Precision Nutrition Certification (2024): A Habits-Based Approach to Nutrition Coaching

If you’re a trainer or coach looking for more ways to help your clients, or you want to learn more about nutrition for your own health goals, you may have considered a nutrition coaching certification. With so many nutrition coaching programs available, choosing the right one can be difficult. 

RELATED: Best Personal Training Certifications

The Precision Nutrition (PN) certification is unique as it focuses on both nutritional science and behavior change coaching, teaching you how to help clients with goal setting, healthy habits, and much more. Other nutrition certification programs often put more emphasis on the science of nutrition, with less focus on how to coach people in the real world.

In this Precision Nutrition certification review, I’ll explain the ins and outs of PN’s Level 1 Nutrition certification and help you decide if it’s the right course to help you become a certified nutrition coach.

Certified Experts With Personal Experience

When researching certifications, you need to make sure you’re listening to experts you can trust. Our testers have a variety of certifications from NASM, NSCA, and USA weightlifting, and I’ve personally completed the PN Level 1 certification and re-taken the exam several times over the years to renew my certification. As a fitness and nutrition coach with 11 years of experience, I’ve used the principles from the certification countless times over the last decade with my clients. 

In this review, I used our in-depth testing methodology for certification courses to review and rate the following categories on a 1-to-5-star scale: 

• Course and exam price
• Course length
• Accreditation 
• Prerequisites 
• Continuing education requirements
• Study materials and learning options
• Final exam 

Precision Nutrition Certification

Precision Nutrition Certification

GGR Score: 3

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Product Highlights

• Nutrition coaching certification 
• Over 150,000 industry professional certified 
• Used in more than 50 countries
• High-rated and recommended
• No prerequisites required

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Study at your own pace
• Potential to earn CEUs
• Highly regarded certification

Cons

• Limited spots during enrollment periods
• Not NCCA-accredited
• No big final exam

Bottom Line

The Precision Nutrition Certification (specifically the PN Level 1 certification) is a well-known and well-liked nutrition coaching program for fitness industry professionals. Enrollment is limited and not open all year long. Once admitted, you’ll have the ability to go at your own pace or follow along with the 20-week course for live discussions and chapter reviews.

A Quick Look at the Precision Nutrition Certification

As a company that offers nutrition coaching services directly to clients, along with a variety of certifications for online coaches and personal trainers, Precision Nutrition has become one of the most well-known companies in the nutrition industry. Founded by Dr. John Berardi and Phil Caravaggio, PN has consulted with seven professional sports teams and has coached more than 100,000 clients over the last 15 years.

PN has several other certifications and courses, including a Level 1 Sleep, Stress Management, and Recovery certification, as well as a Level 2 Master Health Coaching certification. PN also offers ProCoach, a paid software designed to help online coaches and trainers implement PN’s behavior-change approach with clients. This review will focus on the PN Level 1 Certification. 

One of the things Precision Nutrition is best known for is its holistic approach and focus on behavior change and building healthy habits, which can be especially useful for those who’ve never paid much attention to their nutrition. Rather than starting clients with rigid meal plans and a food scale, PN encourages habits like adding palm-sized servings of protein to each meal or building your meals by dividing your plate into portions for veggies, protein, and starches.

RELATED: High-Protein Foods for Weight Loss

While the nutritional science is very comprehensive, PN also focuses on coaching skills, like understanding how to use different coaching styles, determining someone’s readiness for change, appropriate goal-setting, and much more. 

It’s worth noting that the Precision Nutrition Level 1 certification doesn’t have any prerequisites, there’s no final exam, and there are no ongoing education requirements to maintain your certification. The course is heavy on science and very thorough with its coaching principles, so the requirements and exam process almost feel a bit too easy for how good the actual content is.

Before You Buy

• While the nutrition science portion is in-depth and thorough, the coaching part focuses more on habits and behavior change with simplified food rules. The Level 1 certification is best for those who work with general population clients but aren’t focused on helping advanced athletes, physique competitors, or clients who may need very precise, advanced plans.
• Rather than having to cram for one large exam at the end of the certification, you’ll be tested on each chapter one at a time, and you can complete the entire certification from the comfort of your home. 
• At about $1,400 regular price, the certification isn’t cheap, but you’ll be certified for life. All you need to do is retake a short exam every two years to renew your certification. And, as long as your certification is active, you can be listed on their certified coaches directory.

