Professional/Self Development Why My PhD Was Almost Worthless by John Berardi | Date Released : 25 Oct 2010 10 comments Print Close Sometimes I joke around that my PhD was almost worthless. Heck, a few weeks ago, I even mentioned the idea in a PTontheNet article, 7 Personal Training Insights That Rocked My World. In that article, I tell the story of how I first realized that exercise doesn’t do much for body transformation; which is a real problem since 100% of my clients (and yours) actually need a transformation of some kind. I also talk about another discovery: the realization that nutrition isn’t just important in the personal training environment, it’s everything. So today, I’d like to focus on the nutrition education part. In other words, once you realize that you absolutely need to incorporate nutrition coaching into what you’re doing as a fitness professional, where do learn that coaching? Well, for me, when I first decided to build my nutrition toolset, I quickly realized that there was almost no place to go. In my search, there were basically three options, each with some pros and a lot of cons. Here’s what I found: Option #1: Weekend Nutrition Certification. In my search, I saw hundreds of nutrition “certifications.” Most of these consisted of some kind of weekend seminar you attend. And an exam at the end of the seminar. (Unfortunately, some don’t even go as far as using an exam.) Of course, there are pros and cons to this approach. Pros: With this option, I could have marketed myself as a nutritionist, or something to that effect. Also, it would have been inexpensive. And it would have been easy. Cons: Let’s face it; this option is basically a merit-less rubber stamp. I wouldn’t have really been much better for having taken the course. And that was the whole point. Not to get “certified.” But to get better. Because I had (and still have) lots of room to grow. For my part, I opted not to do this sort of cert, because I felt like it was far too basic. Again, I didn’t just want a piece of paper. I legitimately wanted to learn everything I could to master the science and application of nutrition. And I wanted to do this for two reasons: so I’d be better, and so my clients would get better results. Option #2: Become a Registered Dietitian (RD). I also thought briefly about becoming an RD, which entails a bachelor's degree, doing a series of clinical internships, passing an exam, and doing continuing education to stay registered. There are pros and cons to this approach as well: Pros: An RD is a relatively well-known and respected accreditation. It’s a noble profession, requiring intensive study. And there’s a fairly rigorous process for earning the accreditation. Cons: This type of training is largely about disease management and medical nutrition therapy. There’s relatively little about sport and exercise nutrition. And I felt like if I spent 4-5 years doing an RD, I’d end up without much progress toward my goal of mastering sport and exercise nutrition. I opted not to do this either, because I knew that I didn’t want to do medical nutrition or work from a hospital. Not all RDs do, but it’s still the focus. I knew, from the very beginning, that I wanted to work with athletes and exercising populations, and the RD didn’t seem like the best way to go about learning how. Option #3: Become a researcher/professor (PhD). There isn’t really a sport nutrition PhD, per se. However, once you make it to the master’s and PhD levels, after a 4-year undergraduate degree, you have a lot more flexibility in planning your own studies. I never really wanted to become a tenured professor (although I’m now an adjunct professor and teach graduate level courses from time to time). It’s just not my thing. What I did love about the graduate work, however, was the research. I figured that doing a PhD would afford me the time to delve into all the existing research on sport and exercising nutrition, and the ability to actually conduct and publish studies myself. Pros: With graduate studies, there’s a lot of freedom to study whatever you want in depth, including sport and exercise nutrition, in a demanding and scientifically rigorous environment. Plus, there’s an extremely challenging process for earning graduate degrees. You have to pass comprehensive examinations and have to defend your research to a committee of senior professors. Cons: There’s an inordinate amount of studying (4 years of college, plus typically 2-3 years working on your master's and 4-5 more years working on your PhD). There’s a huge cost (both from tuition, room & board, etc. AND from the lost employment income you could have been earning instead.) And the focus is research, which isn’t exactly coaching. In the end, I chose this route. It seemed like the best option available to learn everything I could about sport and exercise nutrition. So, I went to study in the Exercise and Nutrition Lab at the University of Western Ontario, and wrapped up my grad work focusing on Exercise Physiology and Nutrient Biochemistry. It was an awesome experience and I learned so much. However, even after 11 years of post-secondary education, the funny thing is this: I never really learned what I set out to learn — exercise and sport nutrition coaching. Sure, I learned the exercise and sport nutrition part. But the coaching part, not so much. Learning about coaching Out of school and back into coaching, I realized quickly that my new exercise and nutrition skills were hugely beneficial. The clients that followed exactly what I said got unbelievable results. Plus, I was getting all kinds of new clients because the PhD gave me lots of credibility. But I kept