To be a life-changing fitness pro, you need to take responsibility for both the advice you offer, and your client’s ability to follow that advice. Yes, even those “difficult clients.” The ones other fitness professionals tell you to fire.

Here at Precision Nutrition, we don’t fire our clients. We take a completely different approach.

In this 4 part video series – filmed live at the 2011 Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, California – we’ll share that approach with you. And, by the end of the series, you’ll be better equipped to get unbelievable results with every type of client you work with. Even the challenging ones.

For now, simply click the play button below to get started with Part 2 of The Compliance Solution.  (If you missed part 1, click here).  The video is about 15 minutes in length.

For the past four years now, Precision Nutrition has coached over 8,000 clients to lose over 150,000 pounds of fat. Weight is lost, behaviors are slowly modified, and lives are changed for the better.

The really cool thing is, our coaches rarely meet clients in person — all coaching is done online.

Now these results wouldn’t have been possible without understanding the power of change psychology, specifically helping clients modify their daily practices and get past common stumbling blocks.  Indeed, it’s only when we switched from an exercise and nutrition focus to a change focus that we saw a huge leap forward in our success rate.

Of course, our data support this approach.  Compared to our earlier example – where only 55% of patients are compliant with their life-saving medications – our coaching system yields, on average, over 70% compliance.

In other words, for every 10 workouts or nutrition habits prescribed, our clients do about 7 of them.

That’s a pretty awesome accomplishment considering that people take their prescription medications only 5 out of 10 times. Plus, we’re asking a lot more of them than to swallow some magic pill.

The question, however, is this: how do we get these kinds of results? Well, there are four key lessons I’d like to share with you over the course of the next few videos.

First up…

Lesson #1: Coach To Both Sides of the Brain

You may have heard that the brain can be split up into two sides: a left side (or hemisphere) and a right side (or hemisphere). You may have also learned that everyone is dominant in one side or the other. While things are a bit more complicated than that, we can use this as an interesting model for coaching change.

According to the hemispheric model…the left brain is the logical side and it’s responsible for:

• Logic and analytical thinking
• Rationality and reason
• Forming strategies and creating structure

On the other side is the right brain, and it’s responsible for:

• Intuition and emotion
• Holistic thinking and pattern recognition
• Creating art, beauty, and using imagination

Unfortunately, most of us spend all our time appealing to the left side. We talk sets and reps, calorie expenditure, disease risk rates, macronutrients, target heart rate, and nutrient timing.

It’s a lot like math. And when clients fail to understand and appreciate a subject we think is especially important, we give them an equally left-brained handout or website to read.

The problem? Most of our decision making (whether we like it or not) is more right-brained than left. So, by appealing to reason alone, we get the classic situation where clients think they know exactly what to do. But they simply feel like they can’t do it.

The solution? Start speaking to their right brain.

In the great book Switch, authors Chip and Dan Heath use the metaphor of a rider with a whip, steering an elephant.

• The elephant is the emotional brain.
• The rider with the whip is the logical brain.
• The path they’re walking is the environment.

As with any new change scenario, the elephant (emotional brain) may be scared, especially when it perceives the change to be difficult or uncomfortable. And fear brings resistance.

Of course, the rider (logical brain) has the reigns and a whip. So he can steer, prod, and lash that frightened elephant. However, that never lasts long. The rider always gets tired and, after that, the elephant goes where it wants.

Here’s the point: the rational brain can only control the emotional brain for so long, and that’s exhausting to do. As a coach, it’s far more effective to get the elephant and the rider on the same page by minimizing fear.

In addition, the Heath brothers introduce another concept called “shaping the path.” In essence, it means helping clear away of temptations and roadblocks before they become an issue. It means helping make daily practices automatic so that they’re habitual and don’t use up our precious willpower reserves.

Here are just a few examples of strategies for shaping the path:

• To stay committed to a morning workout, lay out your workout clothes the night before.
• To avoid food temptations, get rid of the cookie jar and candy bowls around the office.
• To avoid skipping workouts, pay for training sessions in advance.

There are hundreds of other examples we could use here but the point is this: most fitness professionals have spent their careers focusing exclusively on their own left-brained learning.  And while their heads are full of interesting physiology, biochemistry, and mathematics, they’re poorly equipped when it comes to helping real people make meaningful change.

To overcome this problem, it’s essential to spend some time doing some right-brained work.  As a professional, this time spent will mean a huge leap forward in client results.

Wrap-Up and Today’s Takeaways

That’s it for Part 2 of The Compliance Solution. In just a few days we’ll be back with Part 3 of the video series, and a few additional lessons.

In the meantime, here are four important takeaway messages for you to think about.

• Switching from a focus on exercise physiology alone to a balanced focus on physiology and change psychology is an important first step to getting remarkable client results.

• As a coach, you must focus on both sides of the brain. Taking a strictly rational/logical approach to behavior change will create clients who think they know what to do. But feel like they can’t do it.

• By working with deep motivation and recognizing the role of the emotional brain in decision-making we can prevent rider fatigue and better facilitate change.

• We can also go one step further by helping clients shape the path to health and fitness.

PN Certification Program begins Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 — waiting list now open.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to deliver life-changing, research-driven nutrition coaching – so that you can help each and every type of client that comes to you for advice – the PN Certification program is perfect for you.

Based on over 10 years of research and statistical data from over 8,000 clients, the certification is a comprehensive nutrition coaching course designed specifically to teach professionals working in a personal training or strength coaching environment how to get clients in the best shape of their lives.

We’ve opened the waiting list for the March 2012 program. I strongly recommend you get your name on the list now because spots are limited and typically sell out within hours each time we run the program.

Click here to join the waiting list.

To be a life-changing fitness pro, you need to take responsibility for both the advice you offer, and your client’s ability to follow that advice.  Yes, even those “difficult clients.” The ones other fitness professionals tell you to fire.

