Registration for the Precision Nutrition Certification Program opens Wednesday, March 19th, 2014. We’re taking a limited number of motivated fitness professionals. Are you in?
Finally, a true nutrition certification for fitness professionals.
You're a new breed of elite fitness pro. This is a new breed of certification. The Precision Nutrition Certification Program will teach you the art and science of nutrition coaching.
Today is an exciting day for us here at Precision Nutrition, because it’s the culmination of over 5 years of hard work on a project that I believe will do more to change the fitness industry than anything we’ve ever done.
The goal is simple: to teach elite fitness professionals how to become elite nutrition coaches. Once you can consistently influence your clients' nutrition, your ability to deliver results increases 3-fold, at least. (That’s not my opinion. That’s a fact. More on that below.)
The method we chose to achieve that goal?
The Precision Nutrition Certification.
Executive Summary
A comprehensive nutrition education and certification program designed specifically for use in a personal training / strength coaching environment.
Covers the science of nutrition. Cellular biology, digestion, metabolism, macronutritients, micronutrients and more, all covered in depth.
... and the practice of coaching. Teaches you a practical nutrition coaching process that you can use in a personal training / strength coaching environment for all clients, at all levels.
The definitive textbook, The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition, a 500-page academic resource for fitness professionals.
17 online seminars, one for each section of the text, to reinforce the material.
Study guide, to thoroughly prepare you for the exam.
Online exam, available instantly and whenever you feel ready.
26 nutrition assessments and questionnaires that you can start using in your practice immediately.
Listing in our online directory of certified fitness professionals. Upon completion, we’ll list you on our site as PN Certified, and lead potential clients in your area to you.
$999.99 USD. Less than a college credit, and for a fitness pro, much more valuable.
Limited number of spots available in the March 2014 group. First-come, first-served. The PN Certification is an elite program with restricted enrollment.
Registration begins on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014.
The Certification Program: Nutrition Education for Elite Fitness Professionals.
The Precision Nutrition Certification Program trains you to change and improve the nutrition habits of any client with any goal — whether beginner or advanced. We've designed the certification's hands-on information, strategies, and tools for you to use immediately in your own personal training or strength coaching practice.
First, we teach you the essential science of sport and exercise nutrition: cellular biology, digestion, metabolism, macronutrients, micronutrients. If you need to know it as a coach, we teach it in the cert.
Then, we teach you exactly how to add nutrition coaching to your work in the gym to guide an exercising client to their optimal physique. You'll learn a system for influencing the nutrition habits of any client, with any goal, beginners and advanced alike.
No other educational program has that focus. I can tell you that because if there was, I would have taken it myself.
A little backstory: how we developed the certification program, and why.
The certification program is actually born of a need I encountered in my own career.
See, I started out as a personal trainer myself, some 20-odd years ago. I ran a pretty successful training business in Miami and worked with clients of all kinds.
I can't remember how many people I trained exactly, but I imagine it must have been in the hundreds. I had no problem with teaching exercise: Once they got in the gym, I knew I could get them doing their absolute best.
But in many cases, that simply wasn't enough, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.
They just weren't eating right.
Insight #1:
90% of clients want to lose fat, and 100% of clients need body transformation of some kind.
This can't be done in the gym alone. If they're spending 3 hours a week with me in the gym training, I thought, and the other 165 hours a week, on their own, eating poorly...
...then their progress is going to suck.
And unfortunately, in some cases, it did, for that very reason. In other cases, progress was just okay, when it should have been good; in others still, it was good when it should have been great.
Insight #2:
Nutrition is always the limiting factor in body transformation.
In a perfect world, I'd train my clients enough that their nutrition didn't matter so much. But in the real world, when I saw clients 1-3 times a week, body composition didn't change much, no matter what we did. My sprint sessions on Mondays or squat sessions on Wednesdays couldn't match my clients' "coworker birthday Fridays" or "beer and wings with the boys on Saturdays".
What sped things up significantly, however, was nutrition change.
And in some cases, it didn't just speed things up. It made the otherwise impossible, well, possible.
By changing nutrition habits (in the admittedly limited number of cases where I was able to do it successfully at the time), I was able to help clients reach goals they had long since abandoned. We broke through plateaus and saw results that surprised even me.
