The Triangle Of Awareness

I first came across the concept of the Triangle of Awareness while listening to the Over 50 Health & Wellness Podcast. Upon hearing his summary of the basic premise of the triangle, I was delighted that I had finally come across a way to express what I had been pondering for years in my fitness journey. While I am unsure of the concept’s origins, I am grateful to Mr. English for bringing it to my attention.

I created the design of the triangle as a way for me to visualize the ideas expressed in the triangle. It consists of a point for Aesthetics or Appearance (red), Performance (purple), and Longevity or Life (green), along with 6 different spectrums on which a person could potentially travel while training. For simplicity’s sake, we will only focus on the 3 extremes from which we can infer the meaning of other movements along the spectrums.

With Aesthetics, our focus is on how our physical body is seen in the world. That could revolve around losing inches, gaining muscle mass, shedding layers to reveal the muscular structure beneath, or any combination. The entire point of the workouts, programming, and nutrition here is for the person to reach their desired look. A higher number of repetitions for exercises is usually associated with those that are training for aesthetics. Food choices are important as a means to assist, and make it possible to achieve the sought after goal. Most people will remain close to this end of the spectrum for the majority of their fitness journey as we tend to be concerned with how good we look, and how confident we feel in our bodies.

Performance is the area in which you will find athletes training. Here a person is preparing their body to go out and complete a given task to the best of their ability. Each athlete goes through a workout routine so that their performance in their given field is the best possible. Most football players are training for powerful and explosive movements, gymnasts would be training more calisthenic movements, and military personnel train to become more efficient with certain tactics and overcome physical obstacles. There is not a major concern with appearance or longevity at this point of the triangle. The most important thing is maximizing performance. When training in this area, caloric intake is very important. Energy is constantly being burned away due to the strenuous activities that demand fuel from the body. Trying to maintain a calorie deficit while trying to compete at the highest level is similar to trying to drive a car without any gas… you won’t get very far. (Nutrition Periodization for Aesthetics Vs. Performance Vs. Longevity, 2022) I often associate this area of the triangle with youth, or the younger years in life, as this is when the majority of people are involved in some form of competitive physical activity.

The Longevity/ Life point is where we see a greater concern for living long healthy lives. Not only do people training in this area want to live long lives, they want to participate and be active in their older years of life. For example, spending 3 or 4 hours walking around the zoo with kids or grandkids may be something that they want to ensure they can do without any obstacles that would prevent it from being an enjoyable experience. Yoga practices, mobility, flexibility, and exercises that concentrate on ADL (activities of daily life) are essential to training at this point of the triangle. The consumption of fruits and vegetables will also increase here as a means to maintain a healthy body.

The Triangle of Awareness gives us an understanding for why we are training the way that we are training, and the trade-offs that are made in pursuit of our goals. If we find ourselves wanting to train for performance and aesthetics, then we have to understand that we are going to detract from workouts regarding longevity. If we want to train in all 3 areas and remain in the center of the triangle, then we have to understand that we are not going to reach our maximum potential in either of the 3 categories.
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By considering the Triangle of Awareness, we gain a better understanding of why we train and can thus prioritize our training. This will enable us to make informed decisions about our fitness goals, and provide us guidance on a path that will align with our personal goals and aspirations.

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English, K. (Host). (2023, June 2). How to Eat and Train for Your Goals (No. 197) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Over 50 Health & Wellness Podcast. The Silver Edge. https://silveredgefitness.com/197-2/
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Nutrition Periodization for Aesthetics vs. Performance vs. Longevity. (2022, October 20). https://www.prefusionhealth.com/maecenas-et-est-placerat