coaching

Recently I’ve been singing the praises of the DAREBEE fitness programs. There’s another amazing FREE resource available from Precision Nutrition (full disclosure, my nutrition coach certification is from Precision Nutrition and I am an unabashed fan of the organization*).

Precision Nutrition has made a free exercise video library available.  The main web page contains links to shared docs on a Google Drive, which you may copy to your own Google Drive (as long as you have a Google account and are signed in).

The general instructions and a basic 14 day workout are in pdf format. The “library” is available in spreadsheet form (Google sheets). It starts with a table of contents and ends with an index (alphabetized list)of all the exercises. In between are tabs with links to tutorial and FAQ videos, modifications and regressions (*the* most important thing, IMHO), and exercises grouped by category for both genders.

Each exercise in the spreadsheet has brief instruction notes and a link to a Vimeo video demo. Their exercises can easily be done at home – many are body weight – with only a little amount of equipment (exercise bands, dumbbells).

I’ve done some of these exercises when I took part in their coaching program as a client. The instructions are easy to follow and the modifications help those of us with chronic injuries.

Unfortunately for me, my chronic injuries require professional attention from licensed physical therapists so I’m not at a point where I can use PN’s library myself. I am confident that I will be able to use it once I have become pain-free by practicing my corrective exercises consistently.

Once I do, you can be sure that I’ll provide a review with my biases stated up front.

*There are many reasons that I am such a fan of Precision Nutrition

• They are purpose driven. Their mission is “to help clients all over the world discover the joys of living a fit, healthy life and help thousands of professionals deliver this purpose to their own clients.” It’s not about making money but helping people (the money, being necessary to make a living and provide jobs).
• They are bona fide qualified to give instruction and advice on nutrition and exercise and habit change. The founder, John Beradi, PhD has his doctorate in nutritional biochemistry and exercise science. His executive team also have advanced degrees and decades of experience food science, dietetics, molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, exercise science, health promotion, health & exercise psychology, epidemiology, biostatistics, and communications. In sum – they are experts you can absolutely trust who write clearly and know adult instructional methods and habit change.
• They base all of their recommendations on SCIENCE. i.e. proven methods to for achieving your goals.
• They believe in incremental progress. It’s not an all or nothing thing. They take you from the basics and build you up as you gain skill. They’re cognizant that people can be starting from the very beginning.
• They are not proponents of any diet. Because science. Weight and body composition are very much tied to calories in and calories out. The diet that works is the diet you stick with. Health is predicated on eating all of the food groups but in appropriate portions for your size and gender.
• They make many many resources available for free.

I made the choice to get my nutrition certification from Precision Nutrition because it was the most science based and comprehensive training program one can get without going back to school to become a registered nutritionist. In addition, it’s not a one and done type of deal. One must get re-certified every two years. It’s critical that coaches constantly continue to educate themselves and stay on top of the latest research.