On we’re opening registration for the 2016 Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class, which gives health and fitness pros exclusive training and mentorship with the Precision Nutrition team so they can become elite-level coaches themselves.
For more info, check out the answers to these frequently asked questions.
At its basic level, the PN Level 2 Certification Master Class is a hands-on, practice-based, mentored program that covers both the art and the science of nutrition coaching at the elite level.
It synthesizes everything we’ve learned over the past 15 years of coaching and research in the nutrition field.
That means:
- We’ve reviewed thousands of academic and clinical studies.
- We’ve worked with (and learned from) close to 50,000 clients.
- We’ve trained and mentored thousands of students.
- And we’ve collaborated with experts in a variety of fields from psychology to business strategy.
From there, we turned all this education and experience into the comprehensive year-long Level 2 Master Class curriculum.
Just so you know, last time we offered it, spots sold out in under an hour. So to help you make an early decision about whether the program is right for you, check out the following.
We’ve designed this intensive, year-long program to meet the needs of fitness, strength, health and rehab professionals working with clients in a training or coaching environment.
But you don’t have to run a health and fitness business (or work for one) to benefit from the Level 2 Master Class.
Some of our students complete it (usually Level 1 first, followed by Level 2) as their next step to becoming an elite health and fitness coach.
Many are still in a job they hope to eventually leave so they can start working in the fitness industry. Others simply go through the training to be able to help family and friends with their own fitness and nutrition.
Health, fitness, and nutrition are rapidly growing; many people are looking here for interesting career options.
Unfortunately, most fitness, health, strength and rehab professionals feel they’re missing one or more of the following in their practice:
- A broad base of nutrition knowledge that reflects the most up-to-date research and practice in the field.
- A broad base of applied psychology knowledge that helps them understand client motivation and behavior (yes, even the “illogical” stuff!).
- An ability to deliver and communicate that great nutrition and psychology knowledge to actually improve client’s lives.
- An understanding of specific populations (such as athletes) or life stages (such as youth / aging or pregnancy) and how to tailor programs precisely for their needs.
- The confidence and clarity that comes from having practiced foundational skills consistently, under the direction of qualified and caring mentors.
- An understanding of how to position their coaching business within a competitive market, and how to run it effectively.
The Level 2 Master Class covers each of these, giving graduates new knowledge, skills, and confidence. Which is why we developed the program. It’s for those coaches (or coaches-in-training) who want next level professional development.
While the Level 1 Certification gives you a broad base of nutrition and coaching knowledge, Level 2 helps you refine this knowledge, tailor it to your needs, put it into practice, and apply it every day.
There are a few major differences between Level 1 and Level 2.
Level 2 is an intensive, highly structured, year-long program.
While Level 1 is a self-paced program, Level 2 is a highly structured, year-long program with daily lessons and regular assignments.
I won’t lie: Level 2 is serious stuff. You’re thinking, reflecting, researching, practicing, and/or interacting every single day. We push you to grow and develop, and challenge all your coaching skills.
When you graduate Level 2, you’ll really feel like you earned it. Anyone can do it, but it takes hard work and dedication.
Level 2 is practice-based and hands-on.
Level 1 is more like a university course, with textbook, course materials, and exams. Level 2 is more like a graduate-level practicum or apprenticeship with mentoring.
Every day we ask you to practice a Level 2 coaching skill and figure out how to apply what you’re learning in real life.
You also work through real client scenarios, step by step. This is real-world problem solving and consists of on-the-ground client challenges.
Level 2 goes deeper into the art and science of coaching.
It’s not just a big pile of nutrition science (though we give you plenty of that too).
Fundamentally, Level 2 teaches you how to coach nutrition.
(And anything else you might want to coach. The skills are nicely transferable.)
Here’s a quick comparison.
| Level 1 Certification | Level 2 Certification | |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Self-paced | 1 year, with daily lessons and oversight |
| Difficulty level | Equivalent to upper-level university undergraduate program | Equivalent to master’s or Ph.D. program |
| Ideal for | People in the field of health, fitness, nutrition and rehab who want to offer nutrition coaching
People who are not (yet) in the field but who are considering (or making) a career change Anyone with an interest in nutrition coaching generally |
People in the field of health, fitness, nutrition and rehab who want to become elite professional coaches
People who are either working in the field or ready to make the jump immediately |
| Structured curriculum | Yes | Yes |
| Coaching / mentorship | No; self-directed | Yes |
| Evaluated by | Exams | Completion of lessons
Completion of daily practices Case studies Quizzes |
| Course covers | See here for L1 table of contents | See here for full L2 syllabus |
| Textbook / print materials? | Yes | No; all online |
| Time commitment | Self-paced | About 5 hours per week |
See here for our course overview and detailed syllabus, week by week.
Like our Level 1 Certification, you can think of the Level 2 Master Class as “half nutrition, half coaching”.
Many of our students are already highly trained nutrition or health care professionals (such as physiotherapists, massage therapists, or chiropractors). Many are already working in fitness or health care, and already have professional qualifications.