Here at Precision Nutrition, we don’t fire our clients.  We take a completely different approach.

In this 4 part video series – filmed live at the 2011 Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, California – we’ll share that approach with you.  And, by the end of the series, you’ll be better equipped to get unbelievable results with every type of client you work with.  Even the challenging ones.

For now, simply click the play button below to get started with Part 1 of The Compliance Solution.  The video is about 15 minutes in length.

Problem clients…it’s okay to admit it, we all have them.

Some appear to be “great clients” at first. They show up for all their training appointments. They listen attentively when we talk about nutrition and lifestyle. Some even memorize shopping lists, calorie counts, and meal plans.

Despite all this, they sometimes get poor results.

So we push them harder during the workouts, give them less food, add more cardio, and cycle their calories. But, as the weeks turn into months, nothing changes.

The client is frustrated, we’re frustrated, and left with only one logical explanation: they’re lying. They can’t possibly be doing what we recommend.

Other clients never even get that far.

While they’re present for all training appointments, they won’t even pretend to care about nutrition and lifestyle change. Indeed, when it’s time to talk their diet and their daily practices: They. Just. Never. Listen.

We’re Not Just Educators; We’re Coaches

When faced with difficult clients, many of us throw up our hands. “It’s not our fault!” we exclaim. We can only provide the education. It’s our client’s job to do the rest. Right?

Well, not exactly.

Over the past 10 years, the Precision Nutrition team has coached thousands of people in what many people consider to be the World’s Largest Body Transformation Program. We’ve helped them lose fat, get healthy, and change their lives.  The results have been incredible. To date, over 150,000 pounds have been lost and thousands of lives changed.

We’ve also spent a tremendous amount of time learning subjects that traditionally go beyond the boundaries of exercise and nutrition; including coaching theory, change psychology, and neuroscience.

And, after working with all these people, charting their progress and behavior changes, and applying the latest exercise, nutrition, and coaching strategies — only one conclusion can be drawn. Helping clients change, using the best practices of change psychology, is the only way to have long-term success in this field.

In other words, helping clients take the next positive step in their lives — and knowing what steps are right for them — is the key to becoming a life-changing fitness professional.

Compliance and The Medical Field

Make no mistake, coaching people through their struggles with compliance isn’t always easy. However, it’s not a challenge reserved for fitness pros.

I was shocked when I first learned that doctors report embarrassingly low compliance rates when prescribing life-saving heart disease, diabetes, and cancer medications. In fact, the latest data suggest that patients take these medications only half the time.

Scary, for sure.  Also a little intimidating since, as fitness pros, we’re asking our clients to do much more than swallow a magic pill. Exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle changes; they’re a bit more involved.

What’s Your Success Rate?

Keeping compliance issues in mind, typically, if a trainer has 20 clients in their roster, their client breakdown looks something like this:

• 1 client experiences jaw-dropping results
• 9 clients experience decent results, but could be better
• 6 clients experience poor results
• 5 clients drop out

It’s a little disturbing.  And I should know, I’ve been there.

I began my career as a trainer and I can tell you that I struggled through the same challenges.  I wondered: why are more than half my clients getting poor results or dropping out?  And why are so few of my clients achieving jaw-dropping transformations?

At the time, my solution was to learn more.  So off to grad school I went.

What I Didn’t Learn In Grad School

After a few years in the field, I decided to go back to graduate school.  I figured I needed to learn more about exercise and nutrition so I could help my clients achieve those jaw-dropping transformations they were all after.

Five years later, after spending a ridiculous amount of time and money earning a PhD in exercise and nutritional science, I was a little disappointed. While I wouldn’t trade my grad school experiences for the world, when I got back out into the field I wasn’t much further along.

I learned that it wasn’t the high level physiology stuff that was tripping my clients up.  Instead, it was the simple habits and practices built into their daily lives.  Unfortunately I hadn’t learned anything about helping clients with those.

In other words, I can tell you something with authority: what’s missing from your programs isn’t a mystery nutrient or exercise protocol.  What’s missing is something called change psychology.

For me, when I realized this, I completely reworked our coaching approach here at Precision Nutrition. And the more we learned about change psychology, the better the results our clients achieved.

Learning The Basics of Change Psychology

If you’re interested in learning more about this dynamic field, the best way to get acquainted is to read a few excellent, and landmark, books:

• The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson and colleagues
• Switch by Chip and Dan Heath
• The Blackmail Diet by John Bear
• Motivational Interviewing by William R. Miller PhD, Stephen Rollnick PhD.

These books will open your eyes to a whole new way of coaching.

For example, one of my biggest ah-ha moments came when reading Motivational Interviewing.  Until I read this book it never really occurred to me that with my coaching strategies I could be making my clients less likely to change.

That’s right, even with the best of intentions, even if I deeply care about helping my clients, my own agenda, even my language, could literally make my clients less able to make important changes in their lives.

Powerful stuff.  Lessons we all need to learn if we want to be the best fitness pros we can be.

Wrap-Up and Today’s Takeaways

That’s it for Part 1 of The Compliance Solution.  In just a few days we’ll be back with Part 2 of the video series.

In the meantime, here are three important takeaway messages for you to think about.

• Real world coaching requires a mix of physiology and psychology. And psychology is perhaps the most important of the two.

• To improve your knowledge of change psychology, I recommend starting with Motivational Interviewing.  It’s the best book on coaching behavior change that I’ve ever read; the insights come fast and furious.

• For most clients their biggest stumbling block is compliance, the ability to do what they know they should do. Understanding how to help them overcome their limiting factors is the most important skill you can have as a coach.

PN Certification Program begins Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 — waiting list now open.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to deliver life-changing, research-driven nutrition coaching – so that you can help each and every type of client that comes to you for advice – the PN Certification program is perfect for you.

