There are always some clients who do not wish to increase lean weight. For these people, there may be little need for progress in terms of reps, weights, and intensity. For the rest of your resistance training clients, let's look at a training progression where participant goals do include a desirable increase in lean weight.

Participant Losing Reps Between Workouts

If a client cannot complete as many reps in a movement as in the previous workout, there is a chance that he or she is not performing at 100% intensity or is not adequately recovered (e.g. he or she is not eating enough, is training too frequently, has an extremely slow metabolism,  is not getting enough sleep, is experiencing a minor illness, or is simply not following your recommendations.)

Always document and track the client's past performance for comparison with present performance. If the participant was able to complete 14 reps in his/her first set of bench presses in their last workout and only 12 reps in the first set of flat bench in the current workout using the same resistance, this should send up a red flag to the trainer to ask several questions.

Under normal metabolic conditions, assuming proper diet and exercise has been prescribed by the trainer and adhered to by the participant, the participant should always be able to perform at least as well as in the prior workout. Take the client aside and question him/her about their adherence to your recommendations as well as those possibilities previously listed. In almost all cases you will be able to single out the reason(s) for the inconsistency. Be reminded that the ability to pinpoint, educate, and correct a participant's training mysteries is an extremely impressive quality in a personal trainer -- one that will keep clients coming back.

Participant Losing Reps Between Sets

There will always be one of three reasons why a resistance training participant will lose reps between sets.

1. The participant is training beyond failure. As the trainer, it is your responsibility to control this variable. A trainer armed with the ability to understand, educate, and apply "training to failure" in working with their clients will effectively ward off this possibility.

2. The client is not waiting long enough before performing following sets of the specific movement. If the participant is not resting long enough before performing following sets of a specific movement, there will still be a sufficient amount of contraction limiting lactic acid in the prime movers involved. Lengthening rest periods and/or applying transverse friction message will effectively assist in the removal of contraction inhibiting lactic acid from inside recovering muscles, once again allowing for the completion of the same number of reps in following sets.

3. Mitochondrial education has not yet been achieved. In the beginning weeks of a completely inexperienced resistance trainee's program there is a waste removal process that needs to be learned by the individual muscle fiber. In the beginning, the muscles have not yet become efficient in waste removal and cellular energy production. This condition should improve within a couple of weeks and will be reflected in the participant's ability to finally perform the same number of reps in any given movement, so long as the participant has been performing to the earlier discussed and described point of "positive failure".

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written by Kyle1, May 06, 2011

"There are always some clients who do not wish to increase lean weight. For these people, there may be little need for progress in terms of reps, weights, and intensity."

Unless the client wants to get stronger, fitter and with improved joint strength and mobility.

"The participant is training beyond failure."

This is, by definition, impossible. Failure means they can't go on. I think you mean TO failure.

"Mitochondrial education has not yet been achieved."

Mitochondria cannot be "educated". It's not good to use long words in place of good ideas.

Most of the other ideas in this article are sensible and useful. However, I would caution that the trainer should not fall into the trap of overanalysing things. With diet and rest and so on all optimal, people have good days and bad days. That they can do 14 reps of a weight in flat bench in one workout and only 12 in another should generally be ignored; but if it keeps happening, then have a closer look.

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