Precision Nutrition started with a single question: what exactly should people eat to look fit, be healthy and perform to their highest potential? To answer that question, Dr. John Berardi and the smart folks at Science Link condensed over 8 years of research, both from the lab and from the field, and the experiences of nearly 40,000 Precision nutrition members from around the world, including both everyday folk and Olympic gold medalists all into one system — the Precision Nutrition System.
No Diet Here
We are excited to have Precision Nutrition as the cornerstone for Total Nutrition Camp. As health and fitness professionals, the top three questions we get most, relate to:
- supplements
- training.
- diet.
After a brief discussion on any or all three points, most folks are quick to tell us everything they know they should be doing but aren’t, and everything they are doing wrong. They have a hard time telling us what they are doing right. I suppose if they knew that they wouldn’t be asking. It’s one thing to ask, yet something entirely different to listen. A lot of folks look for some hocus-pocus and a little bit of fairy dust sprinkled over some magic training program or supplement. If they could get that, THEN they would achieve their goals. Then they tell us they “watch what they eat” but diets aren’t working. Notice I used the word diet in point number 3 above. Most folks ask what diet they should try. Guess what? There is no magic diet. Just clean, fun NUTRITION.
“Dr. Shay, how the heck you gonna be my nutrition coach if ya ain’t given me a diet?” We could easily “‘prescribe” a specific diet and you could do very well, at least short-term. In fact if you are an athlete, we can create a highly customized nutrition plan with the help of those smart “science-minded” folks at Precision Nutrition. This is sure to help you maximize your results and succeed in your event or sport. However, most folks would be completely miserable on a diet geared for athletes, bodybuilders, and such.
Think about this, if I simply handed you a ‘diet” that told you what to eat and when to eat it, how long would you last? How long did you stay on your last diet? You see, the very structure of a diet means one must first go on it and therefore at some point must get off it. There in lies the beginning of the end. We, as a society, do not understand the difference between diet and nutrition. I know dietitians and nutritionist that don’t know the difference. Watch the Discovery channel for a few hours. You can learn more about the diet and national requirements of all kinds of animals. It’s easy to see why a specific animal should or shouldn’t eat certain things. You probably ‘instinctively” know this in your own household. (although some folks maybe not-so-much) We don’t feed our pets food we ‘know to be “bad” for them. Why? Because they’ll get sick. We some how do not apply the same logic to ourselves. We really have a lot to learn.
We would much rather re-educate you on nutrition and work WITH YOU to determine what is best for you, then simply hand you a “menu” to follow.
Been there! Done that! It doesn’t work. Diet fad books and videos. Nope. No go! How about the “NO Diet” diet? Wanna try that?
Dr. John Berardi on Precision Nutrition
On January 20th, 2009, we (Science Link) launched the most comprehensive practical nutrition program available anywhere. It’s the culmination of 13 years work in the field of nutrition research and coaching.
Over that time, we’ve helped by last count over 40,000 members transform their bodies through nutrition, and we’ve developed a step-by-step method of guiding new clients to goals they never thought they could achieve.
That method starts here, with a series of questions, and below I’ll share those questions with you. If you want to build a better body, ask yourself each one, and answer with complete honesty.
What kind of body do you really want?
Think about it for a second. Ask yourself, “What kind of body do I really want?” Women often say something like, “Oh, I just want a nice, toned body. Not TOO muscular, but firm.” Toned and firm, you say? Okay, sounds good to me. Men usually say something like, “I want to be big – muscular and strong.” Or, “I want to be lean, with fully defined abs.” Well, I’m with you. Both noble goals.
Whatever that ideal body is for you, the point is, you know what you want to look like. You can picture it in your mind. You know exactly what kind of body you want. Now brace yourself and ask yourself honestly: “Why don’t I already have the body I want?” “Why don’t I look the way I want to look, right now?”
Ask yourself: “What’s holding me back?”
Let’s consider the possibilities . . .
