Expert coaches. 100 guys per coach.  Fat to lose, muscle to gain — and $20k in prize money on the line. You in?

By Dr. John M. Berardi, Ph.D.

For the first time in its history, Precision Nutrition is launching a group coaching program – and I want to tell you why.

Even more importantly, if you read on, I’m also going to tell you, in no uncertain terms, the key to your success.

You see, if you want to be leaner and stronger than you’ve ever been before, there is one thing you can do right away to increase your chances of success 10 or 100 fold.

Our group coaching program is built around this concept, and for good reason. But this one thing is something you can do – right now – whether you sign up for coaching or not.

What 10 years spent in every aspect of high-performance nutrition has taught me

At nearly every public appearance I’ve made for the last 10 years, and in virtually every nutrition-related email I’ve responded to, phone call I’ve received, and forum thread I’ve posted in, the same question pops up.

Some times it’s asked directly and explicitly. Other times it’s what’s between the lines. But in every case, people want to know the same thing. They want to know, quite simply:

“What really works?”

Finding the answer to that question is essential not only to the pursuit of 8% body fat, but to the mastery of any art or science. And people seek the answer for different reasons:

• Academic curiosity and genuine desire to learn
• Exasperation with prior failed attempts at achieving a goal
• Confusion with conflicting opinions, theories and systems
• Fear of making a mistake and doing the wrong things
• Impatience with the trial and error process
• Lack of knowledge / experience required to distinguish true from false in the field

I know, because I’ve asked myself the “what actually works” question my entire life. And at different times I’ve experienced each of those emotions and motivations. They’re what drove me to do everything I’ve done in the nutrition world, to become an athlete, to compete and eventually win a national level bodybuilding competition, to pursue a Ph.D. in the field, to coach, to teach and to write about nutrition – and ultimately to co-found Precision Nutrition Inc.

And my answer is not what you expect.

The answer you may think you want

Before I answer, ask yourself what kind of answer you expect from me. You know, what you’d hope to hear if we were having lunch together and you asked me, “John, what’s the one thing that will actually get me an 8% body fat, 500lb deadlift, beach ready, MMA fighting, magazine cover physique?”

Well, if the market research is to be trusted, the average male consumer desperately wants the answer to be one of the following:

1. A new nutritional supplement that will transform one’s body without any other exercise, nutritional or lifestyle changes
2. A pharmaceutical, legal or otherwise, to do the same
3. A forgotten exercise, which when performed randomly, with poor form and at low intensity, will simultaneously burn fat and build muscle while one sleeps
4. A miracle food not naturally occurring in the civilized world, the absence of which in one’s diet is responsible for all manner of misfortune, from excess body fat to insufferable body odor and everything in between.

That market research is depended upon so heavily in the “health and wellness” industry that it’s actually disheartening.

Think about it: there are now some 80,000 separate nutritional supplements marketed in North America for their supposed medicinal properties; a raft of drugs used to lose weight and build muscle, some prescribed legally, some abused illegally, nearly all improperly supervised to say the least; and shelf after shelf of magazines and books singing the praises of this new exercise or that new food.

And, at the end of the day, by and large, not a whole lot of people using these things have changed their bodies. At least, not for the better.

At Precision Nutrition, we do things a little differently.

If you’ve been following Precision Nutrition for a while, you know that we don’t talk that way.

You see, I believe that if you’ve made it to Precision Nutrition, you know that all that stuff is nonsense. I also believe that you’ve come here looking for the God’s-honest truth.

So here’s the truth:

Miracle cures aside, how you train, what you eat and what supplements you take have an enormous impact on whether or not you realize your goals – and in what timeframe.

So, you must know how to do all that stuff. And we teach you that in our Precision Nutrition System.

However, all that knowledge above is truly of secondary importance.

You see, there is one lesson, above all others that, if you learn and accept it, will completely change your life. Here’s that lesson:

“The most successful people in every endeavor tend to actively seek mentorship and support.”

Read that again! Those who succeed actively seek mentorship and support.

People who have access to experienced mentors and are surrounded by driven peers – and who actively take advantage of those resources – are much more likely to reach their goals than those without either.

There are a host of reasons why, including:

1. Rapid dissemination of wisdom
2. Role modeling (at first, it’s easier to mimic than to learn)
3. Social pressure
4. Inclusion in something greater than oneself
5. Exclusion of others / common enemy theory
6. Validation and acceptance
7. Constructive competition

In short, people with mentors and social support figure things out faster, make fewer mistakes, and are pushed to succeed by those around them. It’s a formula for success, especially in fitness and nutrition.

