Precision Nutrition Certification FAQ

Because nutrition is THE missing component in the fitness and strength/conditioning professions. If a training program isn’t accompanied by effective nutrition coaching, a client will get mediocre results — no matter how badly they “want it.”The fact is this: exercise alone doesn’t work. Many very good trainers and exercise coaches are having their efforts wasted because their excellent training programs aren’t accompanied by a proper nutrition intervention.

And that’s not merely my opinion. For example, there is ample research demonstrating that in the absence of nutrition change, even very intense exercise programs with experienced trainers will yield an average of between 3 to 6 lbs of fat loss in 6 months time.

Think about that: a client would spend $3,000-$5,000 for 6 months with a personal trainer, only to lose a few measly, unnoticeable pounds of body fat. That’s not good.

To give you a counter example, in our Lean Eating coaching program, clients average around 15 lbs of fat loss in the first 6 months. That’s nearly 3 times as effective.

In Lean Eating, we provide both exercise and nutrition coaching, and that’s the difference. But keep in mind: our coaching is 100% online. They get those results without ever meeting us in person.

If they work with a trainer while doing Lean Eating (which can help keep them from dogging it in the gym), they lose closer to 25 lbs of fat in 6 months. That’s over 4 times as effective.

So something is missing, and that something is nutrition coaching.

That’s why we developed the certification program: to teach exercise coaches to become nutrition coaches too. Because once you can do it effectively, you can deliver results that are impossible with exercise alone.

I mean exactly that: exercise alone doesn’t work. If a client doesn’t change their nutrition, nothing you do in the gym will matter when it comes to body comp change (fat loss, muscle gain) — and that’s what 95% of your clients are looking for, isn’t it?Simply put, the last 25 years of published research show that, while exercise alone can promote VERY small changes in body fat and lean mass, those changes are almost negligible.

In fact, one published review, a meta-analysis of over 700 previous exercise studies done over 25 years, showed that about 6 months of supervised exercise programming will produce only 9lbs of weight lost.

If we assume 50% of that weight lost is fat (which is a safe assumption, based on the research), that means that clients can expect to lose around 4.5lbs of fat during a 6 month training program.

So, let’s assume a client meets with his/her trainer 4 times per week for $50 per hour. That’s $200 per week, $800 per month, and $4,800 for 6 months. All for 4.5lbs of fat lost? That’s a cost of just over $1000 per pound of fat lost.

After all that time and money spent, would an overweight client even notice a 4.5lb fat loss? Not likely.

Again, let’s look at one comparator, the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating coaching program, which incorporates both exercise AND nutrition. During the first 6 months of the online-only program, the average fat loss is around 15lbs.And if you see the client in-person, i.e., use our exercise and nutrition system while coaching them in the gym to keep intensity up, we see see an average of 25lbs of fat loss in 6 months. Top end results are even more impressive. Top performers are losing up to 100lbs in 12 months. It’s quite amazing.

So with the right exercise and the right nutrition programming, supervised by a trainer, the cost per pound of fat loss can go down from $1000 per pound to $100 per pound.

That’s nearly 5 times the fat loss and 10 times the cost effectiveness.

Seriously, imagine how in-demand you’d be if you were a coach that could regularly deliver results like that. Well, it’s absolutely possible. In fact, it’s what we should expect. But no one is teaching this stuff.

Nothing out there covers the specific problem: how to deliver nutrition coaching in a personal training or sport coaching environment. And that’s why I wanted to do this certification.

I want to help create a new kind of fitness professional. One that helps coaches become body transformation experts, and one that helps clients get the kind of results they deserve.

The PN Certification is a massive step in that direction.

Well, for one I have pretty vast exposure to almost every aspect of fitness and nutrition. I’ve been:

• A student of nutrition, going on to complete my PhD in Exercise Physiology and Nutrient Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario
• A teacher of nutrition at the University of Texas, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Western Ontario
• A competitive physique athlete, winning the Mr. Jr. USA title in 1995
• A personal trainer, running a successful training business in Miami
• A researcher with published studies in peer-reviewed academic journals
• An author of over half a dozen nutrition books and hundreds of mainstream articles in magazines like Testosterone, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Oxygen, etc.
• A nutrition coach to thousands of everyday folk and quite a few pro athletes and Olympic gold medallists

So apart from being qualified academically, I think I have a pretty unique perspective — one that’s very well-suited to teaching fitness professionals. I’ve seen the field of nutrition from more angles, both personally and professionally, then almost anyone else teaching nutrition today.