Is it a lack of motivation? Maybe. In my experience, however, the people who actively seek out solutions to their problems have motivation enough. You don’t need to move mountains to get in the best shape of your life; you just need to get started, and everyone can do that. If you can start, you can finish – as long you start doing the right things! You see, once you’ve started to change your body, you don’t need motivational slogans and pep talks. What you need are results. Results are the true motivation. When you’re doing something that works, you just look in the mirror and say, “Damn, I look good – this stuff really works.” That’s it. It’s positive reinforcement of what you’ve been doing, and so you keep doing it. So the problem isn’t lack of rah-rah inspiration. It’s something else.
Poor exercise habits? Sometimes, especially if you’re completely sedentary. If your daily activity involves nothing more than moving from one piece of furniture to another, you’re simply not going to get the body you want. Looking good naked requires intense exercise, and probably more than you’re told is necessary. (30 minutes three times a week? I don’t think so.) But even so, in my coaching program I see lots of people who are already exercising with highly skilled trainers and coaches – and many times even they aren’t getting the results they’re looking for. So in my experience, the limiting factor is almost always something else. But what else could it be? What’s really holding you back?
Bad genetics? Look, this is a definite NO. A complete cop-out. You know what bad genetics are? Being born without legs. A propensity to gain fat around your midsection is NOT bad genetics. Sure, each of us has certain genetic limitations; for instance, you may not be equipped to play quarterback for the Patriots, play center for the Celtics or win the Boston Marathon – in other words, you may not have the genetic makeup to reach the upper limits of human performance. But you can always lose fat or gain muscle. In years of working with people of all stripes, from office managers to elite athletes, I’ve yet to see a single case where we couldn’t make significant body composition change – and that’s what you really want, isn’t it? So if you’ve been using the old “bad genetics” routine, stop shaking your fist at the heavens, and look a little closer at the real problem.
So what IS the real problem? Ask yourself again: “Why DON’T I have the body I want?”
What’s really holding you back.
Look, it’s not your lack of inspirational posters. It’s probably not the set/rep scheme you use in the gym, and it’s definitely not your genetics. Make no mistake about it, your limiting factor nearly always resides in the 160+ hours per week that you spend outside of the gym.
And what do you think is the most important factor in those 160+ hours? What, in that time, has the greatest impact on your body composition, health and performance? Answer: Nutrition.
Whether you want to gain muscle, lose fat, or just live healthy, the limiting factor is almost always nutrition.
Poor nutrition is what holds you back. And good nutrition is what will move you forward. Good nutrition is what will feed muscle and shed fat. It’s what will improve nearly every health marker you can measure. It’s what will drastically improve recovery and mood, so you can work harder, longer. Good nutrition is what will get you the body you never thought you could have.
Change your nutrition, and you’ll change your body entirely. Change your nutrition, and you’ll quite literally change your life.
Just look at people who have made major changes to their body – and I mean major changes, the type of changes that make people take notice when you enter the room. The common denominator is that they all completely changed their nutrition.
“Well, great,” you say, “I understand the importance of nutrition to my body – and I do want to change – the question is how!”
Enter Precision Nutrition.
I’ve spent a lifetime studying nutrition. I’ve logged thousands of hours learning and teaching in the classroom and experimenting in the research lab, and thousands more applying it all in the real world – from the highest levels of elite athletics right down to the trenches in the local gym.
I’ve tried everything known to man to get better results out of my clients. I’ve made more errors than I care to remember. In fact, I know more about what doesn’t work than anyone else I’ve ever met. And the funny thing about knowing what doesn’t work is that it’s the surest way to figuring out what does.
From that knowledge and experience, I’ve created a complete system containing everything you need to know about nutrition to make dramatic, rapid changes to your body.
It’s called Precision Nutrition.
Precision Nutrition is what works, pure and simple. Precision Nutrition is a system designed with one single purpose: to turn research into results.