The PN Academy is a special continuing education resource, exclusively available for Precision Nutrition certified coaches. It contains relevant news and resources to improve your coaching practice and become more connected to PN.
If you completed one or more certifications and still ask, “how can I get more Precision Nutrition?,” this might be right for you.
I was a member for two years and I’ll help you determine if it’s worth it.
What you get when you join PN Academy
There are four main components within the academy:
- Courses and Certificates
- Research Insider
- Webinars and other resources
- PN Inner Circle
I’ll walk through each section below.
Courses and Certificates
They call this the “bread and butter” of PN Academy and I fully agree. Everything in PN Academy can help you learn, but this is the only section where you may earn continuing education credits to prove you learned!
These are miniature certificate programs – in specialized areas – that complement your existing Pn1 credential. Each of these programs consists of three courses, and once you complete all courses, you’ll earn the accompanying certificate.
For me, there was only one that was of particular interest – the “Specialist in Nutrition Coaching for Athletes” certificate. It comprises three courses:
1. How to Coach an Athlete
2. How to Create Personalized Nutrition Programs for Athletes
3. How to Solve Common Nutrition Challenges for Athletes
Very appealing if you’re interested in sports nutrition!
The other certificate programs available are:
- Specialist in Change Psychology
- Specialist in Nutrition for Metabolic Health
- Specialist in Coaching Dietary Strategies
I like how each individual course gives you a lot of information upfront about what it covers, which makes it easier to decide if it’s going to be valuable for you.
If they are all appealing, that will keep you busy for a while.
The problem is, no new courses have been added in years!
Those are the same four programs that were available when I joined at the launch in 2020. Now, almost three years later, it’s still the same list of programs!
They claimed that more would be added monthly, but in reality, new courses were not even added annually.
Research Insider
The Research Insider section is great, and their description is completely accurate:
Every two weeks, we rigorously review scientific journals to curate a new issue of the Research Insider, so that you can get the big-picture takeaways, client-tested insights and expert-approved advice from the latest cutting-edge research -— and apply it with your clients the same day.
So you get 2-3 new issues of Research Insider every month. The topics are all over the map. Here are a few examples:
- Feeling “hangry”? It’s not your imagination
- Can being fit help counteract poor sleep?
- How much exercise for better brain health?
- Why whole foods aren’t ALWAYS best
- Does keto improve endurance performance?
I like to keep up with the latest research, but reviewing the scientific literature takes a tremendous amount of time. It’s impossible to keep up with everything.
But with this, it’s more of a Cliff’s Notes version, which allows you to absorb a wide variety of information in a relatively short time. It gets you up to speed on hot topics quickly, saving you tons of time investigating whether or not the study is meaningful.
They also make the concepts very simple to understand. In PN’s write ups, they use plain language with added graphics and visuals – sometimes even gifs and memes. All within a great layout with plenty of white space.
The whole idea is to make the research studies more accessible. You probably don’t have a PhD. I sure don’t. I can comprehend some studies, but I know enough to know that there is so much I don’t know, e.g. tricks of the trade the scientists might know to make things appear a certain way that I would misinterpret.
It’s not just the scientists, though. It’s the news media.
Related: My Stance on Research Studies (And Why I Don’t Like Them)
Mainly the news media!
So often, we have to do thorough research to combat the sensationalist headlines that are so prevalent today. Here, PN does that on our behalf.
For example, there was one study about fruit, and you just know it’s going to become part of the “is fruit good or bad for you?” debate.
From PN’s review: “As a result, some folks are citing this research as ‘scientific proof’ that fruit is inherently unhealthy.”
They went on to state that this was NOT the correct interpretation. The study was very specific and did not support that general claim whatsoever.
Armed with this review from the experts at PN, I can combat the false information if any of my clients were misled.
Even if the study does not appear relevant for your coaching practice, there is so much to learn from each analysis!
PN doesn’t just analyze the study. They end up giving you super important lessons and takeaways to better your coaching practice and improve client success. Lessons that apply to everyone, regardless of what the study’s topic was!
I quickly realized I should read every single one of these when published!
Webinars and other resources
There’s no reason to join PN Academy just for these other resources, but there’s some extra members-only content you may find useful.