In addition, I’ve written chapters for other nutrition textbooks, I’ve created masters-level university courses on sport nutrition, and I’ve created nutrition certification material for other certifying bodies. So I have quite a bit of experience creating academic course material.

But most of all, I think I’m qualified to teach this because we’ve used and tested this very system extensively with our own clients here at Precision Nutrition.

Over the last 3 years, through our Lean Eating Coaching Program, we’ve been quietly conducting what I think is the largest body transformation research project in the world.

In 3 years we’ve had nearly 3,000 clients go through at least 6 months of coaching with us. Essentially a total exercise, nutrition and lifestyle intervention.

The purpose of the Lean Eating program is simple: help people lose fat, gain lean mass where needed, and completely transform their bodies.

Now, here’s the thing: since the entire program is online, we were able to collect data on everything. And I mean everything.

Because we don’t see clients in person, we can’t “eyeball” things. We need data. So we have detailed psychometric profiles on our clients. We track compliance and every measurable and relevant behavior. And, of course, we regularly collect photos and monitor body composition and performance outcomes.

And as a result of this rigorous data collection, I’m guessing that we here at PN know, better than almost anyone else in the world, which variables are most important to body transformation success.

Now, remember, I’m not talking what we THINK is correlated to success. I’m talking about what we ABSOLUTELY KNOW is correlated with success. Success here meaning compliance, consistency, and ultimately, fat loss and muscle gain.

It takes a long time to gather this kind of information, especially since no one in the fitness industry has ever done anything like it before. But now that it’s been gathered, analyzed, and tested, I believe it’s time to share it.

From there, the PN Certification was born.

Well, for one, it’s based on real client data and our own coaching experience. We’re not really a certification organization. We’re coaches. So this is coming from first-hand knowledge that we use ourselves every day.This certification is based on real client results, and a reliable and reproducible system for monitoring and achieving those results. That’s what you learn when you become PN Certified.

Two, it’s designed specifically for fitness professionals. So it’s for trainers, coaches, therapists and nutritionists working with people who exercise.

That’s very important, because most nutrition courses suffer from 1 of 2 problems.

Problem 1: They have little/nothing to do with exercisers looking for body transformation. Most credible nutrition education today is meant for people looking to become professors, researchers (people who work at universities) or clinical dietitians (people who work at hospitals). So if you want to do any of that, you go to college, study for years and get a PhD or an RD.

Both noble professions. I got a PhD in the field myself, so I’m not knocking it. And Ryan Andrews, who co-wrote the textbook for the PN Certification, got his RD and worked out of Johns Hopkins. But neither of those roads teach you how to actually coach a exercising client through a body transformation.

That’s a very specific skill set, requiring both an understanding of the science of nutrition and — this is critical — a reliable system for coaching it.

So unlike anything else out there right now, the PN Certification does both of those things. It was designed from the ground up, specifically for the working fitness professional.

Problem 2: They’re, well, a joke. I just Googled “nutrition certification” and found some 1000 or so results. Good God. The situation is bleak, my friends. Of the non-university level nutrition certifications out there, I see plenty of garbage, quite frankly. Weekend seminars, no exams, no studying. Lots of rubber stamping.

Some are more challenging, I’m sure, and probably a few are even worth the money. I don’t know — I can’t look at the Google results for very long before getting depressed.

I think I would sum it up this way: if you’re here, reading this, you’ve probably followed us for some time and you probably think a lot like us. And so I suspect you will probably benefit more from the PN Certification than from any other non-university-level nutrition education you are likely to find. That’s just my gut feeling, so take it for what it’s worth.

Very. To give you an idea: I teach a masters level Sport and Exercise Nutrition course at Eastern Michigan University. The course is part of a High-Performance Physiology masters degree program at EMU. And the PN Certification covers the very same material that my masters students learn as part of the EMU program.So make no mistake, this isn’t some “Mickey Mouse” nutrition certification. It’s an elite certification based on grad school material.

Yes, two. This is the first, Level 1, and includes the textbook, the online material and the online exam. Essentially, Level 1 certifies that you understand the theory.Once you pass the exam, you get a Level 1 certificate acknowledging your completion of the theory part of the certification program.

Some trainers and coaches will stop there. And that’s cool with me. With the Level 1 certificate, they’ll be as well trained in exercise and sport nutrition as my masters students.

Level 2 is an invitation-only program for students who pass Level 1. The student is required to do an online internship, perform regular research reviews and client case studies showing that they can actually deliver results. Level 2 certifies that you can take the theory and apply it with clients all the way through a successful body transformation.