That's when I became fascinated (some might say "obsessed") with sport nutrition. I had seen first-hand what was possible, and I wanted to immerse myself in it, master it, and figure out how to teach it to all kinds of clients — especially the ones I hadn't been able to train successfully.
Soon after, I shut down my training business, left Miami, and set out to learn everything I could on the subject.
But ... where to go?
Insight #3:
No one is really teaching fitness professionals how to become effective nutrition coaches with exercising clients.
When I first set out to learn sport and exercise nutrition, I quickly realized that there was almost no place to go.
Here’s what I found:
Option #1: Weekend Nutrition Certification.
There are a number of nutrition “certifications” out there, most of which consist of some kind of seminar you attend, and many of which don’t even test your competency with an exam.
Pros: Would have allowed me to market myself as a nutritionist or something to that effect.
Cons: Basically a meritless rubber stamp.
I opted not to do that sort of cert because I felt like they were far too basic. I didn’t just want a piece of paper. I legitimately wanted to learn everything I needed to master the science and application of nutrition.
Option #2: Become a Registered Dietitian (RD).
I also thought briefly about becoming an RD, which entails a bachelor degree, doing a series of clinical internships, passing an exam, and doing continuing education to stay registered.
Pros: An RD is a relatively well-known and respected accreditation; a noble profession, requiring intensive study.
Cons: Largely about disease management and medical nutrition therapy; relatively little about sport and exercise nutrition.
I opted not to do this either because I knew that I didn’t want to do medical nutrition or work from a hospital. Not all RDs do, but it’s still the focus. I wanted to work with exercisers and athletes.
Option #3: Become a researcher/professor (PhD).
There isn’t really a sport nutrition PhD, per se. However, once you make it to the master's and PhD levels, you have a lot more flexibility in planning your own studies.
Although I'm an adjunct professor and occasionally teach college nutrition courses, I never really wanted to become a tenured professor. What I did love was research. I figured that doing a PhD would afford me the time to delve into all the existing research on sport and exercise nutrition, and the ability to actually conduct and publish studies myself.
Pros: Lots of freedom to study whatever you want in depth, including sport and exercise nutrition, in a demanding and scientifically rigorous environment.
Cons: Inordinate amount of studying (4 years of college, plus typically 5 or more years working on your master's and PhD), huge cost (both from tuition, room & board, etc. and from the lost employment income you could have been earning instead).
This is the route I chose. Ultimately, I went to study in the Exercise and Nutrition Lab at the University of Western Ontario and wrapped up my grad work in Exercise Physiology and Nutrient Biochemistry.
But really, I never learned what I set out to learn — exercise and sport nutrition coaching.
Nevertheless, this work solidified certain ideas about nutrition: what works, what doesn’t, and why; and most importantly, how it can be taught and coached. Because there was no real “sport nutrition” degree, I basically created one for myself out of necessity, choosing my courses, studies, and dissertation to lead to that end.
That effort made Precision Nutrition possible. During my final few years in the PhD program, we started the company and began to test those ideas: first with athletes, and then, through our coaching programs, with the general population.
In fact, Precision Nutrition has grown into a huge body transformation research project, in which we test our ideas with thousands of real clients every day, collecting unprecedented amounts of data -- everything from recovery and stress markers to compliance and body composition metrics.
So learning how to conduct studies and derive insight from them — essentially the entire focus of a PhD program — was quite helpful, in retrospect. And from time to time, I still conduct studies through my affiliation with the University of Texas and Eastern Michigan University.
One of those studies, in fact, should forever change the way you coach ...
Insight #4:
Exercise alone doesn’t work.
I recently worked on a study at the University of Texas. We wanted to test the effects of exercise alone — without any change to diet. Pay close attention here folks, because the results surprised even me.
The study looked at 100 sedentary participants over the course of 12 weeks. Half of them were told to do nothing, but show up for measurement sessions (the control group).
The other half were given:
a good-quality, intensive 12-week training program, designed by me
3 hours/week of weight training, supervised by a strength coach
2+ hours/week of group exercise or interval training, supervised by a group exercise coach
no diet change
These individuals, as stated above, did no exercise before the study began. As a result of this sedentary lifestyle, they averaged between 35% and 40% body fat (according to DEXA scans).
We didn't change the participants' eating at all. We did this on purpose. Our research question:
“Without a dietary change, can exercise alone reshape a person's body?”
At the end of the 12 week study, we got our answer:
“No.”