butting up against the same problem: only a small percentage of my clients did exactly what I said. And those that didn’t, well, they didn’t achieve to their potential. At first, I’d get mad at them. Then I realized that getting mad at my clients was pointless. If I wanted to help them, I had to take responsibility for both their adherence and their results. If a client was doing exactly what I said, and wasn’t getting results, I damn sure did my best to troubleshoot the program. I’d tweak anything and everything until they got the results they were after. But did I do the same thing for those that were having problems following my advice? Was I altering my coaching style until they got the results they were after? No, not really. And although part of it was laziness. Most of the problem was that I didn’t actually know how to alter my coaching style. You see I was trained in physiology. And coaching is part physiology and part psychology. I was missing the psychology part. So, I’ve spent the last 10 years figuring out the psychology side of the equation. In fact, if you’d like to explore the psychology part yourself, check out my article: The Top 7 Books for Becoming a Better Trainer and Coach. This exploration into the psychology has made possible what I do today. I’ve tested out more nutrition and coaching theories than I care to remember. First with athletes, and then, through my online coaching programs, with the general population. In fact, my company, Precision Nutrition, has grown into a huge body transformation research project, in which we test our ideas with real clients every day; the amount of data we collect is, to my knowledge, unprecedented in this field. And my work combining physiology and psychology has led to something really cool. The next step in sports and exercise nutrition In March of 2010, Precision Nutrition launched a comprehensive nutrition education program for elite fitness professionals called The Precision Nutrition Certification Program. It’s based on a graduate level sport and exercise nutrition coaching course I teach at Eastern Michigan University. And, to my knowledge, it’s the first certification and mentorship program designed for, and meant to be used in, a personal training or strength coaching setting. In the end, there’s no other educational program with that focus. I can tell you that, because if there was, I would have taken it myself – instead of spending 11 years in school and 10 more years learning about coaching. So, maybe my PhD wasn’t so bad after all. It didn’t really teach me everything I needed to know as a fitness professional. But it did help me recognize what’s been missing from the exercise and nutrition coaching game. And that led to the Precision Nutrition Certification. So I guess it was worth the effort. Back to top About the author: John Berardi Dr. John Berardi has been recognized as one of the top exercise nutrition experts in the world. His work has been published in numerous textbooks, peer-reviewed academic journals, and in countless popular exercise and nutrition books and magazines. Through his company, Precision Nutrition, Dr. Berardi has worked with over 60,000 clients in over 100 countries. These clients range from recreational exercisers all the way up to the athletic elite, including: The Cleveland Browns, The Toronto Maple Leafs, The Texas Longhorns, Canada’s Olympic Ski Teams, Canada’s Olympic Bobsleigh and Skeleton Racers, World Champion UFC Fighters, Canada’s Olympic Speed Skaters, and more. Dr. Berardi has also created the highly acclaimed Precision Nutrition Certification program, a sport and exercise nutrition mentorship program designed exclusively for elite fitness professionals. To learn more, visit Dr. Berardi’s web site and take his free “Essentials of Nutrition Coaching” video course. Full Author Details Related content Content from John Berardi Intermittent Fasting: What You Should Know John Berardi | Articles Becoming an Effective Fitness Coach, Part 3: The Exercise Myth John Berardi | Articles Becoming an Effective Fitness Coach, Part 2: Mentorship and Social Support John Berardi | Articles Becoming an Effective Fitness Coach, Part 1: Eight Lessons on Change John Berardi | Articles The Future of Personal Training John Berardi | Articles How Much Fat Should My Clients Be Losing? 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John Berardi | Articles The 3 Types of Clients and How To Coach Them John Berardi | Articles Why My PhD Was Almost Worthless John Berardi | Articles Top 7 Books for Becoming a Better Personal Trainer and Coach John Berardi | Articles 7 Personal Training Insights That Rocked My World John Berardi | Articles 10 Characteristics of the Best (and Worst) Trainers and Nutrition Coaches John Berardi | Articles Blood Type Diets John Berardi | Articles Nutrition Programs John Berardi | Articles Glycemic Index and Weight Loss John Berardi | Articles Dietary Acids and Bases John Berardi | Articles Revive Your Metabolism John Berardi | Articles The Future of Personal Training: What to Do When “Personal Training” Becomes Obsolete John Berardi | Articles Please login to leave a comment Comments (10) Franceschi, Alana | 16 Mar 2012, 14:41 PM I found this article very interesting, nutrition is something I want to further my knowledge in. I have looked at a lot of nutrition courses, but The Precision Nutrition Certification Program is something I'm really interested in and have put my name on the waiting list for September. I believe that exercise alone doesn't work and I really want the knowledge of giving great nutritional advice to my clients so they get can achieve the best results. Reply