Is IDEA sending Precision Nutrition spam to everyone’s inbox?
Apparently this is a sponsor ad, but it’s important to clear some things up for anyone receiving this spammish Precision Nutrition certification ad.
1) The ad states only 1 in 10 fitness professionals have a nutrition certification:
That’s because a certification won’t increase salary. Why should every fitness professional have a nutrition certification? That’s like telling every Dietitian that they should have a fitness certification. They are two different specialities. There are nutritional professionals with years of practice and education to refer clients too for nutrition.
2 )The ad also states that fitness business is cutthroat but there is little competition with nutrition in fitness:
This is far fetched. Nutrition is also highly competitive, if not more, and jobs are far harder to find, almost impossible to find in some places. Not to mention that thousands of licensed nutritionists work within the fitness industry with board certifications now in sports dietetics. Don’t let them fool you on false statistics.
And it’s not like fitness professionals don’t already try to push nutrition – example, Crossfit and the Paleo Diet
3) The ad recommends that you’ll make more money
This is false. How can you up charge when you have no credentials for nutrition? The Precision Nutrition course is great for learning and gaining knowledge but it’s not like you can create meal plans for someone, as that is far out of scope of practice. Not to mention Precision Nutrition isn’t accredited and it’s also an open book test with no proctor. Open book tests can’t prove that a person is knowledgeable about nutrition.
There is nothing wrong with fitness professionals giving out some nutrition advice and helping clients be inspired to eat better, and you don’t need to shell out that kind of cash in order to achieve this.
Just understand what you’re getting into before spending hundreds of dollars based off of marketing that offers false hopes and skewed facts about nutrition in business.
Fitness and nutritional professionals need to work together instead of trying to compete with one another, crossing into one another’s scope of practice. So many people are more worried about money than they are about teaming together and to give clients the best experience.
Hi Joshhua,
I was not so ‘lucky’ as to get said email into my inbox, so it obviously did not go to everybody.
I completely agree with your post. I hold a nutrition certification myself. It was open book, as you said, but it also sets the parameters within which I can operate. I walked away from that certification with the certain knowledge that there are so many interactions that I would not dare making specific recommendations.
As trainers, however, we get questions about nutrition, supplements and the latest diet constantly, and the knowledge from that certification has helped me put those questions into better perspective. Invariably, I end with the recommendation to consult with an RD. I found, though, that many clients do not follow up on seeing an RD but just continue to muddle through until they have the next question.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com