Based on over 10 years of research and statistical data from over 8,000 clients, the certification is a comprehensive nutrition coaching course designed specifically to teach professionals working in a personal training or strength coaching environment how to get clients in the best shape of their lives.

We’ve opened the waiting list for the March 2012 program. I strongly recommend you get your name on the list now because spots are limited and typically sell out within hours each time we run the program.

Click here to join the waiting list.

3 years ago we started the Lean Eating Coaching Program, where we coach small groups of men and women using the Precision Nutrition System and help them achieve the best fat loss results of their lives. And the results, to date, have been nothing short of remarkable. Many lives changed, and over 100,000 lbs of fat lost.

This time around, we’re doing something extraordinary. We’re offering $75,000 in prize money – $25,000 for the best male body transformation and $25,000 for the best female body transformation. Plus, 2 male and 2 female runners up will win $2,500 each. And we’re putting up another $15,000 in special surprise rewards along the way.

And while this prize money will go a long way toward getting you motivated to change your body, there are THREE THINGS that must come first: the 3 keys to a successful body transformation.

Check out this video to find out what they are:

Here are the links to register for the 2012 coaching program:

Register for the Lean Eating Coaching Program For Men

An intensive group coaching program for guys looking to get leaner and stronger than ever before.

Work directly with the best nutrition coaches in the world to completely transform your body. We give you the training program, we teach you how and what to eat — and we’re there to answer any questions, concerns and curiosities you may have along the way.

If you’re a man between 18 and 65, have got some fat to lose, and want to get lean, healthy, and strong, this is the program for you.

Click here to join the waiting list.

We’ve all seen amazing before and after photos, the kind where the transformation is so huge it looks like two different people are posing. Here at Precision Nutrition, we literally have thousands of these jaw-dropping transformations.

But the photos only tell one small piece of the overall story of body transformation.

What really happens in the months between the photos? How do these people lose fat, gain lean muscle, and find their smile?

Well, in this video (and the accompanying article) we’ll tell you exactly what they did.  And how you can do it too. Simply click the play button to get started.

Over the past 10 years, our team has coached thousands of people in what many people consider to be the World’s Largest Body Transformation Program. We’ve helped thousands lose fat, get healthy, and change their lives.

The results have been incredible. To date, over 150,000 pounds have been lost and thousands of lives changed.

After working with all these people, and charting their progress and behavior changes, we’ve pinpointed 10 key lessons that makes the program work; lessons anyone can follow to achieve an amazing body transformation.

These are things that you can use immediately to help you lose fat and get healthy, no matter where you’re at now.

Lesson 1: Put nutrition before exercise.

When most people think about losing weight or getting in shape, they think about exercise. They sign up for a gym, hire a personal trainer, or grab a book or a magazine to find a workout plan. But while exercise is a crucial part of losing weight and getting healthy, I’d argue that it’s not the most important piece.

Research shows that with exercise alone you can expect to lose only about half a pound to one pound per month. That’s less than inspiring. Sad, really.

So if exercise alone gets dismal results, what does work? Simple: Focusing on nutrition and eating habits. With a program that combines both nutrition coaching and an exercise program, you can expect to lose five times more fat in the same one month period.

That’s why in Lean Eating we spend the majority of our time coaching nutrition. And that one detail makes a huge difference in the kind of results our clients get. Of course, you can’t ignore exercise. Which is why we also have one of the most comprehensive exercise programs on the web built into the program for free.

But when it comes to losing fat and getting in shape, we know the majority of our resources and time should be spent on helping clients with their nutrition and eating habits.

Takeaway: Yes, you should exercise.  But you must put nutrition first.

Lesson 2: Find a big motivator.

We’ve all heard that to make a big change, motivation must come from inside. And it’s true. We all need a “reason why” — a real purpose and a sense of why losing fat and getting in shape is important to us.

But sometimes you need extra motivation to actually start making change. You need a big motivator that pushes you into action.

In Lean Eating, we have our big motivator: Cash. And lots of it. Each round we give away $75,000 of our own money to clients who have the best body transformations.

We even fly across the country to surprise our Grand Prize winners at their homes or at their offices with giant checks.

Not only do our finalists and Grand Prize winners lose fat and completely change the way they look — they walk away with thousands of dollars. Now that’s motivation.

Takeaway: What’s your big motivation? How can you make it even bigger?

Lesson 3: Find something to lose.

Throughout our body transformation, we need to be held accountable. There needs to be something at stake, something to lose if we don’t follow through or if we drop out early.

In Lean Eating, we take away all of the risk to our clients by guaranteeing results as long as people stick with the program for the full year and do 80% of what we tell them to do. If they follow the program, they will have an amazing body transformation. If for whatever reason they don’t, we’ll give their money back, no questions asked.

But if they drop out on their own accord before the year is up — or if they don’t do at least 80% of what we ask — then we not only don’t give them their money back, we spend it on frivolous parties to celebrate their departure.

Okay, I’m just kidding about the party.  However, we do enforce client commitment. 

The principle here? The harder it is to quit, the easier it is to succeed.

Takeaway: Raise the stakes and put something at risk to keep you going.

Lesson 4: Choose proof over theory

Most people get lured into trying out untested theories, and have only disappointment and wasted time to show for it in the end.

No one wants to start an exercise or nutrition program where the success rate is zero. Yet a lot of people invest their time and money in something where they’re not quite sure if it works.

In Lean Eating, we take away all doubt by showing our clients’ before and after photos. These photos answer questions like:

“Does the program work?”
“Who else have you helped?”
“Are there people like me who’ve done this?”

If you’re looking for results, only commit to a program that can prove it actually works.   In Lean Eating, we show you exactly what the program is capable of, before you begin.  In fact, you can even talk to our clients directly on our forums.

That kind of transparency is only possible when a program really works. Success doesn’t hide.