In fact, a few months ago we ran a survey of a sample of Precision Nutrition newsletter subscribers. We asked them a number of different questions, some of which were to ascertain their level of fitness, some of which were to test their nutritional knowledge, and some of which were to determine their access to mentorship and social support.

The results were fascinating.

Results from the Mentorship & Social Support Survey

We wanted to know how much of an impact mentorship and social support actually have on a person’s ability to reach their fat loss goals.

So we asked people to rate their happiness with their own phsyique on a scale from 1 to 5, like so:

1. Extremely unhappy – I’m nowhere near my goal and I doubt I can make it.
2. Unhappy – I’m far from my goal but I’m willing to do something about it.
3. Ambivalent – I’m working toward my goal but I’ve got a ways to go.
4. Happy – I’m close to my goal and making progress.
5. Extremely Happy – I’ve achieved my goal and I’m working on maintenance now.

We then looked only at the people who answered [5. Extremely Happy] in order to measure the impact of various factors on their success.

What stood out immediately was the fact that there wasn’t a significant difference in nutritional knowledge between the people who had achieved their goals (the 5’s) and the people who were still working on it  (the 3’s and 4’s).

The people who achieved their goals knew their stuff (you have to, of course – success is not an accident), but so did many of the “in progress” people. In other words, you need to understand nutrition science – but it isn’t enough to get in great shape.

But then we looked at the response to this question:

“Have you ever had regular mentorship from someone who was in the exact shape you wanted to be in?

[In this context, regular mentorship is defined as constructive and impartial feedback and direction, on a near-daily basis, for a continuous period of at least 3 months.]”

77% of the 5’s said “Yes” (37 out of 48); only 17% of the 3’s and 4’s could say the same.

That’s a remarkable difference. Think about what that means for a second: you need to know a lot about exercise and nutrition, that’s true; but most of all, you need to find someone who’s where you want to be, and lean on them for help.

So here’s the lesson. If you have a good role model in your social circle right now, someone who has already done what you want to do, and someone who can mentor you to success, make the absolute most of it!

If however you don’t already have a mentor like that, FIND ONE IMMEDIATELY.

What mentorship has meant to me personally

I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the mentorship and support I’ve received in my career is what has made all the difference.

When I was training as a bodybuilder, I was more or less scuffling along until I met a guy named Craig. Craig owned the gym I trained at, and seeing how much effort I was putting in – and how little progress I was making – he pulled me aside and invited me to train with him and his buddies, all of whom were significantly stronger than me, and all of whom trained exclusively at 5AM (!!) every morning.

Over the next two years, Craig taught me exactly how to train, exactly how to eat, and most of all, how to prepare myself mentally for all the obstacles that would inevitably come my way: managing my time, managing people’s changing perceptions of me, managing their subtle and not-so-subtle attempts to sabotage my progress in order to validate their own lifestyle choices (if you’ve ever had a family member or friend comment negatively on your diet and training, you know what I’m talking about here).

Within about a year and a half, I was on-stage, winning the Mr. Jr. USA competition, and he was the first guy I thanked.

Craig showed me “the way,” much faster than I would have ever learned it on my own – if I would have ever learned on my own at all. In fact, without his help I would probably still be back scuffling around in the gym, and certainly wouldn’t have had a career in the nutrition field.

In fact, I’ve been fortunate to have great mentors and great social support my whole life: I got my Ph.D. working under the great sport nutrition pioneer, Dr. Peter Lemon, working with some of the brightest nutrition researchers in the world along the way; I’ve worked with some of the top strength coaches, skill coaches, therapists, physicians, surgeons, chiros, you name it.

I’ve been very, VERY lucky to have access to the top people in the field, and without them, Precision Nutrition would never have come into existence. So I’m immensely grateful for that, and I’m acutely aware of the impact all those people have had on my life.

But when we started this website years ago, the email started pouring in almost immediately from around the globe. And from the questions people were asking, and more importantly, the tone they were using, it became apparent to me that my experience was not the norm at all . . .

Unfortunately, most people find neither mentorship nor support in the world around them.

For whatever reason, most people don’t find good mentorship in their local area. Nearly every day, we get hundreds of emails from people covering topics that, only 10 or 20 years ago, would have been answered by guys like Craig at your local gym.

