that exercise has come to an end.
Better to focus on the barbell back squat in order to build up your legs and develop your strength. An exercise with an infinite loading potential and life span.
The big compound movements will not only build your strength foundation, but will equate to 90% of your gains. Worry about the other stuff once they have been completed.
As the saying goes - Build the cake and ice it later.
Many of the isolation lifts are not even worthy of icing. They're the sprinkles on top of the icing. They're not going to spark the changes in growth you're looking for.
Stop prioritising limited progression exercises and start focusing on getting as strong as humanly possible on the big compound movements. They are the heavy hitters that will drastically change your physique.
Any questions? - Hit me up. Here to help.