This section mainly consists of two categories of webinars:
1. Marketing & Business Strategies
2. Advanced Coaching Series
For example, one business webinar is “Mastering Social Media for Your Business.” It’s presented by Jessica Lau, the one-woman band (with a few supporting strings) who managed PN’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages — with a total of 900,000+ followers. That’s awesome, real life experience.
On the coaching side, there’s one titled “Conscious Use of Language In Health And Fitness Spaces.” That is very timely and relevant with the increasing importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Most of these are one hour long webinars that seem to have been recorded on Zoom and are then embedded as videos on the site. You can watch them or just listen.
Typically it is a PN professional, possibly with a guest expert in the topic. Some are going to be better than others.
I was particularly interested in one on legal issues that features special guest Barbara Zabawa, an attorney and founder/owner of the Center for Health & Wellness Law LLC.
But you need to go into these with low expectations. It’s an interview. It’s NOT a class or training module. It’s NOT personalized advice. It’s more or less filler content designed to make PN Academy look jam-packed with goodies.
Other resources include:
- Interactive coaching calculators and tools
- Client assessments and smart coaching processes
- Cutting-edge business tools and resources
- Big discounts
Again, mostly filler content. I do feel like a lot of the resources are already available to you just by being part of the PN certification. Especially the calculators and checklists – they are not exclusive to PN Academy.
Same with the discounts. It’s nothing new. They point out how you can purchase PN books/manuals at a discount, but you can already do that as a coach.
There is a decent discount on TrueCoach software – 30% off per month for your first year – which could be good for personal trainers. But it’s not like you can’t find a TrueCoach coupon code elsewhere.
PN Inner Circle
The “PN Inner Circle” is a Facebook group. A community of fellow coaches.
But here’s the thing. If you’re interested in this, you are probably already part of the “PN Coaches Community” group.
So why join another group?
By definition, it’s an overlapping community. (In either group, everyone is PN certified and you don’t have to have any of the advanced credentials to join PN Academy.) Both have the same PN moderators.
At last check, the PN Inner Circle has a little over 2,000 members, while the PN Coaches Community group has over 52,000 members!
So you could say this one is more exclusive, but what is the benefit of that exclusivity?
Pricing
What does PN Academy cost?
You get access to all that PN Academy has to offer – including all the certificate programs and all Research Insiders – for a flat fee of $49 per month.
It’s really that simple. In the past they had multiple membership tiers, where you could get a lower base price but then you’d pay extra for add-ons. But now it’s all-inclusive.
You can cancel anytime. It’s not quite as simple as clicking a button and your membership is automatically canceled, but it’s simple enough.
Basically you click a button, and that generates an email you can send to PN requesting cancellation, and someone will manually cancel your account before your next billing cycle.
Is PN Academy worth it?
Now it’s time to decide if the PN Academy is worth it for you. Because it depends.
It depends on what type of coaching you do.
The more generalized your coaching, the more usefulness you’ll find in here. The more specialized you are, the less that will apply to you.
It depends on the utility of additional certifications.
Will the extra credentials be useful? Or do you have enough credentials already?
It depends on your need for continuing education credits to fulfill other certification requirements.
Do you need the CEUs? Because that’s a big deal. If so, PN Academy is a great way to earn some more.
It depends how interested you are in the latest research.
If you’re truly interested in the latest published studies, this might be worth it just for the Research Insider.
It depends if you are building a business (vs your business is already operating smoothly).
The younger your business, the better. If you already have an established business that’s a well-oiled machine, you have less need for these resources.
If it sounds worth it for you, here’s the sign-up link:
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/specialized-courses/pn-academy
Alternatives to PN Academy?
If you’re still not sure about PN Academy, you may be wondering if there are any alternatives. These would be my suggestions:
For staying up-to-date on scientific research studies:
Examine Plus
https://examine.com/plus/
For growing your business:
Online Trainer Academy with Jon Goodman
https://onlinetraineracademy.theptdc.com/
The Career Blueprint, within Change Maker Academy
https://courses.changemakeracademy.com/pages/the-career-blueprint-sneak-peek
For educational courses:
There’s no substitute for PN’s courses. Their certification programs are cream of the crop.
There are plenty of places to get CEUs for the sake of CEUs, but it’s not the same.
Levi Bloom is an experienced endurance athlete who has been training and competing for over 17 years. A former Cat 1 road and mountain bike racer (professional class on the regional circuit), he is now a cycling coach (USA Cycling Level 3 Certified) and sports nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified).
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