Single-Quality Training vs. Multi-Quality Training
Training one quality at the expense of all others eventually catches up to you
Single Quality Training (SQT) vs. Multi Quality Training (MQT)
Recently, I made a post about longevity training > hypertrophy training.
I didn’t get much pushback, but one person commented that hypertrophy training is longevity training.
I agreed.
But when you only train a single quality (like hypertrophy or endurance), there is still a lot left on the table.
Let me explain.
Let’s say your primary goal is gaining lean tissue, and you sign up for a popular hypertrophy program.
The program has you lifting 5 days per week.
And that’s your training.
Will you get better?
Assuming you’re covering your bases and the program isn’t complete sh*t, yeah.
Will it work forever?
Probably not, and not for the reasons you’re thinking.
Most people eventually run into motivation and compliance issues.
They usually chalk it up to being “bored” with the program.
What I think it actually is, is burnout, which can manifest as boredom or classic overtraining symptoms if you’re attempting to “burn the candle at both ends” as so many do.
And it’s one of the biggest issues I see with SQT programs.
Instead, I prefer a Multi Quality Training (MQT) approach.
When done correctly, MQT creates a cascade of positive effects:
Better recovery
Improved work capacity
Better movement quality
More variety throughout the week
Greater long-term compliance
Now, will MQT produce the absolute best hypertrophy gains over the next 8-12 weeks compared to a program dedicated entirely to hypertrophy?
Maybe not.
But if you’re constantly building the systems that support hypertrophy—your aerobic system, recovery capacity, movement quality, and work capacity—the long-term outcome is often better.
And perhaps more importantly...
You stay motivated.
I don’t know about you, but SQT is boring AF imo.
It’s a training style I’ve avoided for years, despite many attempts in my 20s.
And not just because I understand the physiology behind SQT, but because it’s incredibly vanilla to me.
Now let’s be clear.
There is a continuum here.
On one end of the spectrum, you have the “constantly varied” crowd that finds their next workout on Instagram and never repeats anything twice.
On the other end, you have the “maximum hypertrophy” crowd that treats cardio like it’s a disease and frowns upon anything that isn’t considered optimal.
Somewhere in the middle is where I like to live.
A blend of:
Strength
Power
Hypertrophy
GPP
Endurance
And yes, that even means repeating the same training block more than once every 12 weeks.
Here’s the kicker:
You can still bias whatever quality you want throughout the year.
During the winter, you may lean more heavily into strength and power.
As summer approaches, you might prioritize getting leaner and improving aerobic fitness.
In the fall, you build work capacity.
Then you repeat the cycle.
The goal isn’t to train everything equally all the time.
The goal is to train everything enough that no quality falls so far behind that it limits the others.
That’s why I’ve always gravitated toward concurrent training and why Functional Conjugate has evolved the way it has.
Because at some point, being strong isn’t enough.
Being muscular isn’t enough.
Being conditioned isn’t enough.
The real goal is building a body that can do all of those things for decades.
New block of Functional Conjugate Training starts this Monday. Take my quiz here to find out which program is best for you.