Takeaway: Commit only to a proven program, and leave the theories for everyone else.

Lesson 5: Do one small thing each day.

My colleague Dan John once put it this way: “If something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all.”  That’s especially true in body transformation.

In Lean Eating, we reach out to you daily, and we give you one small act to do, each and every day. Any less, and you lose momentum; any more, you get overwhelmed.

Sadly, some people find this out the hard way. They make a heroic effort to change every part of their life, from the time they wake up in the morning to the kinds of foods they eat to adopting a new workout program and dozens of other changes.

This all-or-nothing attitude may work for a week or two, but pretty soon they’ll crash and burn and be right back where they started. That’s why it’s important to practice one small thing at a time instead of trying to make a mad-dash for the finish line.

In Lean Eating we don’t worry about the past or the future. We focus on TODAY.

We ask ourselves, “What healthy habit can our clients follow today that will propel them forward?”

These small, daily habits slowly stack on top of each other until eventually our clients have a healthy set of eating and exercise habits they practice consistently.

Takeaway: Turn your commitment into a single, daily action.

Lesson 6: Make it a little too easy.

Most people attempt to change too much at once. But that makes it nearly impossible to change anything at all.  That’s why whatever one small thing you decide to do, you must be confident that you can do it consistently. A habit doesn’t become a habit by practicing it only a few times.

In Lean Eating, on the other hand, we give our clients one thing to practice at a time, and we ask a simple question:

“On a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being not confident, and 10 being very confident — how confident are you that you can do this one habit every day?”

If the answer is a 9 or a 10, you have your new habit and can start practicing it immediately. But if you answer anything other than a 9 or a 10, you need to make the habit easier until it becomes something you’re confident you can do consistently.

If your one small habit is to eat five servings of vegetables every day, you must answer with a 9 or 10 before starting. If you don’t answer with a 9 or a 10, you simply need to make it easier.

Instead of eating five servings of vegetables every day, could you eat 3? What about 2 servings of vegetables every day?  What about 1 serving of vegetables every day?

Whenever you can answer a 9 or a 10 — “Am I confident I can do this habit every day?” — you have your new habit.

During the process of scaling down your habit, you may realize it seems ridiculously simple. It may seem too easy. That’s perfect.

If it seems so easy that you have to roll your eyes, you know you can do it consistently. And you can gradually increase the difficulty over time.

Takeaway: Make everything you commit to easier until you have 90%+ confidence you can do it.

Lesson 7: Find someone to answer to.

You need someone in your corner who helps keep you accountable and picks you up when your motivation wanes.

In Lean Eating we send daily emails reminding our clients to log into our custom software to read and practice their new habits, go over the workouts, and chart their progress. In fact, once our clients log in, they have to answer either “yes” or “no” to a small selection of questions to let their coach know what they did.

Did they practice their new habit today?
Did they do their workout?
Did they read their new lesson?

If the client answers yes, they’ll click a box and a green check mark will appear on the screen. If they answer no, a red X will appear instead. Not only does this show the client how compliant to the program they are, it also shows their coach how the client is doing.

This accountability helps our clients stay on track even when things get tough. And of course, their coach is always there to help in whatever way they can.

Takeaway: Put someone in your corner to hold you accountable.

Lesson 8: Measure actions, not outcomes.

We can’t control outcomes, but we can control our actions that may lead to those outcomes. In other words, you can’t focus on losing 20 pounds since it’s an outcome that’s out of your control. Every day you step on the scale, you’re focusing on what you don’t have.

“I still have 17 pounds to go. I’m not even close to there yet. This is so frustrating.”

Instead of focusing on the outcome, our clients focus on their action, the small, healthy things they do consistently every day. Instead of focusing on what they don’t have, they turn their attention to what they do have.

“I’m going to do my workout today.”
“I’m going to practice my new habit and eat 5 servings of vegetables.”
“I’m going to read my lesson and contact my coach if I have a question.”

Actions practiced daily and built up over time, lead to amazing results. Focusing on outcomes only leads to frustration and despair.

Takeaway: Track what you have control over – your actions.

Lesson 9: Let your coach track results

While you’re busy with your daily habits and behaviors, you’ll need someone — a coach, a trainer, a friend who’s made a similar transformation — to monitor your progress and make small adjustments if needed.

This frees you to focus on the most important thing within your control: your daily behaviors.

In Lean Eating, our coaches closely monitor each client’s progress, photos, and daily compliance to see if their behaviors match their goals. If they do, our coaches are there to offer support and answer questions. But if the coach sees something that needs tweaking, they can make an educated decision to change one small thing to help steer the client back on the right path.

Takeaway: Find a coach or mentor to monitor your progress and save you from “wondering and worrying.”

Lesson 10: Choose a support group.

Here’s something you’ve probably heard before: “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”

But this isn’t just some sound-byte. It really applies, especially when we’re talking about amazing body transformations.

People who have a strong network of friends, co-workers, family members, or even complete strangers on the Internet often have more dramatic transformations than someone who goes at it alone.

With a good support network you can connect with people when you’re excited, confused, or wondering what to do next. You’ll have people around you who can offer feedback, guidance, and support.

Our clients in Lean Eating have the ability to connect with their coach or with other Lean Eaters in the members-only forums. When you have a bunch of cool people all focused on one goal, it’s truly amazing what you can accomplish.

Takeaway: You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely, and make sure to build a good support group.

10 Body Transformation Lessons from Lean Eating

There you have it; 10 lessons for an easier and more successful body transformation:

1. Realize that exercise alone doesn’t work.
2. Find a big motivator.
3. Find something to lose.
4. Choose proof over theory.
5. Do one small thing every day.
6. Make your commitments a little too easy.
7. Find someone to answer to.
8. Focus on behaviors, not outcomes.
9. Let your coach track the results.
10. Get a support network.