Without dietary control, 12 weeks of high intensity training — well-designed and supervised — produced a disappointing 1% loss of body fat. In terms of raw data, the participants lost only 1 pound of fat and gained 2 pounds of lean body mass vs. the placebo group.
Frankly, that sucks.
Here’s the bottom line ...
Insight #5:
If a client doesn’t change their nutrition, all the effort in the gym is largely wasted.
When some 90% of clients want fat loss, and nearly 100% require body comp change — that’s a problem.
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 9 lbs of weight loss.
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 4.5 lbs 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 4.5 lbs 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 4.5 lb fat loss? Not likely.
Fortunately, there is a better way.
Insight #6:
Exercise AND nutrition coaching — together — work even better than clients expect.
When training and nutrition are integrated in the coaching process, body composition change increases by a factor of 3, at the very least. In other words, instead of losing 5 lbs of fat, an exercising client who can successfully make some simple dietary changes will lose at least 15 lbs over the same time period.
Here’s how I know.
A brief history of Precision Nutrition.
We began coaching people online in 2000, all on a one-on-one basis over email. If the client or athlete had a coach or trainer already, we would look at their training plan and provide suggestions if necessary; if their coach didn’t have a plan, our suggestion was to get a new coach.
And if they didn’t have a trainer or coach, we’d do the exercise plan for them, in addition to our nutrition plan.
So there was always an exercise component to our coaching.
That early one-on-one coaching process was very instructive because it helped refine the ins and outs of coaching: communication strategies, overcoming objections, etc.
But it was also limiting. The back-and-forth communication and data collection was so time consuming and inefficient that we could never take more than 20 or so clients per coach. We could never really scale up and test new ideas with enough of a sample size to get meaningful data out of it.
Precision Nutrition Coaching: The Research Project?
Then, in 2008, we started doing things differently.
We began building what would eventually become Precision Nutrition Coaching. Over the years, our programmers created a web application that allows us to streamline communication with clients, teach them key lessons, provide instant feedback and — most importantly — track all kinds of statistics and measurements on each client.
By the end of this year, we will worked with approximately 20,000 clients. We’re quietly conducting what I believe is the largest body transformation research project of its kind.
Because coaching is offered entirely online, we keep data on every relevant domain, and with that data, we constantly test new coaching ideas. It’s a real-world research lab, working with people in their every day lives.
Training + nutrition = 3 to 10 times better results.
During the first 6 months of Precision Nutrition Coaching, the average fat loss is around 15 lbs. That’s at least 3 times more than we could expect without nutrition change.
And we don't even see people in person.
If the participant also sees a trainer in-person (i.e., they use our exercise and nutrition system while finding a coach to help keep intensity up in the gym), we see closer to 25 lbs of fat loss in 6 months.
Top end results are even more impressive. Top performers, the real go-getters that coaches love, are losing up to 100 lbs in 12 months. It's quite amazing.
This client, a 38 year old male, lost 70 lbs and 20% body fat in 12 months
This client, a 44 year old female, lost 106 lbs and 25% body fat in 12 months
This client, a 47 year old male, lost 85 lbs in 12 months
This client, a 34 year old female, lost 61 lbs in 12 months
This client, a 43 year old male, lost 65 lbs and 16% body fat in 12 months
This client, a 55 year old female, lost 53 lbs and 25% body fat in 12 months
This client, a 37 year old male, lost 40 lbs and 13% body fat in 12 months
This client, a 44 year old female, lost 82 lbs and 19% body fat in 12 months
So with 6 months of 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 10 times more fat loss and 10 times more cost-effective.
That’s what we should expect: 3 to 10 times better numbers with effective nutrition coaching.
Problem is, no one is teaching this stuff. Until now.
Why we created the Precision Nutrition Certification
Nothing out there covers the specific problem: how to deliver nutrition coaching in a personal training or strength coaching environment.
That's why I wanted to do this certification.
I want to help create a new kind of fitness professional — a coach who is a body transformation expert and helps clients get the kind of results they deserve.
The PN Certification is a massive step in that direction.
About the Precision Nutrition Certification
We gave you the highlights at the top of this page. Let’s go through each part in a little more depth.
Small group program
We're taking a small number of motivated fitness professionals in the group, mostly because we want to keep it small and make sure everyone gets the best possible experience.
