What is the Level 2 Certification Master Class?
The Level 2 Certification Master Class is an online coaching program for health and fitness professionals — a comprehensive 12-month education and mentorship course created exclusively for students and graduates of our Level 1 Nutrition Certification.
Twice per year we take a small group of elite students and teach them everything we know about nutrition coaching, behavior-change psychology, and helping people through successful body transformations. We also pair each student with a PN supercoach to mentor and support them throughout their 12 months of study and practice.
With the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, we take coaching theory and translate it into coaching practice. We want our students to benefit from our 15 years of research, working with close to 100,000 people. That way they can go on to do life-changing work and build rewarding careers.
Fast Company Magazine rated Precision Nutrition one of the most innovative companies in health and fitness.
“The principles behind Precision Nutrition are the same type of advice Dr. John Berardi has been sharing with Olympians and professional athletes. What's different is that now anyone can work with Berardi and his team of coaches for less than it costs to join a CrossFit gym.”
Precision Nutrition has been featured widely in the media and has consulted with some of the top organizations in the world.
Program leaders
Created by John Berardi, PhD, CSCS and Krista Scott-Dixon, PhD, the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class is the synthesis of everything we've learned during the last 15 years of coaching and research in the nutrition field.
Dr. John Berardi
PhD, CSCS, Co-founder
Dr. Berardi (a.k.a. “JB”) is a co-founder of Precision Nutrition, which has become the world's largest online nutrition coaching and certification company. He's an advisor to Apple, Equinox, Nike, and Titleist, and was recently selected as one of the 20 smartest coaches in the world by Livestrong.com.
Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon
PhD, Program Director
With nearly 20 years of experience in adult education and curriculum design, Krista is the intellectual powerhouse behind PN's coaching program development. She's the author of several books, dozens of academic publications, and hundreds of articles on fitness, nutrition, and psychology.
Adam Feit
MS, CSCS, Coach
Adam is a former Division 1 and NFL strength coach who decided his true passion was helping other health and fitness professionals become better coaches. In addition to having run a thriving fitness facility, he's been part of the Precision Nutrition community for nearly 10 years and is a graduate of PN's Level 1 and Level 2 Certification programs.
Dominic Matteo
CPT, Coach
Dominic has an impressive host of certifications and credentials to his name, including over a decade in nationally competitive men’s rugby, and a diverse skillset in fitness and nutrition. A product of the process of having lost over 100 lbs, Dominic serves as a prime example of a coach who made a career change to health and fitness from a non-related field.
Jason Bonn
MLA, CSCS, Coach
Jason holds certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association along with a BS in Physical Education and a Master's in Coaching. He has seven years of teaching experience, including 8 years as a coach at PN.
How it works
The first step: Tell us about yourself
The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class begins with a history of where you are and where you want to go. Tell us about your business, coaching style, schedule, and what you're looking to accomplish.
We pair you with a PN supercoach.
Your coach will be with you every step of the way throughout the year-long Master Class. Whether they're reviewing your progress and giving feedback, answering your questions, or making recommendations on how you can improve, your coach has one job and one job only: to help you become the best coach you can possibly be.
What a typical day looks like.
Daily practice.
The Level 2 Certification Master Class is designed to help you develop hands-on, real-world coaching skills. That's why we give you a daily practice—a small, strategic step or action to do every day that will help you become a more effective coach. Each small step builds one on top of another over the course of 12 months and eventually leads to a complete transformation of your coaching practice.
Daily lesson.
Along with your daily practice, you'll get a daily lesson. Each lesson explores, simplifies, and drives home deep-level coaching strategies you can use immediately with your clients. From motivational interviewing and working with difficult clients to incorporating habit-based programming and building a successful business.
Work with real client problems. Apply what you've learned.
Every two weeks, we'll give you a new “case study.” This is where you'll apply the tools, concepts, and lessons from the previous weeks. Work through challenging client situations and get feedback from your coach on how you did.
Join other fitness-industry innovators and build your network.
As a student you'll get instant access to a private online group of like-minded health and fitness professionals. Ask questions, network, learn, compare notes, and get support from your peers. (Note: Precision Nutrition routinely hires new coaches from this pool of elite students.)
Become a supercoach. Earn your Pn2 credentials.
At the end of the year-long Master Class, you'll have something most health and fitness professionals lack: an unparalleled coaching education and practical hands-on experience. Plus, you'll have developed your own proven system for getting better results with any client, anytime, anywhere. The icing on the cake? You'll automatically receive your Level 2 certificate in the mail once you graduate.
