Reading progression set by set
Why we compare each set to the same set last session instead of charting total volume — and exactly how MassMetrics decides whether a set went up, held or went down.
Dashboards love a single number. Total volume, a strength score, an auto-selected "key lift" with a line going up. They look like insight, but they compress away exactly the details coaches use to make decisions.
When we built progress tracking into MassMetrics Coaching, we started from how experienced coaches actually review a session: one set at a time, against what the athlete did last time.
Why totals hide the story
Total volume goes up when an athlete tacks on sloppy back-off sets. It drops during a planned deload. It can rise while every working set gets worse, simply because more sets were logged. The same number can mean progress, fatigue or a programming change.
Coaches don't judge a session by its sum. They ask whether the prescribed work got done, and whether the sets that matter moved.
Show the raw sets with a light comparison cue, and let the coach judge.
Compare like with like
A heavy day and a volume day aren't supposed to look the same, so comparing an athlete's Tuesday to their Thursday tells you little. The useful comparison is the last time they ran the same workout template.
Within that, compare set by set: this session's first working set against last session's first working set, and so on. Warm-up sets are left out because they're preparation, not performance.
What counts as up, held or down
The easy cases are unambiguous:
- Same weight, more reps: up.
- More weight, same or more reps: up.
- Less weight, same or fewer reps: down.
The interesting case is a trade-off, like adding weight but losing a rep. For those, MassMetrics compares estimated one-rep maxes using the Epley formula — weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30) — and treats any change within 1% as held. That way "a little heavier for one fewer rep" reads as holding steady rather than a false win or loss.
| Last session | This session | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225 lb × 8 | 225 lb × 9 | Up | Same weight, one more rep |
| 265 lb × 6 | 275 lb × 6 | Up | More weight, same reps |
| 265 lb × 6 | 275 lb × 5 | Held | Estimated 1RM 318 → 321 lb, within 1% |
| 225 lb × 10 | 225 lb × 9 | Down | Same weight, one fewer rep |
| Bodyweight × 12 | 25 lb × 8 | — | Bodyweight and loaded sets aren't compared |
Each workout also gets a summary — how many exercises went up, held or went down — based on each exercise's best set. It's a quick way to spot a session worth opening, not a replacement for reading it.
How records are flagged
An exercise earns a PR badge when its best set in a workout beats the best earlier set for that exercise by the same rule. Because a record has to count as "up", a session can never be both a record and held, and an athlete's first time doing an exercise is never a record.
Read patterns, not single sets
One down set after a strong top set is normal fatigue. What deserves attention is a pattern across two or three sessions of the same template:
- Everything held or down while bodyweight is dropping quickly: check the calorie deficit before blaming the program.
- Top sets up, back-off sets down: intensity is progressing but recovery between sets may not be — look at rest times.
- One lift stalled, others fine: a technical or exercise-selection issue more than a recovery one.
Filter by template
In MassMetrics Coaching, filter an athlete's workout log to one template to read a lift's story session after session, with every set's comparison in line.Key takeaways
- Totals mix up progress, fatigue and programming changes.
- Compare against the last session of the same template, set by set.
- Judge weight-for-reps trade-offs by estimated 1RM, with a 1% band for held.
- Look for patterns across sessions before changing the plan.