New textbook
Ryan Andrews and I wrote an entire 500-page hardcover academic textbook from the ground up for this program: The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. It’s divided into two parts. The first covers the science (cellular biology, digestion, metabolism, etc.); the second covers the practice (i.e., how to actually coach clients of all kinds).
We'll ship you the book once the program begins.
The textbook is awesome; I’m really proud of it, and I know it will help a lot of coaches. We set out to create exactly what I needed back in the day.
Here’s a look at the table of contents.
Online seminars
The more reinforcement you get, the easier it is to retain what you’ve learned. To support the text, Ryan and I created 17 online seminars, one for each chapter in the text, so that you can further internalize the material.
Study guide
We’ve created a study guide, mailed to you with your textbook, that includes hundreds of practice questions to prepare you for the certification exam. Do these, and you’ll be well-equipped both to pass the exam and apply the material in the real world.
Online exam
We’ve also created a new exam specifically for the course, and a new web application to allow you to write it online, as soon as you’re ready — and get your score instantly.
100 questions. Like the textbook, the exam is divided into two parts: science and practice. Each part consists of 50 multiple choice questions, for a total of 100 questions.
2 hours. The exam is timed, and you will have 2 hours to complete it. The exam page has a countdown timer to help you stay on track.
75% to pass. You must score at least 75% in each section to pass the exam and become certified.
2 tries. You are allowed two attempts to pass the exam. Subsequent attempts will cost $50 each.
Forms, questionnaires, & assessments
Throughout the textbook, we reference the forms, questionnaires, and assessment tools we use with clients. There are 26 in total, and we provide printed versions of each with your textbook and study guide. You can copy them and begin using them with clients right away, integrating what you’ve learned into your practice.
Questions about the PN Certification program
In the lead-up to the launch of the certification program, we fielded a number of questions about it, and I think it would be helpful to answer some of the main ones here.
Q: How thorough is the PN Certification? A: Very. To give you an idea, the PN Certification covers the very same material that my graduate students learn as part of a Sport and Exercise Nutrition course at Eastern Michigan University.
Q: Will there be multiple levels of certification? A: 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 master's students.
Level 2 is an invitation-only program for students who pass Level 1. The student is required to do an online internship and perform regular research reviews and client case studies showing that they can actually deliver results. Level 2 certifies that you know the theory and can 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 body transformation experts in the world.
Q: Do I need to have a science degree to become certified? A: 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 in time, then you can learn this stuff.
Q: Once I’m PN Certified, will I be listed on your site? A: Yes. And given our exposure online, that's a big advantage for PN-Certified fitness pros.
As we grow PN Coaching, that advantage will grow with it.
For example: Our Precision Nutrition 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 PN 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.
Q: Would nutritionists and dietitians benefit from this program as well? A: 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.
Q: Is the PN Certification program accredited by one of the national education boards? A: No.
Q: Can I earn CEUs from my personal training organization with this program? A: Most likely. The program is pre-qualified for CEUs with the following organizations: ACE, ACSM, AND, CPTN, NASM, NSCA, Fitness Australia, PTA Global, and REPs UK. Finally, 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.
Q: How long does it take to complete the Level 1 program? A: The Level 1 program is self-paced. As soon as 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.
Q: What scope of advice will someone be able to offer clients after completing the course? A: 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 won't be qualified to do this, and you should never try, unless you're specifically MNT accredited.
Q: When does the PN Certification program begin? A: The Precision Nutrition Certification program runs in groups. Program registration begins on a specific day, and group size is limited. Registration for the next cohort begins on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014. Once you register, you'll have access to the online resources immediately, and your course materials will ship the week of March 24th, 2014.
Q: If I can’t make it into the upcoming group, when is the next one? A: Wednesday, September 17th, 2014.
Q: How many people in the group? A: 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 presale list, which provides an early registration period (24 hours before the general public) to reward the most motivated students.
Q: How much does it cost? A: Level 1 certification costs $999.99 USD.
Q: Is there a payment plan available? A: Not at this time.
Q: Will I have to get recertified every few years or take continuing education credits to maintain my status? A: Right now there is no requirement for CEUs. But every two years, you will have to retake the exam if you wish to remain certified and listed on our site. If you don’t want to, it’s up to you — your listing will simply expire in 2 years time.
What people are saying about the Certification
"As trainers, we know that nutrition is a key part of being able to get results with our clients.