What you'll learn
In the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, you'll learn how to:
- Discover what kind of coach you really are. Coaching is what you make it. You have your own unique ideas, experience, personality, and practice. We'll teach you what you need to know about your coaching needs and style, and how you can be the best coach you can be.
- Understand, assimilate, and deliver complex information. We'll teach you how to evaluate research and industry knowledge. We'll show you how to judge the validity of nutritional claims, trends, and fads. That way when your clients come to you and ask, "What do I do?" you'll have an answer — now and in the future.
- Work and connect with diverse populations. Whether you work with athletes, "weekend warriors", older, younger, obese, or disordered eating clients, we'll prepare you to deliver amazing results to each and every one. You'll learn ways to communicate and relate to people with all kinds of experiences, interests, and needs. No matter who or what comes in your door, you'll be ready.
- Keep your clients motivated and following the program. Motivation is about a lot more than a few pep talks or posters of people climbing mountains. We'll teach you to understand how people think, feel, and behave. Above all, we'll show you how to keep your clients on track, inspired, and feeling good. Even when the going gets tough.
- Assess and evaluate your clients' progress. You could collect all kinds of information about people. Not all of it is useful, or tells you what you need to know. We'll teach you what matters, how to recognize it, and how to measure it. We'll teach you to use outcome-based decision making, a powerful tool in your coaching toolbox.
- Simplify complex information into actionable steps. The human body is complicated. Your clients rely on you to make it simple for them. We'll teach you how to take high-level, complex information and make it clear, accessible, and immediately understandable. We'll show you how to "tell stories" or use metaphors and analogies. You'll learn how to drill down into a big pile of data and efficiently extract the most important findings.
- Communicate effectively. Are you connecting with your clients... or just talking at them? Are you saying what people want and need you to hear, in a way that they truly comprehend? Can people understand and follow your instructions? We'll teach you how to communicate effectively, both verbally and nonverbally, so that you're always understood, respected, and able to build strong relationships with your clients.
- Deal with coaching problems and obstacles. No coaching journey is perfect. Sometimes, you'll run into truly difficult coaching situations. You'll make your mistakes now — with us guiding, mentoring, and offering feedback at key moments — so you'll make fewer mistakes later. We'll teach you how to sit back, relax, and take a fresh perspective. We'll show you how to confidently and expertly tackle every single challenge.
- Build a professional identity and practice. Coaching can be a passion and a calling. It's also a way to make a great living doing rewarding work. We'll teach you how to develop your unique professional identity and network. We'll show you how to figure out who you want to be as a coach, using your existing and diverse experience and skills, and how to build a career from that.
- Get support when you need it. Coaching is a team effort. You'll need support in both building your coaching practice as well as for referring clients. You'll learn how to build an effective and sustainable coaching practice by developing a coaching support network. You'll also learn how to collaborate with other professionals to present a united front and to "cross-fertilize" your own knowledge by working across disciplinary boundaries.
Want to see more? Click the image below to get a complete view of the curriculum for the year.
Click the image above to see the entire schedule.
PN Level 2 Graduates
Our recent graduates include world-class fitness professionals, MDs, and small business owners. Here's what a few of them have to say about the PN Level 2 Certification:
"Level 2 gave me more confidence. The fact that it was personal, that my coach really took the time to mentor me, made a world of difference. Now as an instructor, I'm constantly raising the bar." - Adam Feit, MS, CSCS
"Before going through Level 2, I was telling clients what to do, rather than helping them discover what they needed to do. Level 2 showed me how to guide clients into making those decisions themselves and take ownership." - Mary Kate Feit, MEd, CSCS
"If you want to help people in the biggest, most meaningful way possible, help them change their lives. The Level 2 Certification gives you everything you need to accomplish that. It's amazing. In fact, I loved the program so much that, after graduation, I applied to work at Precision Nutrition so I could coach it." - Will Boggs, MD, Internal Medicine
More feedback from PN Level 2 Graduates:
Client results
Twice a year, we work with a select group of clients, coaching them using our proven nutrition system for 12 months. This allows us to continually test and validate our methodology and with close to 100,000 successful body transformations to date, we're confident that you'll be able to see the same type of results with your clients.
Over the past 15 years, we've coached close to 100,000 clients to incredible body transformations. Join the Presale List today.
Who it's for
The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class is for you if:
- You want to learn a proven coaching system for getting better results with clients. This course contains everything we've learned in the past 15 years of building and running Precision Nutrition. From nutrition coaching to behavior-change psychology to motivational interviewing and lots more, we'll give you unprecedented access to our absolute best coaching research, strategies, tools, and technologies.