Yet these highly educated professionals are still finding it very challenging (and in some cases anxiety-provoking) to develop plans for clients, get clients to buy in to these plans, stay motivated, understand what to do, and generally stay on track.
Coaching is the missing piece that links what you know and what your clients can and will do.
So the Level 2 Certification covers things like:
- Assessing research quality and reviewing clinical studies
- Body composition
- Psychoneuroimmunology / psychoneuroendocrinology and the biology of stress
- GI structure, function, and health (including microbiome)
- Differences by age; sex/gender; ethnicity/genetic ancestry; sociocultural and demographic variation
- Male and female fertility / hormonal health
- Chronic illnesses and disabilities
- Performance / athletic nutrition
- Disordered eating and cognitive dietary restraint
- Appetite, hunger, and environmental cueing of eating behaviors
- Meal planning and food prep strategies
- Intermittent fasting
- Supplementation and medication interactions
- Sleep and recovery
Then you must run a fantastically successful nutrition coaching business!
Seriously…
The truth is that you may “know” many of the skills we teach, but don’t implement them as well or as consistently as you would like.
And that’s OK.
That’s why we practice, every day.
We only ask that you have a growth mindset. Be open to learning, challenge, experimentation, development and feedback.
Be coachable. Learn what it’s like to be in the client’s shoes.
Show up with an open mind, be receptive, and entertain the possibility that you may not be a rockstar just yet. (Or that you are a rockstar but that rockstars still have room for improvement too).
I have pretty vast exposure to almost every aspect of fitness and nutrition. I’ve been:
- A student of nutrition, going on to complete a Ph.D. 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 studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
- An author of over half a dozen nutrition books and hundreds of articles in magazines like Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and more.
- A consultant to companies like Apple, Nike, Equinox and Titleist.
- A nutrition coach to thousands of everyday people and quite a few pro athletes and Olympic gold medalists.
So apart from being qualified academically, I think I have a pretty unique perspective — one that’s very well-suited to teaching this material, especially to coaches.
I’ve seen the field of nutrition from more angles, both personally and professionally, than almost anyone else teaching nutrition today.
In addition, I’ve written chapters for other nutrition textbooks, I’ve created master’s-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.
And I’m just one person. Our Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification program was created by a team of experts, including:
- Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon, a specialist in adult education / curriculum design and creator of our Precision Nutrition Coaching program.
- Brian St. Pierre, RD, MSc, a specialist in performance nutrition and consultant to pro athletes.
Most of all, we’re qualified to teach this because we’ve used and tested this very system extensively with our own clients and coaches here at Precision Nutrition.
Over the past 15 years, through our Precision Nutrition Coaching Program, we’ve been quietly conducting what I think is the largest body transformation research project in the world.
We’ve had nearly 50,000 clients go through at least 6 months of coaching with us, doing what is essentially a total exercise, nutrition and lifestyle intervention.
The purpose of Precision Nutrition Coaching is simple: Use a structured, repeatable system to help people get healthier, lose fat, gain lean mass where needed, and completely transform their bodies (and lives).
Now, here’s the thing: Since the entire program is online, we were able to collect data on everything. And I mean everything.
So we have detailed psychometric (personality) 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 know, better than almost anyone else in the world, what makes great coaches, and what helps clients change their bodies and lives.
Success here means our clients know and understand what to do. And they do it. Consistently. They improve their body composition, health, performance, and quality of life.
Success here also means our coaches perform at a high level. It means they’re continually training themselves, developing professionally, and refining their coaching skills.
Quite simply: The body follows what the mind and emotions do.
Imagine a client who feels:
- motivated
- empowered and inspired
- action-oriented and able to keep moving forward
- clear on next steps
- relaxed and confident
- committed to and fully aligned with the goals of the program
- flexible, creative, and problem-solving
- open and receptive to growth and development
- self-compassionate and self-encouraging
- proactive and strategic
- focused and able to prioritize
- calm, trusting and relaxed
- positive
Heck, imagine being a coach who feels that way!
This is what sports psychologists have sometimes called “the inner game”.
Change the mind and emotions, change the body.
Coaching psychology gives us specific tools and techniques for helping our clients change… and feel great about it.
This isn’t your Freud or lab-rat-running-mazes psychology though. It’s real-world stuff.
No matter who or what you encounter in your coaching practice, wouldn’t it be nice to feel like you have a clear plan and a system for working with it?
(And ideally, that you yourself feel calm and confident in the process?)
That’s the power of practicing coaching psychology.
No. We assume no prior knowledge of biology, chemistry, psychology etc., and so we don’t require a university degree.
Now, if you struggled in school, expect this certification to be challenging.
We ask that you be willing to work on your basic skills of reading, writing, communication, self-organization, and time management.
We’ll also ask you to stretch your learning comfort zone. You’ll probably feel a bit challenged at some point in this program.
However, we offer mentorship and guidance. If you’re willing to show up and give it your best shot and work hard, then we’re here to help.
We ask that students consistently set aside about 5 hours per week for Level 2 coursework.