Is the Precision Nutrition Certification Worth It?

At about $1,400 USD, the PN Level 1 Certification costs more than the ISSA Nutrition Certification or NASM Nutrition Certification, but it’s widely regarded as one of the best nutrition certifications for fitness professionals, and you don’t need to pay any recertification fees or earn CEUs to keep your certification active. 

The textbook material is designed for coaches who want to help their clients build healthy habits, and the sections on behavior change psychology are particularly useful to help you learn how to speak with your clients. This is a great choice for coaches who want to help general-population clients improve their health via nutrition advice. Keep in mind though that simply becoming a certified nutrition coach does not give you the qualifications to make specific meal plans, diets, or supplement prescriptions–only registered dietitians (RDs) or licensed dietitians (LDs) can do that. 

Nicole Davis, senior editor at Garage Gym Reviews, and a CPT, PN1-NC, said: “As a certified personal trainer, I found the PN Level 1 course to be a valuable addition to my toolbox when coaching clients. Nutrition is a super important part of the equation when you’re talking about helping your clients achieve results, so getting the practical, science-backed knowledge about nutrition was just what I needed to become a better coach.”

The coaching techniques focus on simple, easy-to-follow rules, like using your palm or thumb to measure portion sizes, rather than a food scale. This is a great way to build solid nutritional habits, but certain people may need more precise methods to reach their goals.

That said, the actual science portion is incredibly detailed and thorough and provides a very solid understanding of human physiology, biochemistry, and nutritional science. From personal experience, I can say that the level of detail in the scientific chapters is very similar to college-level physiology and advanced nutrition courses. 

Finally, it’s worth noting that the PN Level 1 Certification isn’t accredited by any education boards, which may be a dealbreaker for some. The content is still very useful, but if you’re looking for an accredited certification, you’ll need to go with a different option.

Because of this, the certification earns a 1-out-of-5 rating for accreditation. If you don’t need accreditation, don’t let this discourage you, as the content is still useful. 

Precision Nutrition Certification Specs

Course Prerequisites 

Precision Nutrition doesn’t list any prerequisites to sign up for the certification. However, many other nutrition certifications often require a basic CPR/AED certification, so that may be worth considering if you’re interested in taking the Precision Nutrition Certification and working with clients.

Even though there are no prerequisites, the course covers all of the foundational knowledge you’d need to be a successful nutrition coach, so the PN Level 1 Certification scores a 3 out of 5 for course prerequisites.

Course Options and Pricing

There are two options: the Self-Guided program and the Expert-Guided program. Both options include:

• Three textbooks covering 20 chapters
• Workbook and study guide
• 20 videos, one to go with each chapter
• Private community of experts and peers
• Real-world case studies from PN’s own clients to use for practice
• Short, end-of-chapter exams
• 40+ premium coaching tools, including assessment tools, food journals, and more
• PN’s Pro Calculator
• 70+ done-for-you social media posts, nutrition infographics, blog articles, and email newsletters to share with your audience as your own. 
• Listing on Precision Nutrition’s directory of PN-certified coaches

The Self-Guided program is 100% self-paced and allows you to complete the certification on your own schedule. The course costs around $1,400, but payment plans are available and may be discounted throughout the year; all in all, we gave it a 3 out of 5 rating.

PN also offers an Expert-Guided program, which places you in a cohort led by PN’s master coaches. Each week, you’ll join a virtual discussion that focuses on each chapter, and have the opportunity to work through the case studies as a group. This program also offers five additional weeks of business coaching to help you start your coaching practice and access to all of the live session recordings. 

The Expert-Guided program is open for enrollment twice per year. You can join the Early Access List and save 30% on the cost of the program.

Course Material: What You’ll Learn

The Precision Nutrition Certification will teach you the PN approach to coaching, thoroughly explain nutritional science, teach you how to work with a wide variety of clients, and introduce the basics of setting up a coaching business.

You’ll also learn how to interview potential clients, and what sort of assessments you should be doing when working with clients in person.