So, unlike other nutrition certification programs, the PN Certification has both a theory component (Level 1) and a practice component (Level 2). Those students who complete both levels will be among the best in the world at getting client results.

No. We assume no prior knowledge of biology, chemistry, etc, and so we don’t require a university degree. Now, if you were terrible in science, expect this certification to give you trouble. But if you are generally comfortable with science and are willing to read and review, you can learn this stuff.

Yes. And given our exposure online, that’s a big advantage for PN-Certified fitness pros.As we grow our online coaching programs, that advantage will grow with it.

For example: Our Lean Eating coaching clients are often interested in finding a local trainer, one who actually knows what the hell they’re doing, to help them out with their new exercise movements, etc.

In the past, we had no one to send them to. I can’t just send them blindly in the typical local fitness club with their Lean Eating exercise and nutrition program in hand.

It would be a disaster. The trainer doesn’t know what to make of our program, or they start criticizing it or trying to change it. And the client spends half their time trying to mediate between us and them. Not good.

So with the PN Certification we’re creating an army of fitness professionals who actually get it. Coaches who our readers, clients, and customers can trust.

What’s more, by being PN-Certified, trainers and coaches will be part of a network of local professionals that we trust and that we can refer our own clients to.

Once you’re certified, you’ll have a professional profile in our new online directory of PN Certified Professionals, so you’ll be easy to find when people are looking for local help.

Absolutely. In fact, I wish every dietitian would find their way to this program and get involved.Although RDs have excellent training in all aspects of clinical nutrition, most dietetics programs don’t even offer a sport and exercise nutrition course. If they do, the course is usually too general to be of any use in the field.

Trust me. I know because I’ve taught in dietetics departments.

Just because someone has earned an RD or LD credential doesn’t mean they’re done learning. The best dietitians, trainers, and strength coaches make life-long education an important priority.

The PN Certification program would be an asset for every dietitian.

No, it’s not accredited by any of the national education boards. Again, we’re a research and coaching company, not a certification company. If you want letters and a rubber stamp, there are organizations for that. At Precision Nutrition, we’re all about passing on important and life-changing knowledge. We’ll leave the bureaucratic hoops to other organizations.

People come to PN to get certified because they want the best possible exercise and sport nutrition training – from one of the world’s most recognizable exercise and sport nutrition companies. For those of you looking for some other end, like national accreditation (which means that the program has been reviewed by the US Government), give us a shout at info@precisionnutrition.com. There are other programs for that and we’ll be happy to point you to those types of certification programs.

Most likely. The program is pre-qualified for CEUs with the following organizations: ACE, ACSM, CPTN, NASM, NSCA, and REPS. Finally, a host of additional organizations accept our course one a one-off basis; for these, graduates from our program submit a summary of the course and their certificate for review.Note: We may also, through REPS, qualify for CEUs with Fitness Australia and a select number of other international organizations. This will take effect in 2012 and we’ll provide updates as soon as the application process is complete.

The Level 1 program is self-paced. As soon you feel ready, you can take your certification exam online.In general, I recommend studying 1 chapter every week. Since the text contains 17 chapters, I’d study for about 4 months before writing the exam.

The ambitious and those folks with a nutrition background, however, can try a pace of 2-3 chapters a week, so 6-8 weeks total.before writing the exam. For the ambitious and those folks with a nutrition background, however, 2-3 chapters a week isn’t unreasonable.

Once someone successfully completes Level 1, they can apply for the Level 2 program.Once accepted into the program, Level 2 should take about 6 months. Since there is a 6-month online internship requirement, it can’t be done more quickly than that.

That’s a great question and one we cover in depth in the course.Fitness professionals are allowed to make nutrition recommendations to otherwise healthy clients. So even without the PN Cert, trainers and coaches can make nutrition recommendations. What we’re offering is a much better system for making those recommendations.

The only scope of practice that’s prohibited is Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT), which means giving nutrition advice to treat or cure disease. You wont be qualified to do this, and you should never try, unless you’re specifically MNT accredited.

The next PN Certification Program begins on 2012-03-07 12:00:00. And there won’t be another one until 2012-09-12 12:00:00. We’re using a cohort (group) model to accept registrations: the program begins on a specific day, everyone starts at the same time, and group size is limited.

To keep the program well-controlled, we’re only accepting a limited number of students this time around. And if past experience is any guide, I expect those spots will fill up very quickly. Hence the waiting list, which provides an early registration period (24 hours before the general public) to reward the most motivated students.

To learn more about the course, and to get on the waiting list, which gives folks a chance to register early, 24 hours before the general public, sign up below.