We have tried every nutrition program out there and have taken a number of certifications as well. Precision Nutrition is BY FAR the most thorough, informative, effective system we have seen.
That's why we use this system at Results Fitness. Not only is our entire team Precision Nutrition certified, we recommend the certification to all of the gyms we consult with."
Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove, Founders and Owners of Results Fitness and Results Fitness University. Results Fitness has been ranked as one of the top 10 gyms in America by Men's Health magazine.
"This certification is not only incredibly thorough, it is also mixes practicality and reality into the program.
The Precision Nutrition Team is as interested in science as they are behavioral modification. And that's the true way to get results."
Martin Rooney, MS is an internationally recognized athletic performance specialist and author. He is the creator of the Training for Warriors system, COO of the Parisi Speed School, and presents for training organizations, major universities and professional teams worldwide.
"This program is the perfect balance of science and practical application. Dr Berardi and his team have a knack for teaching complicated concepts clearly and concisely.
The unit on Nutritional Practice has no equal in the industry today. When my patients are serious about transforming their health, I incorporate the lessons that I learned in the Nutritional Practice section, particularly the numerous assessment forms. My favorite is the kitchen makeover assessment, which was crucial to my own transformation when I was a client in the Lean Eating Coaching Program.
I highly recommend the certification course to any medical professional who wants to learn both the science of nutrition, and how to actually apply that knowledge to everyday practice."
Wendy Welch, MD received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Duke University, and her MD from University of Florida College of Medicine. She is Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Florida Health Care Plans, and teaches medical students at Florida State University College of Medicine, Daytona Campus. She loves to write about exercise, health and fitness on her website, www.wendywellness.com.
"The scope of information was impeccable. Everything was geared towards sports nutrition, and it didn't seem like just another nutrition textbook. I could almost hear the author speaking to me."
Spencer Nadolsky, DO graduated from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill with a BA in Exercise Physiology. In college, he wrestled heavyweight for the Tar Heels and was ranked as high as 3rd in the nation, while also garnering Academic All-American status. Having recently graduated medical school from VCOM, he's currently a practicing physician.
"I've worked with folks before on nutrition planning, and I've felt good about my clients' progress.
Right now, with the PN Certification materials, I have to say I feel WAY better.
I have better tools, resources, and knowledge to enhance the skills I have and offer way better support.
If you're looking for a great certification to add effective practical nutrition coaching to your practice, this is an awesome course."
dr. m.c. schraefel, CSCS holds an interdisciplinary PhD and is Professor of Computer Science and Human Performance at the University of Southampton, UK, where she carries out research in Human Factors in the Agents, Interaction and Complexity Group.
"The PN team nailed it with this cert! Scientific, check... Simple to follow, check... Successful, double check!!! The depth of material is impressive and the way they've presented it is just as impressive.
Whether you're looking to improve your craft or are looking for personal development... the PN Cert will do just that, and much more. You'll instantly become a better professional after completing this Cert, and the best part is you can do it at your own pace.
One of my favorite parts, the learning doesn't end once you pass the exam. Stay active on the forums and help others while you continue to educate yourself!"
Adam Lloyd, BSc, CSCS is a professional strength and conditioning coaching working with a host of NHL hockey players, fitness competitors, and recreational exercisers.
"The program laid out EVERYTHING I needed to know to successfully implement a Nutrition Coaching Program in step-by-step fashion.
It also walked me through the entire coaching process, from how to schedule each meeting with your client, to what to cover, to how to plan their programming."
It was clearly laid out with the student in mind.
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS received his master's degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Neuroscience from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He's the Director of Athletic Development for Endeavor Sports Performance.
"I've always been the type of trainer to lay out the perfect meal plan off the bat and never understood why only a small percentage of my clients would follow it.
I mean, these people were paying me good money, and they weren't following the advice!
The PN Cert teaches practical ways to approach each individual to help ensure success."
Mark Shields is an AFPA personal trainer who specializes in fat loss for older adults in Bowie, MD.
"Not only will you come away from the certification with a tremendous amount of knowledge about nutrition — you will also gain valuable skills on how to assess each client you work with and gain the highest adherence level possible from each.
I recommend this certification to all Personal Trainers, new and experienced alike. Nutrition is pivotal to your clients’ success and to building your business."