But these days, it seems to me that

a) although there are many more fitness professionals in business these days, the general level of knowledge and commitment has actually decreased, and

b) people are much more insular and much less willing to offer help.

And so people turn to the web, where you can find everything you need to know. Right?

Well, maybe not. In fact, I get the sense that amid all the billions of pages of information on the web, something is actually lost. I’ll bet you feel the same way. I bet you feel that perhaps it would be nice if someone – a real person, a real, flesh and blood expert – could just sift through all of it for you and just get to the point?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could ask a real guy, a guy who has been there before and seen it all, what really works?

Lean Eating for Men: Mentorship & Support, 24/7

Well, If you’re fortunate enough to know such a person, I’m encouraging you to take advantage of it.

Seriously, if you know someone who has done exactly what you want to do, who is willing to coach you through the process of transforming your body, then make the most of it – get out there and get to work. Ask questions, get advice, and put it into action. I promise you, it makes all the difference in the world.

But even if you didn’t have access to that kind of help before, you do now.

It’s called the Lean Eating Program. And we created it so that we could make world-class mentorship available and affordable to everyone, anywhere, anytime.

If you want to build a body you never thought you could have, in a timeframe you never thought possible, you need someone in your corner who has helped guys just like you get it done.

That’s what we do at Precision Nutrition, and quite frankly we do it best. If you’re willing to bring the effort, we’ll guide you to your goal in record time.

About the Lean Eating Program

Since there is really nothing quite like the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating Program anywhere else, it’s worth going into some detail about what it is and why it’s designed that way.

So here’s an outline:

• 6 month minimum. We’ve consistently found that six months is the minimum length of time for an effective coaching relationship. It’s long enough to teach you everything you need to know, both for immediate results and life-long change; it’s short enough to be cost-effective and to force you to develop independence and self-sufficiency. In six months, you’ll see significant changes in your body, and you’ll have developed the experience and confidence to go as far as you want — and maintain your new physique for the rest of your life. If you choose to stay on for longer, we’re happy to keep helping you, but shorter is not an option.

• Get personal attention AND group support. We want to create a small, close-knit group where everyone knows one another and has access to the coaches.  The coaches will have time to get to know you and provide timely feedback when needed.

• Delivered 100% online – to reach you wherever you are. The course is taught entirely over the web, which allows you to be anywhere in the world and still have access to world class instructors that you would never be able to find in your local area.

• Available 24/7 – for maximum flexibility. The Lean Eating Program is great for people on tight schedules who have a tough time attending fixed classes; you can read your lessons before work, on your lunch break, at 3 in the morning – it’s up to you.

• Built into the Precision Nutrition forum – familiar interface, easy to use. Once you sign up, we’ll create a new Precision Nutrition forum account for you (or if you have one already, we’ll use that). Simply log into your account, using the member login at www.precisionnutrition.com, and as part of the Lean Eating Program you’ll see a new, private section for students only. That section will contain all your daily lessons and action tasks, and you’ll have a private discussion forum visible only to students and coaches.

• Email reminders – to keep you up to date. Whenever a new lesson is posted, you’ll get an email notification letting you know it’s available so that you can stay on top of things. You can also subscribe to be notified via email when someone responds to one of your posts or questions, or when a new topic is posted for discussion on the private forum. Completely customizable.

• Monitored action tasks and assignments – to keep you accountable. Accountability is critical to your success, so about once or twice a week, you’ll be given an action task or assignment that you’ll have to complete and post on the forum. The assignments are mandatory, and failure to complete them will not only negatively impact your progress – it’ll get you booted out of the program entirely.

• Multimedia experience – to reach ALL learning types. The word “multimedia” is horribly abused, but in this case we mean it literally: the Lean Eating Program uses every medium available to get the point across, because we all learn in different ways. For visual learners, we have text, diagrams and PowerPoint style presentations; for auditory learners, we have narration and teleseminars; for kinesthetic learners, we have stuff for you to actually DO. No matter what your learning style, we’ve got you covered.

• Weekly seminars as Flash movies – to cover the critical topics. We wanted to recreate the experience of being at a Precision Nutrition live seminar. So we’ve turned all our PowerPoint presentations into Flash movies that can be viewed online in any web browser, and we’ve recorded narration for each slide so that you get the full classroom experience. And of course, if you have any questions after, we’re available on the forum to answer them.

• Teleseminars with coaches and industry experts – to expose you to the very best. We’ve got an awesome line-up of guests scheduled for exclusive teleseminars for Lean Eating Program students only. You’ll be exposed to leading-edge strategies from the brightest minds in the fields of exercise, nutrition, supplementation and psychology. The teleseminar series is a fantastic way to learn from the very best in the world.