What To Do Next

So what do you do with all of this?  Here’s what: the key is to make one simple change right now. Don’t try tackling all 10 (that violates most of the lessons!)  Instead, take an inventory of which of the 10 you already have. Do you have a support network? How about mentor or a coach? If not, it’s time to get one.

Next, take an inventory of the things you don’t have.  Do you have confidence in the workout and nutrition program you’re following? Do you need to be less heroic and more in tune with your small daily habits?

Pick one thing, and start there.

Of course, in the Lean Eating coaching program, we take care of all 10 of those things and much more. If you’d like to work with us, we’d be happy to help. All you have to do is put your email on the waiting list below, and we’ll tell you exactly what to do next.

But remember — what you do is not nearly as important as actually doing something.  You won’t get anywhere if you don’t start.  So go through the 10 Lessons, pick one thing, and do it right now.

Because getting started is the most important lesson of all.

Click here to join the waiting list.

Last Friday I made an appearance on the Canadian health and fitness show, Wylde on Health – along with my friend and author of The Kick Acid Diet, Dr Alwyn Wong.

The topic of the show – something we’ve written about extensively on the PN site – was the impact of diet, exercise, and stress on the body’s acid-base balance and overall health.

The conversation was lively and interesting, and if you’ve not thought much about your own acid-base status, it’s worth watching.

Acid-Base Health Part 1

Acid-Base Health Part 2

Acid-Base Health Part 3

Acid-Base Health Part 4

Acid-Base Health Part 5

Acid-Base Health Part 6

Acid-Base Health Part 7

Acid-Base Health Part 8

For More on Acid-Base Health

If you’re interested in reading more about acid-base health, look no further than the following articles, all published right here on the Precision Nutrition site:

All About Dietary Acids and Bases
Acid-base regulation and your health from PN’s “All About” article series.

Covering Your Nutritional Bases: The Importance of Acid-Base Balance
Employing a few simple strategies to neutralize your high-acid diet may mean the difference between chronic low-grade acidosis — and the associated muscle wasting, bone loss, and altered hormonal profile — and a healthy, alkaline diet.

PN Experiment: Do Greens Supplements Improve Acid/Base Status?
Greens supplements are marketed as magical health potions that can improve the way you look, the way you feel, and the way you perform. PN’s volunteer research subjects tackle the acid-base question and pee into cups, all in the name of PN science!

You can also check out the following videos:

Eat and Run: Acid/Base Nutrition Video
In this video, part of a series called “Eat and Run,” we talk all about Acid Base Balance.

Body Fuel: Acid/Base Nutrition Video
In this video, I answer the question: “What can I do to get the muscle building benefits of a high protein diet without the risk of becoming too acidic?”

Click here to join the waiting list.

Evolution…Precision Nutrition Style

5 million years ago: Prehumans evolve opposable thumbs.

2.6 million years ago: Humans figure out that pointy rocks are good for smashing things.

~400,000 years ago: Humans start using fire.

40,000-20,000 years ago: Humans make stoves out of clay.

1994: George Foreman grill invented.

Thumbs, knife, fire, lean mean grilling machine: Now, the world has everything it needs for healthy eating.  Oh, except one more: Coach Jay Bonn.

Special Agent Jay Bonn

Cue the sound of helicopter blades. Whup whup whup.

Coach Jay is air-dropped by the PN secret ops into a New York City apartment.

The mission: Save a Precision Nutrition client from his own cupboards.

“I was walking into a complete foreign situation. I had no idea what this guy had, what his kitchen setup was like, what food he liked, how he liked it cooked. Nuthin’.”

Turns out Mr. Client had “every damn appliance known to man”, but never used anything. Like many people, Mr. Client’s kitchen was a cluttered mess.

Yet within milliseconds of surveying the culinary landscape, Coach Jay’s eagle eye spotted an important clue. Mr. Client’s computer area was neat and organized.

“This is symbolic of where he’s at in his life: His work is rocking. His nutrition at the time… not so much.”

Mr. Client didn’t need another diet, another gizmo, or any more novelty. He needed a clear, basic, efficient system. And an eating space as orderly as his working space.

Luckily, our man in NYC is a trained professional. “I really just improvised the whole thing,” explains Coach Jay, modestly.

“All I used was a knife, cutting board, his stove, and an indoor grill. I didn’t even want to use that last gadget, except it was the one thing he actually used, so I showed him how to get that working for him also.”

“Give me a knife, and fire, and I’m good.”

Kitchen 911: Food Prep

In today’s episode of Kitchen 911, Coach Jay takes you through the food prep process.  From kitchen cleanout to final product, you’ll be amazed at how easily and efficiently a disaster kitchen can be recovered.

Three Quick Tips From Coach Jay

Clear the path for yourself.
Make the decision beforehand to get rid of things you don’t want to eat.  This decision should be made before you’re craving them.  And, obviously, before you eat them.  Whether that’s junk food or chicken skin, set yourself up for success.

Shop and cook in bulk.
It takes just as long to roast two chickens as it does to roast one. It takes just as long to buy five bags of spinach as it does to buy one. Fill your grill or oven, then pack everything into containers to freeze or refrigerate.

Use a weekly shopping and cooking “ritual“.
If you’re time-crunched, set aside a few hours on the weekend (or whenever it’s quieter for you) to prep food in advance for the week. An hour spent during your “ritual” is worth several hours during the week.

If you’re in the Indianapolis area and would like Coach Jay to take on Mission: Your Kitchen, just drop us a line and we’ll put you in touch.

Click here to join the waiting list.

Three years ago we started the Lean Eating Coaching Program, where we coach small groups of men and women using the Precision Nutrition System and help them achieve the best fat loss results of their lives. And the results, to date, have been nothing short of remarkable. Many lives changed, and over 100,000 lbs of fat lost.