derby, danielle | 17 Feb 2011, 20:01 PM Wow, I never usually post comments on anything I read, but after reading the other comments on this article, I couldn't resist. I am currently a college student as well as a personal trainer, and hit quite a bump in the road to finishing my degree a few weeks ago. Long story short, I am unable to finish my desired degree of exercise science at the current university which I am enrolled, due to transfer credits not being accepted. I am having to either transfer schools or change majors. After many long talks with academic advisers and other health professionals, I have just decided to change my major to psychology, and minor in business. Once I finish my undergrad, i hope to pursue nutrition. This article was very informative and definitely gave me reassurance about my decision to change my major to psychology. Reply Naranjo, Andrey | 07 Jan 2011, 15:28 PM Dr. Berardi, I'm a certified trainer working on my pre-requisites for medical school. I want to continue on this path and this article has been extremely valuable. I look up to successful individuals like yourself and I agree 100% with what you have mentioned. Nutrition is extremely important, I really want to take your precision nutrition certification because I do believe it is extremely valuable. I rather get certified in that, than in kettlebell training! You can look up the information on how to do kettlebell exercises and I think that might be wasted money. I took a TRX course and they just taught me how to use it, when I could have saved $250 dollars and looked up the exercises for free on PT on the Net. My fellow trainers told me they want to become "TRX Certified". I told them to save their money, I'll show them how to use the TRX, in all honesty I thought it was a robbery. But the nutrition certification sounds extremely valuable and it is something that the community has lost a sight on. It used to be so simple and now with all this processed information it has been lost and thanks to people like you, you can clarify it for me and my clients. Thank You! Reply Berardi, John | 08 Nov 2010, 20:57 PM To Allan: not sure where you're coming up with the "pseudo science" claim. One look at my resume shows that not only do I have masters and doctoral training in exercise phys and nutritional biochemistry, I've published a number of textbook chapters and journal articles. I also am on the faculty at 2 different universities. If you didn't like this one article - that's cool. But calling me a "pseudo scientist" is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? Reply Berardi, John | 08 Nov 2010, 20:55 PM To Sara: thanks for the comment - and I'm glad you found the article valuable. In the end, it's folks like you - people who recognize the immense importance that nutrition can play in the personal training environment and have been looking for a suitable education pathway - that will realize exactly what I'm getting at here. Reply Berardi, John | 08 Nov 2010, 20:52 PM To Alexander: sorry to hear the article wasn't for you. As I mentioned below, I've been publishing exercise and nutrition articles for over 10 years now. And one thing I learned is this: just because an article doesn't strike the right chords with you, doesn't make it worthless for others. Indeed, there are other PT on the Net members who clearly are looking for nutrition education. And this article reviews the options - including an option that I obviously believe in - one I created myself - and one that over 1,000 fitness professionals have become a part of this last year. Again, sorry you don't think it's of value to you. However, why post angry comments? Why not just move on to another article that is of interest to you and your career? Reply Fitness, Level 3 | 08 Nov 2010, 19:39 PM Dr. Berardi, I did not think it was worthless and actually found it very helpful. I have a BS and MS in Exercise Science but have really wanted to expand my nutrition knowledge without becoming an RD. I have looked into some PhD programs but the time and money are holding me back. I now wished I would have earned my Masters in Nutrition. So thank you for your insight and I will be looking at your program as well as your book list as I love to read to improve myself as a fitness professional. Best of luck to your continued success, Sara Lynn Baker, MS, CSCS Reply Cox-Taylor, Alexander | 08 Nov 2010, 02:21 AM shameless plug - how was this allowed to be published on this site.we spend enough time dodging pseudo articles everywhere else on the internet in this extremely poorly regulated industry.PT on the net is normally a safe haven from such empty content....normally. Reply Berardi, John | 04 Nov 2010, 01:37 AM To Ed: For fitness professionals who really want to improve this aspect of their coaching - i.e. the integration of nutrition and exercise into their training business - I'd submit that this article isn't "worthless." In fact, I suggest it could stimulate some ideas that would alter the course of some fitness pros' career paths, making them remarkably better at what they do. Now, I do feel bad that you read the article and felt it wasn't necessarily for you. However, to suggest it's worthless - well that may be a little too much. Like I said - for someone looking for real pathways to improve, it could make all the difference in their professional advice. I hope upon reflection, you might find some use in it too. [But, if not, that's also OK. Not every article is for everyone.] Take care. Reply Predeger, Brook | 03 Nov 2010, 21:13 PM Your article was almost worthless, too. It's obviously an advertisement, which I paid good money for. Reply Back to top