The nutrition course used exclusively by our clients to build healthy, lean, high-performance physiques in record time: Precision Nutrition V3.

By Dr. John M. Berardi, PhD

On January 20th, 2009, we 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 ten 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 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!”

“What is Precision Nutrition? What do I get?”

Precision Nutrition Version 3 is both something you get in the mail (system of guides designed to teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want) and something you join (a private members-only site and community with 24/7 support from coaches, expert volunteers and fellow members). It’s the two of those things in combination that make Precision Nutrition what it is: far and away the most comprehensive nutrition program in the world.

So PN is both something you read, and something you’re a part of. It helps to begin by explaining the part you read. Here, then, is what UPS delivers to your door when you become a member:

In this introductory guide to Precision Nutrition we provide an overview of the program and present 10 success strategies guaranteed to help you stick with the plan.

These strategies, taken directly from those who have been successful following the PN program, will be your “secret weapon” in your quest to change your body and change your life.

With the Precision Nutrition Diet Guide, everything is covered, from food selection to meal timing to nutrition program design. You will learn everything you need to know to lose fat or gain muscle. You’ll set your goal in the beginning, and you’ll learn exactly what to do to achieve it.

Everything is organized according to it’s importance in the grand scheme of things, and nothing is left to chance. You will walk away knowing exactly what you need to do to build the body you want.

Quick Start Guide
Rapid body comp change CAN happen – if you get all the right information, and put it to use immediately. That’s what the Quick Start Guide is for.
I’ll show you the exact steps that you need to take right away if you’re going to succeed. Every step is laid out in detail, and in less than 45 minutes you will have done precisely what most people never think to do – the critical steps that make all the difference.

Filled with ample amounts of high-quality protein, essential fatty acids and micronutrition, the Super Shake will ensure you never lack great nutrition, no matter where you are or how much time you have. It simply blows the off-the-shelf “meal replacements” out of the water – and you can make it yourself, cheaply and quickly. In the Super Shake Guide, I’ll show you exactly how to make them, I’ll show you how to customize them for your body type and your goals, and I’ll provide you with several Super Shake recipes to get you started.

With the 5-Minute Meals Guide, however, consider it taken care of. You’ll have a complete list of dozens of delicious, perfect Precision Nutrition meals that can be made in under five minutes. Great nutrition has never been this convenient.

There is only one sure-fire way to continue to get results, and that is to tailor your diet specifically to your body, your goals and the results you’ve gotten in the past. So how do you know how your body differs from others? And once you know, what do you do about it? How do you know what changes to make? I’ve put the answers in the Individualization Guide, a step-by-step guide to a complex subject. I’ve made it easy to customize your diet for your specific needs – and you’ll be amazed at the results.

Coupled with the Precision Nutrition system, these assessments allow us to get rapid results with clients. In fact, I’ve done informal testing indicating that regular assessments like these can speed up progress by 50-75% — even using the same exercise and nutrition program.

And in the Measurement Guide I’ll teach you exactly what to assess and how often – from body measurements to performance testing to blood work. Remember, if you’re not assessing, you’re guessing.

So we’ve created a new section focused on this category of plant-based diets to help those who choose not to eat meat adapt the Precision Nutrition principles to their dietary needs — and reach the health and fitness goals that elude them.

Fortunately, though, the maintenance phase can be easier and more enjoyable than the change phase — so long as it’s done right. In this new Maintenance Guide, we illustrate exactly how you can keep the body you’ve worked so hard for.

You can’t do this alone, nor should you have to. The most successful people in the world have the best support systems, and those who typically don’t make it are quite often those who weren’t supported by the people around them. A colleague of mine once shared a very insightful proverb with me, and I use it often. “You are,” he said, “the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

In the Support Guide, we show you how to make use of the support around you, and if your “circle of five” isn’t as supportive as you’d like, we show you how to make use of our circle: the coaches, experts and tens of thousands of fellow members just like you who make the PN Member Zone their online home.

Find out more about Precision Nutrition.