• Dedicated, private group forum – to provide timely advice right when you need it. Of course, you’ll have full access to the Precision Nutrition forums. But in addition, you’ll have access to a special forum section visible only to fellow group members and coaches. You can ask questions, seek clarification or advice, or just discuss a topic out of curiosity – and you’ll get prompt feedback from coaches and moderators.

Comparisons with other options . . .

Quite frankly, because we’re doing something unique here with the Lean Eating Program, there isn’t a whole lot to compare it to.

But I suppose you could compare it to . . .

• The Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig style programs. Or not. To be honest, these programs have had some degree of success, in spite of their horrible nutrition recommendations. Reason? Mentorship and social support!

Now just imagine what you could get if you took the mentorship and social support aspects, coupled them with the latest in sport nutrition science, stripped out the awful frozen food they sell you, and designed the program for MEN. Hmmm.

• The South Beach style online memberships. Now, the South Beach diet is certainly better nutritionally than Weight Watchers, but the membership programs leave a lot to be desired.

Would you believe me if I told you that there is a call center based in New York that provides these “online membership services” to every big, mainstream diet author? That they simply “rebrand” the exact same service for South Beach, the Sonoma Diet, and, ahem, “Shaq’s Big Family Challenge”, among countless others – even diets that supposedly contradict one another or offer something “revolutionary”? Sadly, ‘tis true.

In fact, nearly every author publishing a diet book through a major publishing house (including yours truly) is urged to partner with this company. I can just imagine those discussions: Let’s outsource our coaching to this call center to capitalize on this “revenue stream.” My goodness – that’s as cynical as it gets.

Online support is a great thing, but don’t you think it should be given by people who actually believe in what they’re doing. You know, by people who live and breathe the lessons they teach? Who aren’t following some cookie-cutter, assembly line approach. Who aren’t spewing 35 different diet philosophies simultaneously?

We thought so too, and that’s why we have a small, select group of only the very best coaches in the world at Precision Nutrition.

• Working with a personal trainer. The sad truth is that most personal trainers (though certainly not all) know virtually nothing about nutrition – and without proper nutrition, their training plans go to waste.

In fact, two recent studies have demonstrated that even when training with high level coaches for 5 hours a week, folks saw minimal results. How minimal? A mere 1% decrease in body fat over 12 weeks.

Why? Because the coach was only able to use exercise techniques (i.e., no diet changes), and he was only able to train the subjects for 5 hours each week. Well, guess what – that’s exactly how most personal trainers work – and they’re lucky if they get 3 hours a week with a client! So personal trainers, take heed: without proper nutrition, the pursuit of fat loss is hopeless.

[Note: Precision Nutrition is trying to change all this with our upcoming Precision Nutrition Professional certification – but more on that later.]

• Working with Precision Nutrition in a private, 1-on-1 coaching relationship. Well, what can I say, this is the Bentley of coaching options. If you have $350/month and are willing to hang around on the waiting list for a spot to become available, then by all means, I strongly recommend it. You will be thrilled with the results. But not everyone has that kind of money, and some would prefer to get started ASAP. For those people, the Lean Eating Program is perfect.

What makes the Lean Eating Program different

• I’m your head coach. I’ve developed all the lessons myself and oversee the entire program.  And, in case you’re not sure who I am, here’s a little bio about me.

• World-class instructor Ryan Andrews. In addition to my involvement, the group is led by Precision Nutrition Director of Education, Ryan Andrews, one of the brightest young nutrition experts in the world.

• Social support from peers. While Ryan and I can provide mentorship, and of course a good deal of the support, it’s essential that you be around other people in the same situation as you. As the saying goes, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with – and if you don’t spend time with people pursuing significant body composition changes in your everyday life, you need to do so online.

Having others around who have the same questions and frustrations, who have the same goals and desires, and who are doing the same things as you are – it’s all enormously helpful, because it reduces the panic and fear that people feel when they think they’re alone. The fact is that you’re not only not alone – you’re surrounded by people in the same boat as you, and you’re led by people who have done everything you’re trying to do, many, many times before.

One thing you’ll realize, if you haven’t already, is that the world is effectively conspiring to keep you average. Many people around you will not be rooting for you to succeed; in fact, some will actually root for you to fail. That’s why it’s so important to be part of something larger than yourself, to be part of a group of people who don’t accept “average” and who are willing to take exceptional measures to be different.