There are 20 chapters in the textbook and online materials, divided into three main categories. 

The Precision Nutrition Approach

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Your Learning Plan
• Chapter 3: What is a Great Coach?
• Chapter 4: Helping People Change
• Chapter 5: What is Good Nutrition?

The Science of Nutrition

• Chapter 6: Intro to Nutritional Science
• Chapter 7: Systems and Cells
• Chapter 8: Through the GI Tract
• Chapter 9: Energy Transformation and Metabolism
• Chapter 10: Energy Balance
• Chapter 11: Macronutrients
• Chapter 12: Micronutrients and Whole Foods
• Chapter 13: Water and Fluid Balance
• Chapter 14: Stress, Recovery, and Sleep

Working through the PN Coaching Process

• Chapter 15: Coaching in practice
• Chapter 16: Working with Level 1 clients
• Chapter 17: Working with Level 2 clients
• Chapter 18: Working with Level 3 clients
• Chapter 19: Special Scenarios
• Chapter 20: Business 101

Course Design and Layout

When you begin the certification, you’ll create an online account to access your course, and you’ll get physical copies of the textbooks and workbooks sent to you.

Everything is very easy to navigate. For each chapter, you’ll watch the video lesson, read the chapter textbook, and answer the study guide questions. Next, you’ll be able to practice with real-life case studies that accompany each chapter, using data taken from PN’s coaching clients. 

Many certifications teach you the science but don’t show real examples of how to apply it in the real world. I found the case studies incredibly helpful, as they taught me exactly how to apply PN coaching principles with real clients. 

RELATED: NASM Nutrition Certification Review

You can work your way through the course at your own pace, though Precision Nutrition suggests focusing on one chapter per week. Nicole, GGR’s senior editor, originally purchased the certification in 2021 with all intention of finishing it within a few months. But, life got in the way, and it took her until the fall of 2022 to get certified. However, she said it was very easy to hop in and out of the course curriculum, and she had no issues when she took an extended break.

Finally, you’ll take a short exam at the end of each chapter, rather than a cumulative exam at the end of the course. The exams are open-book, which means it’s easy to pass each individual exam on the first attempt, and you don’t need to remember everything for a final exam. 

I found that the chapter exams felt a bit too easy for how scientific the textbook was, so completing the certification didn’t feel quite as rewarding as I’d hoped. Other certifications I’ve taken in the past have a very challenging final exam to study for, and it felt good to test my knowledge and pass the final exam. I wish Precision Nutrition had something similar. 

That said, even though the exams feel too easy, the content is evidence-based and stays up-to-date with cutting-edge research. The 4th edition textbooks were written by Krista Scott-Dixon PhD, CSCS, Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD, CSCS, Helen Kollias PhD, CSCS, and Camille DePutter. The textbooks are fully referenced, with a comprehensive list of peer-reviewed studies at the end of each book. 

Studying Experience

With the intuitive course layout, textbook, workbooks, and real-life case studies, the PN Level 1 certification is a very thorough and easy-to-navigate study experience.

The nutrition science section is very thorough and will teach you everything you need to know about metabolism, macronutrients, micronutrients, digestion, cellular health, and much more. If you’ve never studied nutrition, this material may feel complicated, but it’s important to know if you’re going to be helping clients with their nutrition. 

If you’ve never studied human anatomy and physiology before, some of these chapters may feel a bit challenging at first. Nicole found the digestion chapter to be a bit tricky, and I found that memorizing the different categories of energy systems in the body took quite a while. 

The study guide helps you focus on the most important parts of each chapter, and the real-world case studies are incredibly helpful. Many other certifications teach you how to adjust nutrition for clients, but you don’t get as much real-world practice, which is where PN shines. Using your scientific knowledge to help real clients can be challenging when you’re just getting started, so the PN case studies are a great way to see each chapter’s concepts applied in the real world.

The Self-Guided certification is 100% self-paced, so you can work through the material as quickly or slowly as you’d like. If you’re working full-time and have limited time, you won’t feel any pressure to rush through the course before a deadline.

The Expert-Guided program opens twice per year, and runs for 20 weeks, with each week focusing on a single chapter. You’ll have an expert-led video call and plenty of time to discuss the chapter and case studies with your cohort group. At the time of writing, the next scheduled cohort opens in March of 2024.