Kirstin Schell B.Comm, PTS, NWS, FIS, Holistic Nutritionist (candidate). Since completing her university studies, playing competitive softball and volleyball along the way, Kirstin has been working as a Personal Trainer, Nutrition Consultant, and Instructor in the industry for 11 years. She currently works as a project and education manager for the Personal Training department at GoodLife Fitness.
"From the average Joe to the professional athlete, Precision Nutrition is the #1 system coaches, trainers and nutritionists need to add to their toolbox for optimal success.
I highly recommend this certification for any exercise professional who wants to make a long lasting difference in their athletes’ performance and health."
Adam Feit, MS, CSCS, former head sports performance coach — the youngest in the country — at Eastern Michigan University, is currently a strength and conditioning coach working with professional athletes.
"I can say without a doubt that this course will offer you a clear path in learning the highly researched and well-structured science behind effective sports nutrition.
The PN Certification stands head and shoulders above all other nutrition programs because of its focus on actionable items for personal trainers and strength coaches.
There is simply no other course available that teaches you the art and science of coaching for every situation.
If you're looking to get yourself and your clients tangible, long-lasting results by changing behaviours, this certification is a must-have in your educational arsenal."
Dev Chengkalath, PT, CSCS is a Registered Physiotherapist and Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist working with a diverse roster of clients from injury rehab to elite sports performance in Toronto, Canada.
"The Precision Nutrition coaching program provides the essential framework for nutritional coaching at my gym.
Using this thorough yet simple program has allowed my business to positively change the lives of thousands of clients.
If you take pride in being a great coach, then I encourage you to invest in Precision Nutrition."
Paul Southern, CSCS is the owner of CrossFit Pleasanton & ReActive Gym. Paul has run a successful Strength & Conditioning facility in Northern California for over a decade. He also contributes articles for several major fitness publications.
The Precision Nutrition guarantee
We’re very confident that this is far and away the best nutrition education program for fitness professionals.
So as with everything we do, the certification is 100% guaranteed. You have 45 days to try all the material, and if for whatever reason it’s not for you, just return it and we’ll give you your money back. It’s that simple.
How the registration process works:
Registration is easy and can be done online by clicking the “Register Now” button at the bottom of this page when registration begins Wednesday, March 19th, 2014
Your course material (textbook, study guide, forms) will be shipped to you the week of March 24th, 2014.
Your online material (online seminars, online exam, profile for the directory of PN-certified fitness pros) will be available immediately.
Here’s how it works.
1. Click the “Register Now” button below on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014. That will take you to the online checkout page.
2. On the checkout page, fill out your billing and shipping information, and submit your order. That will take you to a page where you can create your precisionnutrition.com username and password (required to access the private certification material and exam).
3. On the “Create Account” page, create your precisionnutrition.com username and password. If you already have one (which you probably do if you’ve bought something from us before or posted on the forums), you can upgrade that one. From now on, you’ll have access to the certification material when you log in.
4. Log in with your username and password. You’ll find a link to the Certification Home page in the top right corner of every page on the site (in the pulldown menu by your username). There, you’ll find all the online seminars and the online exam.
5. Your course material (textbook, study guide, forms) will ship to you from our warehouse the week of March 24th, 2014. Depending on where you live, you’ll get it soon thereafter.
Then you read the text, watch the seminars, work through the study guide, and take the exam.
And you’re certified.
Once that happens, we’ll mail you a certificate and give you a form to fill out, so you can create your profile in our directory of certified fitness professionals. You provide your contact info, and we’ll list you on our site so that people interested in local, PN-approved help can find you.
That’s it.
A final note
I’m as proud of this certification as anything we’ve done before. This is what I’ve wanted to do ever since I first became fascinated with sports nutrition many years ago... and now it’s finally done and ready to go.
It’s the culmination of 5 years of ceaseless effort by our team to create something — from the ground up — that will teach trainers and coaches to become true body transformation experts. And I guarantee you, it will do just that.
There aren’t many spots available in each group, and there won’t be another one for a while. If you want in, now’s the time to register and get your learn on.
Let’s raise the bar. Let's create a new elite in the fitness profession. And most importantly, let's start getting better results!
See you in the program,
John M. Berardi, PhD CSCS
Chief Science Officer
Precision Nutrition Inc.
Register Now
for the PN Certification.
Spots are first-come, first-served. We strongly recommend you register quickly, because the program typically sells out within hours.