This time around, we’re doing something extraordinary. We’re offering $50,000 in prize money – $10,000 for the best male body transformation, $10,000 for the best female body transformation, and $1,000 each for 20 runners up, 10 men and 10 women. Plus another $10,000 in special prizes awarded throughout the program.

Lean Eating Coaching Program For Men

An intensive group coaching program for guys looking to get leaner and stronger than ever before.

Work directly with the best nutrition coaches in the world to completely transform your body. We give you the training program, we teach you how and what to eat — and we’re there to answer any questions, concerns and curiosities you may have along the way.

If you’re a man between 18 and 65, have got some fat to lose, and want to get lean, healthy, and strong, this is the program for you.

Click here to join the waiting list.

A new 5-day video course: Precision Nutrition for Fat Loss.

And the best part? It’s totally free.

If I do say so myself, this course is probably better than 90% of the seminars I’ve ever attended on the subjects of exercise and nutrition (and probably better than a few I’ve given myself, too).

To check out the free course, just click the links below.

Women’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Women

Men’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Men

Why we created these courses

We wanted to create a definitive resource for fat loss, a place where you could learn everything you need to know to start losing fat immediately. I think we’ve done that, but you can decide for yourself.

I see a LOT of nonsense being published about fat loss these days, both on the web and in the mainstream media.

And at PN, we’re in a unique position to set the record straight about what it REALLY takes — because in our Lean Eating Coaching Program, we’ve essentially conducted the world’s largest fat loss research project.

For the last 3 years, we’ve kept enormous amounts of data on thousands of clients, tracking nearly every measurable statistic available, from body composition to psychometric markers.

And from that data, we can draw some clear conclusions: to lose fat rapidly — but also permanently — clients need to adopt a very specific approach to fat loss.

Well, in this free fat loss course, I share that approach with you. And most importantly, I show you exactly how to do it, right away.

What I cover in the course

• The 5 things you need to know about nutrition — the same things we’ve taught our clients to help them collectively lose over 100,000 pounds of fat.
• Exactly what foods to eat to lose fat — at every meal
• How to make delicious meals with a few simple ingredients
• The best types of exercise for fat loss — don’t waste your time on anything else
• Exactly how much time you need to exercise — no guesswork here, we share the real data with you
• Supplements for fat loss: the two different approaches you can take
• Which four supplements we use with our clients when fat loss is the goal
• The one crucial reason why people fail at fat loss, and the two simple things you can do to make sure you succeed

Last word

At PN, we’re out to change the way people think about fat loss — to drown out the noise and the theories and share what we know really works. And this course is the next step.

In it, I present some ideas that can be hard for people to accept. I know, because for the last year I’ve been teaching this material to fitness professionals around the world, and I see their reactions. Mostly, it’s a mix of excitement and anxiety.

Why? Because as you’ll see in the course, not only can fat loss be much simpler than the experts think — it has to be much simpler. Otherwise, it doesn’t work.

To get the most out of the course, I encourage you to come in with an open mind and consider that what I teach in the lessons might just be true.

Because, well, it is.

This is how the 2% who succeed at fat loss actually do it. This is how to lose fat without overhauling your life.

To read more about the free 5-day video fat loss course, and to take it, click the links below:

Women’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Women

Men’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Men

From all of us at PN, enjoy the courses — and here’s hoping that they’ll will help you get in the best shape of your life.

- JB

Click here to join the waiting list.

A copy of The Power of Less. A copy of Crucial Conversations. A 1-litre plastic Rubbermaid bottle. A half kilo of raw, mixed nuts. A container of fresh blueberries. A satchel of protein and greens. Ooh — a ballpoint pen! And a shiny red apple.

This is the swag bag that awaits me at Precision Nutrition’s annual team meeting in Toronto.

I’d been warned in a way. A few days prior, Dr. John Berardi (JB) sent out a crisply efficient message. We were to be locked in a room with nearly twenty other muscular people. For several hours.

But not to worry: we’d get four macronutrient-balanced meals prepped by professional chef — and Lean Eating client — David Greensmith of Essential Meal Delivery. Each of the men’s meals would contain 750 calories. And each of the women’s, 500 calories.

An agenda? Action items? Objective-ables?

JB tells us not to get too far ahead of ourselves. Besides, we all want to talk about the real business — who’s getting dairy (not me), who’s gonna whine like a diva if a speck of gluten touches her container (me), and who’s getting the vegan option (Ryan, of course).

They say an army marches on its stomach. Our food ration bags, neatly arranged and labeled with our names like grownup versions of kindergarten lunch boxes, fill one corner of the room. Apparently we’re not having a company meeting. We’re shipping out on some kind of Napoleonic conquest.

Good thing we all have the core strength to haul off our respective food suitcases. No namby-pamby rolly satchels. Put your back into it, my good sirs and madams. At PN, eating right is job number one.

A healthy, PN-approved salad - delicious!

Finding my people

You can always spot fit people by their necks. I’m told the sternocleidomastoid muscles are a hotbed of androgen receptors. Whenever I need to find a gathering of fit folks, I look for muscular necks perched atop collars.

Amidst the sea of soft wattles and indistinct chins that characterize the sedentary general population, fit people’s necks stick out like sinewy periscopes. If I’m stuck, I can also look for tech guru Alaina Hardie’s pink hair.

We find one another in the cavernous Royal York Hotel lobby and cluster somewhat shyly. Because we work remotely, scattered across North America (and elsewhere, depending on who wants to hit the beach with a laptop), it’s the first time that many of us have met in person.

I marvel at the farm-boyish colossus that is Scrawny to Brawny Coach Chuck Dertinger. I cannot imagine he could ever have been a 6’1″, 145 lb scrawny. (He’s now tipping the scales at nearly 250 lean and muscular pounds).