Precision Nutrition also recommends that those who choose the self-guided course focus on one chapter per week, so you can expect the certification to take about 20 weeks to complete.

With an average time of 20 weeks to completion, no time limit, and so many resources to help you study, the study experience earns a solid 5-out-of-5 rating. 

Exam Options and Test-Taking Experience

When it comes to sitting for the “final exam,” PN’s process is easy. They don’t use a final exam, which is slightly concerning, as there’s no way to verify that program graduates remember information from the early chapters. 

Registering for the Exam 

There is no final exam, or anything you need to schedule. Instead, you’ll take a short quiz at the end of each chapter covering that chapter’s material. Once you pass the quiz, which requires a 75% or higher, you’ll unlock access to the next chapter, and will then be able to complete your chapter studies and take the next quiz. 

Quiz Format

Each chapter quiz consists of 10 questions, which are either multiple-choice or true or false questions. There are 20 chapters in total, so you’ll take 20 of these quizzes to earn your certification. 

The course is taken at home, which means the online quizzes are open-book and can be taken whenever it’s convenient for you.

With no final exam, you simply need a cumulative score of 75% across all 20 chapter exams, which means you’ll need to answer 150/200 questions correctly. You won’t be able to proceed to the next chapter until you pass each chapter exam, which means that as long as you’re completing each chapter’s exam, you’ll be certified upon completion of the final chapter.

Because there is no comprehensive final exam, but there are checkpoints along the way via chapter quizzes, the rating for the final exam is a 3 out of 5.

Post-Certification Perks

Once you complete your certification, you’ll have access to a wide variety of tools and resources provided by PN. 

First, included with the certification are over 40 premium coaching tools to help you work with your clients. You’ll receive a variety of forms, questionnaires, and worksheets to assist with food planning, goal setting, planning and problem-solving, mindset and psychology, and more. 

Upon completion of the course, you have the option to add yourself to Precision Nutrition’s directory of PN-certified coaches. You can add as many details as you’d like, including your city, address, contact information, and any areas you specialize in. Potential clients can search PN’s directory by city or name, and find your services. 

RELATED: How to Become a Health Coach

The certification is eligible for CEUs with ACE, ACSM, AFAA, CIMPSA, CDR, CPTN, EREPS, ISSA, NASM, and NBHWC. This is a huge perk, especially for people like Nicole who are CPTs and are looking for ways to satisfy CEU requirements. You can also now count your PN certification towards credit at certain colleges and universities in the U.S. if you complete an additional proctored exam at the end—that’s a definite perk!

Finally, at the time of writing, U.S.-based PN Level 1 Certification graduates are offered a guaranteed job interview with Equinox, Life Time Fitness, and FORME, assuming they meet the minimum requirements for the position. 

Precision Nutrition Certification Recertification Requirements

To recertify, you’ll need to retake a short, 50-question exam every two years, which consists of questions randomly selected from the individual chapter exams.

Retaking this exam is free, and PN will send you a reminder when your certification is close to expiring. Even if you let your certification expire, as I accidentally did, you can retake the exam at any time, for free, and immediately have your certification renewed.

With no continuing education credit requirements for recertification, the PN Level 1 Certification earns a 1 out of 5 rating.

PN Level 1 At Work

As someone who’s been a fitness and nutrition coach since 2012, I can confidently say that earning my PN Level 1 certification made a huge difference in how I coach clients, especially those new to healthy eating. 

I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, and during that time, most of my coaching experience involved working with high-level athletes through my senior internship. After graduating, my first job was working in a commercial gym, training beginner clients who didn’t need advanced training and nutrition methods. 

In the beginning, I struggled to simplify things and find the right beginner habits for new clients. The Precision Nutrition certification taught me the most important habits to focus on for beginners, which made nutrition much more approachable and effective for my clients, and I’ve continued to use the PN coaching principles throughout my entire coaching career.

GGR’s senior editor, Nicole Davis, also found that the PN Level 1 certification helped her as a nutrition coach.