- You're willing to commit to a full year of becoming a better coach. The Level 2 Master Class is 12 months long. For those who can make the commitment, it's enough time to completely transform your coaching skills and business.
- You want hands-on, practical, “real-world” coaching strategies. Theory is fine. Books are great. But the only way to truly gain mastery in something is to do it. With the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, you'll have something new to learn, try, or experiment with every single day.
- You want to work with a PN supercoach. The best coaches need coaches. We take that to heart at Precision Nutrition. That's why every single one of our in-house staff has gone through this course. We'll pair you with one of our supercoaches and they'll stick with you every step of the way as you learn and grow.
- You already have a few clients, whether formal or informal (e.g. friends, family). In the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, we'll often ask you to test what you're learning on real people. So you'll need some real people to practice on.
Who it's not for
The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class is not for you if:
- You haven't yet enrolled in the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. You don't need to have graduated the Level 1 Certification, but you do need to be a student. The Level 1 Certification lays the groundwork for what you'll learn in the Level 2 Certification Master Class and we encourage every student to go through it first. You can learn more about the self-guided Precision Nutrition Level 1 Nutrition Certification here.
- You aren't willing to dedicate 4-5 hours per week (or 45 minutes per day) to the course. The Level 2 Master Class is a comprehensive course that requires a decent amount of time and attention to participate in.
- You don't currently have any clients, whether formal or informal (e.g. friends, family). Since the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Master Class is a hands-on practice-based course, you'll need real people to help.
- Dedicating time to becoming a better coach isn't a priority for you right now. This is a legitimate reason for not signing up. Making this course work requires that you make your coaching skills a priority for the year. Your family, loved ones, and business come first, of course; but this program will have to come second for 12 months. That's not always possible for people, and that's okay. If and when things change, we're here.
Our guarantee
Lots of companies guarantee their products. We guarantee our services, too.
Our students make a commitment to learn from us — and we make a commitment to help them become better coaches. In the end, our students decide for themselves: Was it worth it? If yes, they leave the program as better coaches and feel good about working with us. If no, we give them a full refund.
That's our promise. We'll coach you for an entire year. If you commit to the 12-month Master Class and at the end, don't think it was, hands down, the best coaching experience of your life, we'll write you a check for every penny you spent and you'll be on your way, no questions asked. We're confident in what we do and we stand by our work.
Pricing
When you sign up for the Presale list, you get a 24-hour window to register early and an opportunity to pay up to $1,500 USD less than everyone else. We're accepting only a small number of new students and spots are first-come, first-served, so don't miss out as we've historically sold out within hours.
Just so you know, the general public price of the Level 2 Master class is $349 USD per month for 12 months. But when you join the free Presale list today you'll get the opportunity to get it for only $262.50 USD per month or for a one-time payment of $2625 USD.
If you decided to go back to school for a nutrition degree or to become a registered dietitian, you'd likely spend anywhere from $10,000 – $20,000 USD per semester. If you did a four-year degree, you'd be looking at spending upward of $40,000 – $100,000 USD.
The only problem? Most university courses lack real-world coaching opportunities. And most professors aren't experienced coaches. That's why many students find that they're stuck once they graduate.
It's also why, in the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification, we'll share a proven coaching system that's guaranteed to get results for your clients.
Indeed, after coaching nearly 100,000 clients, we know what works. We've created a bulletproof system. And we're making it available to you at a very affordable price.
| $40,000 - $100,000 USD University |
$2,625 USD PN Level 2 Master Class |
|---|---|
| 4 years of undergrad, plus | 1 year of daily lessons, practices, and mentorship |
| 4 years of part-time grad school | No textbook |
| Additional costs for textbooks, housing, student fees, etc. | No additional hidden costs |
| Learning in an academic format that might not work for you | Learning as easy as reading an article, watching a video, or listening to a podcast |
| Often has to be done on site | Delivered entirely online — study whenever you want, wherever you are |
| Mostly lecture-based — very little direct mentorship | Hands-on collaboration and professional mentorship — we coach you while you learn to coach |
| Might not be able to apply most of the material to your coaching practice | All material can be immediately applied to coaching |
We only open the Level 2 Master Class twice per year.
On Wednesday, October 4th, registration for the Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class will open to a small group of health and fitness pros who are ready to be among the top 1% in the field. Only the most eager and serious get in.
And with over 30,000 Level 1 graduates, and only a few spots available for the next class, we're preparing for the same thing to happen as before: Spots will sell out. And they will sell out fast.
When you join the free Presale list today, at no obligation, we'll send you more info about the program and give you the chance to enroll on Tuesday, October 3rd — a full 24 hours before everyone else. Plus you'll save up to $1,500 off the general public price.