Some folks are jet-lagged. Writer Nate Green popped in on his way home to Montana from the UK. He’s yawning good-naturedly as he grins at S2B Coach Paul Valiulis. Lean Eating Coach Kate Kline, from Arizona, is blinking sleepily but trying to keep her game face on. Like Nate, she’s one of the new kids and wants to make a good impression.

Morning people or no, we’re committed. Everyone dropped everything to fly in on a few weeks’ notice. We’re up early on a chilly Toronto morning to come together as a team, to celebrate our success, and to figure out how to make our programs and services (such as our Lean Eating and Scrawny to Brawny coaching programs) even more awesome.

The Royal York hotel lobby - where we all met-up.

The entrance

JB and PN CEO Phil Caravaggio have a mild flair for the dramatic. Phil in particular is decked out in Italian-tailored sartorial splendour for the occasion. (Years ago, the first version of the PN System described our individualized nutrition plans as a bespoke suit. It’s easy to see where the notion came from.)

We aren’t allowed in to the meeting room until the camera crew of cinematographer Alex Cimino and photographer Jason Grenci are ready to capture our entrance. Like a wedding organizer, JB wants our special day to be perfect.

We get our cue. Krista Schaus, the seasoned physique stage pro, swans in like she’s on the red carpet. Whiz kid tech guru Stew Houston, research scientist Dr. Helen Kollias, and customer service rep Lindsay Yeo are more used to working behind the scenes and the screens, so they try their best to pretend not to notice the paparazzi.

LE Coach — and mother of three small children — Erin Weiss-Trainor whispers to me, “I work at home in my jammies! This is, like, the only nice thing I have to wear!”

Meanwhile, I have forgotten about the camera because I’m hunting for my feed bag.

The eating begins

The wave of eating rolls over the room like a gentle yet insistent tide. The S2B guys rip open their first meal immediately, attacking the plastic containers like well-behaved yet determined hyenas. An hour later, the male Lean Eating coaches casually tuck in. Finally, another hour later, the women delicately start to fluff up their salads. By this time, of course, the S2B guys are gnawing on their next round.

JB and Phil dispense the good news to the sound of crunching: LE and S2B have been smashing successes. We’ve changed thousands of lives and bodies.

Amazingly, JB reveals, adherence to our body transformation programs is drastically higher than adherence to prescription medication.

In other words, if we at PN tell you to go to the gym and eat right, you’re more likely to do that than if your doctor said, “Take this pill for your heart condition every day.” Yes — we can more effectively inspire you to strain and sweat for an hour a day than pharmaceutical companies can inspire you to spend ten seconds a day popping a pill that could save your life.

Living up to his Daddy Warbucks bespoke suit, Phil busts out champagne. We rejoice. In moderation.

The PN team talking about changing lives - champagne to come.

What’s our secret?

It’s a truism in social work and counselling that you don’t change people’s behaviour by telling them what to do. You change behaviour by building relationships.

Most of the actual information that Precision Nutrition offers can be found anywhere for free. However, if information alone changed lives, the internet should have turned us all into godlike millionaires by now.

No, what we offer is more simple yet more profound: meaningful, caring, compassionate human connection in the service of personal change.

The figurative translation of “sensei”, or teacher, is “one who has walked the path before”. We have all walked the change paths. We all live the Way of PN.

Yet we also work remotely, each sensei-coach perched behind his or her respective computer screen, somehow inspiring hundreds of men and women to love themselves so much they’re willing to pump iron, pass on pizza, and put the donuts down.

How can we build relationships with clients we may never meet in person? And how is it that we click as a team with coworkers who are technically total strangers?

At the meeting, we brainstorm. How can we build better relationships? How can we help more clients change their lives?

Along with regular email and forum contact, we like to phone clients from time to time, just to put voices to names. JB, with his passion for organization and productivity, thinks he can make these calls more efficient — and increase their impact — while still keeping our unique and caring human touch.

After all, he reasons, the lovely Lindsay and Amanda Graydon in customer service spend all day unruffling feathers, guiding lost ducklings through the signup process, and sharing a smile or two with satisfied clients who are raving about their new copies of Gourmet Nutrition or new hot bods. Somehow these two always-cheery ladies can stuff sunshine down the phone lines in five minutes flat.

JB and the team sharing some new coaching ideas - and talking about gender differences.

JB suggests we shoot for ten thoughtful, well-structured minutes on the phone for each coaching call. The key, he tells us, is that these calls must be purposeful. Spending hours talking about “what’s new” doesn’t help anyone. Spending a few minutes focused on real coaching can change the world.

The male coaches nod, and write this suggestion down. The female coaches snort, and then laugh openly. We know that “How are you doing, Suzy?” is an invitation to pry open a Costco-sized can of juicy woman-angst worms, and we love it.

Whether it’s body-image issues, relationship troubles, hating one’s job, how to find energy for workouts after spending all night tending a barfing four-year-old, or the best way to roast a chicken, female LE coaches in particular are the one-stop-shop for delicious, soul-baring, empowering conversations.

It’s like calling up your big sister, if your big sister were a high-school football coach. After a chat with one of the LE women, you want to clean out your closet, high-five and hug yourself, then rip a barbell off the floor, while humming I Am Woman Hear Me Roar.

JB concedes that there may be some… slight gender differences in communications parameters. We agree not to ramble too much and leave it at that.

Activity time

Afternoon #1. We are leaving the hotel to hit Bang Fitness, the informal Toronto HQ for PN. Owner Geoff Girvitz, with cackling sadism, has promised the team a workout.

On the way to the gym, Ryan pauses for a moment. “I noticed some folks outside. I didn’t eat my lunch,” he says. He stoops his lanky frame down so that his gentle blue eyes meet those of a homeless person who is seated, shivering, on a milk crate outside the hotel. “Would you like this?” Ryan offers his beautiful, precious little meal. The homeless man’s eyes crinkle into a smile. It’s probably the first healthy thing he’s eaten in weeks.

