The Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Master Class: Frequently Asked Questions.

Our highest rated (and most revered) program, the Level 2 Certification provides exclusive training, mentorship, and coaching practice under the guidance of the Precision Nutrition team — resulting in a more rewarding, sustainable, and profitable business for you.

By working closely with a PN Master Coach, you’ll become truly elite, capable of solving complex coaching challenges, delivering unparalleled results to every person who comes to you for help, and standing out from the pack as a genuine client whisperer.

Level 2 also positions you to truly catapult your career with ProCoach, our cutting-edge software that makes it easy to implement and scale the nutrition coaching method you’ve mastered.

What does this mean for you and your business?

Well, aside from the deep satisfaction that comes with mastering your craft, our research also suggests that the average Level 2 coach:

• gets more clients than the average Level 1 coach,
• retains more clients than the average Level 1 coach,
• gets better results with those clients, and
• reports more fun and enjoyment in their coaching practice.

Indeed, as amazing as our Level 1 certified coaches are, recent ProCoach data with over 100,000 clients shows that Level 2 certified coaches have 10 times (!) the retention vs. Level 1 coaches.

At its basic level, the Precision Nutrition 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 used our system to help (and learn from) over 100,000 clients and patients.

• 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.

We’ve designed this intensive, year-long program to meet the needs of health, fitness, medical, strength, and rehab professionals working to improve the lifestyles, nutrition, wellbeing of clients and patients.

But you don’t have to work in, or operate, a health and fitness business to benefit from the Level 2 Master Class.

Some students complete it (Level 1 first, followed by Level 2) as their next step to becoming an elite coach because they’re still in a job they hope to eventually leave so they can start working in health and fitness.

Others simply go through the training to be able to help family and friends… or anyone who turns to them for help.

Regardless of your goals, the Level 2 Master Class is designed around “learning relationships” — an instruction method proven to maximize knowledge transfer from mentor to student and help anyone, from any background, leverage their own unique strengths in this field.

Check out this short video to learn more about how the Master Class works, and who it’s for.

Health, fitness, and nutrition are growing rapidly; many people are looking here for interesting career options.

Unfortunately, most health, fitness, 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/patient motivation and behavior (yes, even the “illogical” stuff!).

• An ability to deliver and communicate all that great nutrition and psychology knowledge to actually improve people’s lives.

• An understanding of specific populations (such as athletes or folks recovering from injury) 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.

Yes, this program started out as our own in-house training program for newly hired Precision Nutrition coaches.

You see, as talented as some of our applicants were, almost none had the training or skills required to coach at the highest possible level, to the Precision Nutrition standard.

So we created an intensive, year-long coaching curriculum for our new recruits and paired them up with one of our Precision Nutrition Master Coaches to form a practice-based mentorship.

We were absolutely blown away by the results. After completing the training, already great coaches were ten times better at creating connection, navigating challenges, and helping people achieve their goals.

The Level 1 Certification gave you a broad base of nutrition and coaching knowledge, a strong foundation of textbook learning on the science of nutrition and the art of coaching.

Now it’s time to 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 coaching scenarios, step by step; this is real-world problem solving and consists of on-the-ground challenges.

In essence, this isn’t a learning program. It’s a doing program.

As you already know: Clients and patients don’t get healthy by learning about nutrition and exercise. They get healthy by practicing good nutrition and exercise, consistently. (And, often, by seeking out guidance from a skilled coach).

Likewise, you don’t become an expert coach by learning about coaching. You become an expert coach by practicing excellent coaching, consistently (under the guidance of your own coach).

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.

And, as mentioned above, the average Precision Nutrition Level 2 coach:

• gets more clients than the average Level 1 coach,
• retains more clients than the average Level 1 coach,
• gets better results with those clients, and
• reports more fun and enjoyment in their coaching practice.

Indeed, as amazing as our Level 1 certified coaches are, recent ProCoach data with over 100,000 clients shows that Level 2 certified coaches have 10 times (!) the retention vs. Level 1 coaches.

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 professionals (such as physicians, rehab specialists, movement coaches). 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 effective intervention programs and keep clients and patients engaged, motivated, and 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).

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

• A student of nutrition, going on to complete my 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 Masters-level university courses on sport nutrition, and I’ve created nutrition certification material for other certifying bodies.

So I have quite a bit of experience creating academic course material.

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.

Remember: Precision Nutrition isn’t just a certification company.

Over the past 15 years, through our Precision Nutrition Coaching system, we’ve been quietly conducting the largest body transformation research project in the world.

We’ve had over 100,000 clients go through our nutrition coaching curriculum, doing what is essentially a total exercise, nutrition and lifestyle intervention.

The purpose of this coaching is simple: to help people lose fat, gain lean mass where needed, and completely transform their bodies, health, and lives.

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

Because we don’t see clients in person, we can’t “eyeball” things. We need data. So we have detailed psychometric (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.

Now, remember, I’m not talking about what we think is correlated to success. I’m talking about what we absolutely know is correlated with success. Success here meaning 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”.

For more on the kinds of results you can expect, check out this video:

That’s a great question and one we cover in depth in the course.

Health and fitness professionals are allowed to make nutrition recommendations to otherwise healthy clients. So even without the Precision Nutrition Level 1 or Level 2 Certification, you 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.

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.

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.

In fact, our research has shown that the average Precision Nutrition Level 2 coach:

• gets more clients vs. the average Level 1 coach,
• retains more clients vs. the average Level 1 coach,
• gets better results with those clients, and
• reports more satisfaction in their coaching practice.

Indeed, as amazing as our Level 1 certified coaches are, recent ProCoach data with over 100,000 clients shows that Level 2 certified coaches have 10 times (!) the retention vs. Level 1 coaches.

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

And, in case you missed the video above:

The next Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certification Program begins on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019. And there won’t be another one until October 2019.

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 VIP 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.

If you’re on the VIP list below and enroll for the program before the general registration opens, you’ll save up to 37% off the cost of the Level 2 Certification program.

The general public price is $ 349 USD per month for 12 months. However, if you’re on the VIP list and sign up on the presale day, you’ll get the chance to register for only $ 262.50 USD per month or a one-time payment of $ 2,625 USD – up to 37% savings.

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.

Most likely. The curriculum is pre-qualified for CEUs with the following organizations:

• ACE (2.0 CECs)
• ACSM (20 CECs)
• AFAA (1.9 CEUs)
• CPTN (14 CECs)
• NASM (1.9 CEUs)
• PTA Global (24 CECs)

This means that, if you are certified by any of the groups listed above, CEUs are guaranteed upon successful completion of the course.

I should also note that 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.

To learn more about the course, and to get on the Level 2 Certification VIP 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.