You won’t always use that much time, and to some degree the schedule is flexible (i.e. you don’t have to show up for class at 9am), but you definitely won’t want to rush through your daily lessons and practices.
Plus, you’ll be working through some complex case studies, doing research, studying for quizzes, and reflecting on feedback from your coach.
These things take focus, cognitive work, and mental presence.
We suggest you give them the time, energy, and attention they — and you — deserve.
And we suggest you think of this time as an investment in you and your professional development, rather than a “cost”.
This is not a business development course.
We won’t talk about specifics like which software is best for managing clients, how to resolve employee disputes, or how to do your bookkeeping.
However, we do help you explore how to tailor your professional services and business so that they match your unique coaching superpowers, values, and priorities.
We also give you access to a group of other Level 2 students who are going through the program with you. This is unprecedented access to a network of engaged, like-minded elite coaches from all over the world.
No matter how clever you are at marketing or accounting, fundamentally you have to offer a great product: your coaching services.
And of course, you’ll continue to be listed on Precision Nutrition’s Certified Professionals directory page.
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 Precision Nutrition Level 1 or Level 2 Certification, trainers and coaches can make nutrition recommendations.
What we’re offering is a much better system for making those recommendations.
At the same time, while Level 2 explores many topics related to health and physiology, it doesn’t give you the credentials to give nutrition advice to treat or cure disease. That’s Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) — and you have to be a registered dietitian or medical doctor to offer it.
We guarantee that the Level 2 Master Class will be one of the best coaching experiences of your life. Which is why we offer such a generous refund policy. But there’s no guarantee that the Level 2 Certification program will make you money.
Of course, many people do make more money after graduating from the Level 2 Certification, because they put what they learn into practice, every day, over and over and over.
They become high-level coaching professionals who are committed to practicing their skills consistently. And then, that excellent service speaks for itself.
Commit to coaching mastery and you’ll become a better coach who attracts more clients, keeps the clients you do have, and encourages those clients to refer their friends.
The feedback on the Level 2 Certification has been overwhelmingly positive. Here’s a sampling:
“I find that I am becoming equipped to coach clients from all different walks of life. This isn’t ‘surface’ coaching, it gets to the core of human nature, habits, and emotion. Best thing I’ve done for myself as a coach thus far.” —Michelle Mobley Simpson
“PN2 will teach you how to mobilize your personal strengths in ways that will place you among the elite in your field. The program’s coaches are fantastic resources, providing spot-on insights, valuable information, and just the right touch of supportive mentoring.” —Zoe Georgas Johnson
“This course has made me realize that there is no end to the skills and knowledge that can be acquired to make yourself better. These concepts are ones that you can read in the morning and use them in the afternoon.” —Keith Countess
“With 9 years under my belt as a coach, I expected to learn from this course, but not to the extent I have. I have had long-held beliefs challenged and had to reexamine some of my own priorities, making me a better coach and person through increased knowledge and a supportive system.” —Bronwyn Adams-Hooper
The next Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Program begins on Wednesday, April 13th, 2016. And there won’t be another one until October 2016.
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 get an early bird chance at registration — because the program does usually sell out within 24 hours —please sign up for the presale list below.
We’ll send you a special link 24 hours before the general public and that’ll increase your chances of getting a spot.
The general public prepaid price is $3,925 USD. However, if you’re on the presale list, you’ll get the chance to register 24 hrs before everyone else, and save $1,300 USD.
Yes, there is.
The general public payment plan price is $349 USD per month (for 12 months). However, if you’re on the presale list, you’ll get the chance to register 24 hrs before everyone else, and pay only $262.50 per month.
Yes there is, and it’s simple.
This coaching program will change your business and possibly your life. If it doesn’t, it’s free.
Here’s how it works.
- Show up and do your lessons/practices at least 75% of the time.
- Complete at least 75% of the case studies and quizzes.
- Finish out the full year of coaching.
At the end, if 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.
In short, do what we ask. Follow the program. And, when it’s done, you get to decide whether we did a good job. Simple as that.
Once you’ve finished the Level 2 Certification Master Class, you’re a PN’er for life. That means two things.
- You’ll never need to re-certify for the PN Level 2 Certification.
- You’ll never need to re-certify for the PN Level 1 Certification.
Yes, you can. Although, we do prefer you complete the Level 1 program before enrolling in Level 2. With that said, it’s ultimately up to you.
Because the Level 2 Certification Master Class is fairly new, we’re not yet pre-qualified for CEUs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t apply for them yourself.
Upon completion, we’ll provide you with the documents and course details to submit to your organization. All you have to do is send them in and wait for their response.
Just so you know, while I can’t speak for every organization, a lot of them do accept the course for CEUs on a one-off basis. So your chances are good.
To learn more about the course, and to get on the Level 2 Certification presale list, which gives you a chance to register early, 24 hours before the general public, sign up below.
Once you’re on the list, we’ll follow up with more information about the program.
The post The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class: Frequently Asked Questions. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.
from Blog – Precision Nutrition http://www.precisionnutrition.com/precision-nutrition-level-2-certification-faq
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