“I worked as a nutrition coach as well, with my target client being professional women,” she explains. “They were all Level 1 clients, and we followed the PN protocol, starting with a focus on protein, adding fruits and veggies, etc. before having clients graduate to counting macros if they wanted to. I definitely pulled out my PN books at points throughout my coaching experience to help explain concepts, look up specific questions about digestion, etc.”

RELATED: Nutritionist Certification vs Degree

Precision Nutrition Certification vs ISSA Nutrition Certification

ISSA Nutrition Certification

ISSA Nutrition Certification

GGR Score: 4.37

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Product Highlights

• Nutritionist certification
• 8-month timeline to complete 
• Fully online

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Offer online or in-person nutrition coaching
• No prerequisites
• Accredited course by NBFE
• Open book final exam

Cons

• Not the most intuitive nutrition certification
• 2-year recertification cycle

Bottom Line

The ISSA Nutrition Certification offers fundamental education on nutrition and provides coaching tools so you know how to implement the knowledge with clients. The final exam is open book and if you don’t pass on your first attempt, you can go back to review and change your answers for free (on the first attempt only).

Another popular nutrition certification is the ISSA Nutrition Certification. ISSA is another reputable certification company that can help any fitness coach take their coaching practice to the next level.

Unlike PN, the ISSA Nutrition Certification does have prerequisites—anyone wishing to take the certification must have at least a high school diploma and a CPR/AED certification. 

The ISSA Nutrition Certification also has an open-book final exam in addition to individual chapter exams, while PN only uses individual chapter exams. The ISSA exam is accredited through the National Board of Fitness Examiners (NBFE), while the PN Certification isn’t accredited by any educational boards. You’ll have eight months to complete your ISSA exam, while PN has an unlimited timeline.

The ISSA Nutrition Certification is also a bit cheaper, costing $799, and can be bundled with ISSA’s Certified Personal Trainer Certification for $999. The bundle also includes a HIIT training course, a strength and conditioning course, and one specialization course of your choosing.

While both certifications focus on the fundamentals of nutrition science, the ISSA Nutritionist Certification is best for those who wish to have an accredited certification and focus slightly more on the science, while the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification is best for those who want a bit more focus on the coaching side of things, especially when learning how to help your newer clients build proper nutrition habits. 

Precision Nutrition Certification: Final Verdict

Overall, I highly recommend the Precision Nutrition Certification to anyone who wants to improve their nutritional knowledge and help clients with their nutrition. The nutrition science chapters are just as thorough as the physiology and nutrition courses I took in college, and the coaching chapters are a great way to learn how to work with clients in the real world. 

The biggest flaw is that the individual chapter exams are quite easy to pass, with only 10 open-book questions for each chapter. There’s also no comprehensive final exam or time limit to complete the course. You could spend years working on this certification, and after you pass a chapter’s exam, you won’t be tested on that material again until it’s time to recertify. 

Overall, the whole exam process feels pretty easy, especially compared to how in-depth the study materials are. There are also no requirements for CEUs to maintain your certification, so there’s no way to make sure you’re keeping up with your nutritional education.

I wish PN had stricter prerequisites, and a final exam to make sure you retained all of the knowledge from each chapter and ongoing CEU requirements. 

That said, the material and references you’ll receive are high-quality and a fantastic way to start your nutrition coaching career, and this is a great certification for anyone looking to get started with nutrition coaching.

Full Rating

Precision Nutrition Certification

The Precision Nutrition Certification (specifically the PN Level 1 certification) is a well-known and well-liked nutrition coaching program for fitness industry professionals. Enrollment is limited and not open all year long. Once admitted, you’ll have the ability to go at your own pace or follow along with the 20-week course for live discussions and chapter reviews.

Product Brand: Precision Nutrition

Product Currency: $

Product Price: 1428

Product In-Stock: InStock

Editor's Rating:
3

Precision Nutrition Certification FAQs

Matt Dustin, CES, PN1-NC

Matt is a writer and fitness coach who's been working in the fitness industry for 11 years. Before joining the GGR team, Matt was a freelance health and fitness writer for 11 years, writing for dozens of fitness websites, influencers, and wellness brands. He's also the author of three nutrition books published through Simon & Schuster. He currently lives in Las Vegas, NV.

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