When we get to the gym, Geoff (who also designed the workouts for Lean Eating) runs us through our paces with two metabolic conditioning circuits. The S2B guys are winded as heck. Phil is turning greenish. Krista is beating the stuffing out of all of us. Ryan and Jason are patiently enduring the onslaught. Chuck rides the bike with his broken hand (he’s vague as to the cause) and sighs.

Afterwards, the S2B guys lie on the floor. Paul and Krista compare biceps. Pro grappler Alaina and I get on the mats and wrestle for another half-hour. We’ve still got about 2 hours until dinner.

Coach Jason and the rest of the team recovering between sets.

Evening #1. We are at Benihana, all 17 of us clustered around a steaming, sizzling grill. The S2B guys have ordered the biggest, sweatiest steaks on the menu plus extra lobster. Vegan Ryan doesn’t flinch. With single-minded dedication to animal welfare, he gets rice and veggies, and politely sends the first iteration back, because it’s been made with butter. He sits in the corner seat between Roland, Paul, and Chuck, triangulating the line of manly, muscular, meat-masticating mandibles.

The chef’s cleavers slice and dice. One cook piles up onion slivers like a little pyramid, then pours water into the centre so it steams like a tiny onion volcano. I watch Helen’s face across the grill. She is figuring out the physics of this event.

Coach Roland is the silverback, the veteran who’s seen and done it all. Earlier, he tells me that he’s feeling a little down because he can’t do as much in the gym lately. Injuries. I ask what happened, expecting the usual mundane concerns like tennis elbow or solitaire thumb. He shrugs.

“Fighting. Bullriding. I’ve broken pretty much everything.”

We talk about the perfection of imperfection. How owning your “flawed” self, your body, your life struggles, and history makes you a better coach. As coaches, we are wabi-sabi, the beauty and profundity of transience and imperfection.

Evening #2. As the local hostess and foodie, it’s my responsibility to ensure we hit all the good restaurants in Toronto. We’ve done Fressen — the best vegan food in town — for Ryan. Now I promise to expand the coaches’ culinary horizons. I book Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian restaurant.

Most of the guys are late. On the way to the restaurant, the S2B guys got hungry, and stopped to get Subway. On the way to the restaurant.

Ethiopian food is new to most in attendance. The S2B guys like the primal-ness of eating with one’s hands. Jason, who spent a year in culinary school, is fascinated.

Chuck orders a double portion of the spicy meat platter. The waitress raises a sculpted eyebrow. Yes, double. When it arrives, Chuck discovers it’s really spicy. No matter. He is committed. As he likes to quip, getting big is a battle and his weapons are a knife and fork… or in this case, his mighty paws. He hunkers down and gets to work.

“This isn’t half bad,” says Jason, in his laconic East Coast drawl.

Enjoying some delicious lobster at Benihana

PN: The bumblebee

The bumblebee confounds aeronautical engineers. With its fuzzy blobby body and relatively tiny wings, the bumblebee should not be able to fly. Yet it does.

Like the bumblebee’s flight, I am told by many well-meaning and clever MBAs that PN should not exist.

We’re a remotely-working company with no “office” (unless you count places like espresso bars, the expansive couch in Phil’s condo, or JB’s rural retreat where people occasionally gather for wholesome winter sledding). And we’ve got a motley crew of diverse people from all walks of life.

Stew is a professional video game champion. Jason is a former teacher. Krista used to be a cop. Phil flipped the bird to IBM. Helen, JB, and I are PhDs, academic escapees. Lindsay is an advocate for epilepsy research. Alaina beats people up in her spare time.

We’re like Charlie’s Angels: brilliant, committed, and asskicking. How, the well-meaning MBAs will opine, could you possibly get along?

Not only that, our deep enthusiasm for this work should be impossible. “Reality” should have ground us down into cynical bastards by now. A two-day meeting should have devolved into an ordeal of stale sandwiches and existential loathing.

Yet there we are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, munching spinach, crackling with energy for our work. We’ve drunk the (sugar-free) Kool-Aid and now offer it as a sacrament to PN.

The secret? There isn’t one, beyond finding bright, committed, caring people, setting them on a mission about which they are passionate, and then unsnapping the leash to let them do their thing. It’s like a keener zoo where the keepers are constantly throwing out biscuits and fresh fish.

Phil says that when he hires people, he couldn’t care less about their resumés. In fact, he doesn’t even look at them. Instead, he gets them to solve problems. “There are two kinds of people in the world,” he says. “Those who do the work, and those who don’t.”

After the second day, Ryan and I meet up with former Lean Eater and yoga instructor Tiffany Clay, who has promised us a yoga class. Under Tiffany’s tutelage, we relax, unwind our spines, and let our bodies process the good stuff — the impossibility of our existence.

Bonus: behind the scenes footage

Wanna see what really happens when the PN team gets together for meeting, eating, and working out?  If so, check out this video footage (2 minutes, 30 seconds in duration).

Click here to join the waiting list.

Check it out.  (GN appears about 40 seconds into the video).

More About Gourmet Nutrition V2

In this book, we’ve taken the healthiest ingredients and whipped them into nearly 300 pages of delicious culinary creations that you can serve with confidence to the most discerning foodie – or the most nitpicky nutritionist.  We’ve included detailed cooking instructions and ideas for improvisation.  And we’ve even photographed every recipe in beautiful color to show you just how appetizing healthy food can be.

Gourmet Nutrition is the cookbook that’s as friendly to your body as it is to your taste buds, and it’s equally at home on your kitchen counter and your coffee table.  Pick it up, read it through, and try it out – we know you’ll love it!

To pick up your copy of GN V2 today, click here.

Click here to join the waiting list.