Trust me when I say that, sooner or later, the social pressure to return to your old ways will become very intense, and when it does, you will need some new friends to turn to. You’ll need to know some people who’ve been through it before, and you’ll need to know some people going through it with you – and the group you’ll have on PN will provide both.

• Offers initial training and nutrition plans. As soon as you begin the Lean Eating Program, you’ll get an initial training and nutrition plan to follow, because at the very beginning, the easiest way to learn is to simply follow instructions. So we put together a first phase plan, based on the Precision Nutrition principles, to get you off to a running start. But the program also . . .

• Guides you through the process of creating your own training and nutrition plans. The idea here is not to make you dependent on a coach for some indefinite period of time. The idea is to make you self-sufficient. So to do that, we teach you all the fundamentals and then guide you through the process of creating your own nutrition plans. We’ll help you every step of the way to make sure you do it right, so that by the time you’re done with the course you’ll have both the confidence and experience to design the perfect plan for you, time and time again.

• Teaches habits and principles. One little known secret – the people in the best shape RARELY use plans at all. Here’s a great example. I follow a written diet plan for no more than a few weeks a year, and even then, usually only when I’m experimenting with a new technique. But I’m able to stay between 5% – 8% body fat year round. Ryan’s the same way.

How do we do it? Simple: repetition of habits and principles. Basically, the idea is to gradually change both your habits and your environment so that failure is impossible – because if failure is impossible, success is inevitable. We talk about this a little in the Precision Nutrition System, but we go into great detail with coaching clients, because it’s the secret to having a great physique for the rest of your life. And when you get this down, eating well and looking good become almost effortless.

One more thing: The $10,000 prize!

There’s one other thing that makes this program different. The $10,000 prize.

You see, we realize that big, inspiring goals are often achieved when something big is stake. So we came up with something pretty inspiring: $20,000 of my own money.

The man who achieves the best body transformation over the next six months gets to walk away with $10K. No questions asked. Plus, 2 runners up win $5K each. So, if you make top 3, you walk away with some serious cash. How’s that for an incentive?

“How much does it cost?”

To develop a training and nutrition plan with me in person over a weekend is $3000 USD. To work 1-on-1 with one of our Precision Nutrition coaches is $350/month, and it’s waiting list only for the foreseeable future. To work with a decent personal trainer is at least $650/month.

But to join the Lean Eating Program? $99 down, $99/month. That’s it.

I’ve been coaching for 15 years now, and I can genuinely say that this is the most affordable that this caliber of coaching has ever been.

The technology is now available to provide great instruction for less. Things like Flash presentations, QuickTime movies, our Results Tracker online software, etc – those things free up so much time for a coach. And that free time means more clients can be supported at once, which means we can offer a great service for much less

And best of all, you’ll get the results you want – guaranteed …

The Famous Precision Nutrition Guarantee: Do as we say, and you’ll get in shape – or you get your money back. It’s that simple.

We’re well known for backing up everything we sell with a rock-solid guarantee, and the Lean Eating Program is no exception.

Typically, on a well-planned fat loss program, clients make a body composition change of one-half to one pound per week. Body composition change is the total of pounds of fat lost PLUS pounds of muscle gained. So if you lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 4 pounds of muscle, that would be 12 pounds of body composition change.

[Note: That's why you need to do body fat measurements; simple body weight measurements on a standard bathroom scale would only have shown a 4 lb "weight loss" in that example, disguising a huge change! That's one of the reasons people give up too soon – they don't know how to recognize whether a plan is actually working. In the Lean Eating Program, we teach you exactly how to do body comp measurements, and we'll track them with you. But I digress.]

So here’s the deal. If you do everything you’re asked to do, complete and post all your action tasks and assignments, we GUARANTEE that your body composition will change by at least 16 lbs over 6 months – and that you’ll be on track to go even further, if you need to – or we will give you every penny back.

Is there a catch? Yes – you actually have to do what we say! If you fail to participate, miss assignments and action tasks, etc., we will not only NOT give your money back, we will spend it frivolously on cigars and whiskey and mock your feeble effort in our smoking rooms.

Keep in mind that there are only a few spots available in the program and some people will be left out, so we won’t tolerate anyone wasting space.

Bottom line: do as we say and you’ll get the body you want. We guarantee it.

Best,

John M. Berardi, PhD, CSCS
Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder, Precision Nutrition Inc.