Take the first step in becoming a master coach and transforming your entire career — join the free Presale list today.
Only opens twice a year.
FAQ
This is a comprehensive program and we cover a lot during the course of our year together. If you want to get a better idea of what you'll learn, you can download the the course curriculum below. (The entire course schedule starts on page 16.)
Click this image to download a PDF of the Level 2 Curriculum.
The program is 12 months long. If you can make the commitment, it's enough time to completely transform your coaching skills and business.
You'll also want to dedicate roughly 30-45 minutes per day (or 4-5 hours per week) to reading your lessons, practicing your new skills, and connecting with your fellow fitness professionals.
Absolutely. If you're traveling and plan on using your computer, it's easy enough to stay on track with the Master Class, since it's delivered entirely online.
And if you go on vacation and want to be technology-free (which we encourage), just let your coach know when you plan on leaving so they can help you prepare.
Finally, we'll have a couple of week-long breaks during the Master Class — along with two weeks at the end of the course where you can easily make up whatever lessons you missed.
No. This isn't the type of course where you'll need to show that you can recite information. Instead, this is a hands-on program with daily practice and lots of real world experience. Once you're certified, you're PN certified for life.
Nope. Your daily lessons, new coaching practices, assignments, and quizzes are all delivered online. So you can participate from anywhere in the world as long as you can access the internet.
Any Precision Nutrition student — certified or not — can join the Master Class. However, we have found that the students who do the best in the Level 2 Master Class have already passed the Level 1 Certification. So while we don't require you to be Level 1 certified, we do encourage it.
The curriculum is pre-qualified for CEUs with the following organizations:
- ACE (2.0 CECs)
- ACSM (20 CECs)
- CPTN (14 CECs)
- NASM (1.9 CEUs)
- NSCA (2.0 CEUs)
- PTA Global (30 CECs)
This means that, if you are certified by any of the groups listed above, CEUs are guaranteed upon successful completion of the course.
A host of additional organizations accept our course on a one-off basis. For these, graduates from our program submit a summary of the course and their certificate for review.
Note: We're also in the process of qualifying for CEUs with a select number of other international organizations.
If you're following along with the daily lessons, you'll do fine. The quizzes aren't designed to "trip you up". They're not rigorous assessments and you don't have to study for them. Rather, the quizzes are just another chance to grow. They're in place to help you see the material from a different perspective and to deepen your learning.
Click to see a sample quiz.
Sure.
Fair warning: We'll deliberately throw you some tough stuff during these simulations. We'll give you the "trial by fire" by asking you to work through difficult and puzzling client scenarios.
You'll make your mistakes now — with us guiding, mentoring, and helping you out, as well as offering you feedback at key moments. That way you can make fewer mistakes later.
Click to see a sample case study.
Every day you'll get a lesson designed to:
- teach you something important about nutrition, training, or change psychology
- help you learn something about yourself
- facilitate better communication with your clients, or
- put all the things you're learning into practice
Click to see a sample daily lesson.
The Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification is the first step toward becoming a better coach. It's a self-guided program that teaches the science and theory behind nutrition coaching, and includes a textbook, online material, and online exams.
The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class is a comprehensive education and mentorship program for students or graduates of the Level 1 Certification.
Another way to look at it: the Level 1 Certification teaches the science and theory of nutrition coaching. And the Level 2 Master Class is the practice component that shows you how to use that theory with real clients to transform your coaching business.
We only have so many in-house coaching positions available at Precision Nutrition so unfortunately we can't hire every student. However, whenever we do need to hire a new coach, the first place we look is in the pool of Level 2 Master Class graduates. They usually get first dibs on any new coaching job we offer.
Final Note
Take one small step toward becoming a master coach and transforming your business — sign up for the free Presale list today.
We believe health and fitness professionals have the most important job in the world: helping people eat, move, and live better.
But there's a big difference between giving your clients exercise and nutrition advice and actually knowing how to coach them through a successful body and life transformation.
The health and fitness professionals who deeply understand how to coach — the pros who have mastered the art and science of getting results — they're the ones that will continue to have long-lasting, rewarding careers. They will continue to be the innovators of our industry.
We've spent over 15 years researching and testing our methods — and we'd love to give you unprecedented access to everything we know about effective coaching.
Join the Presale list by clicking the button below. We'll send you more information about the Level 2 Certification Master Class in the coming weeks. Plus you'll get the opportunity to save up to $1,500 USD and get early access to the program — a full 24 hours before we open to anyone else.
See you in the program,
- Precision Nutrition
Only opens twice a year.