I recently passed the exam for the NASM Certified Nutrition Coaching certificate. Nutrition is something I have been really interested in for quite some time now, and I originally got the idea to complete the program because I wanted to be able to sort though all the conflicting information about nutrition myself. Since the qualifications and credentials are loose on what constitutes a “nutritionist”, I wanted to see for myself what the program entailed, and I thought this would save me the money of having to go and pay for the services of a nutritionist, which was completely incorrect.

Why NASM?

I chose the NASM program for Certified Nutrition Coaching first because a woman who is a well respected fitness geek at my gym had several certifications through them. When I Googled top programs for Nutrition Coaching, NASM was at the top of the results. Another one of the top alternatives I looked at is the Precision Nutrition Coaching certification. I passed on this program because it seemed to be more geared towards training people on how to work with clients, and I was more interested in just learning the material and figuring out how to apply it to my goals. In addition, the NASM program was rated the best self-paced program by Sports Illustrated, and they were running a sale.

How much time it took

I started the NASM Certified Nutrition Coaching cert in late April, and I took a break for the summer to focus on other commitments. I picked it back up in October and finished at the end of November. In total, I spent 35 hours going through all the lessons and taking the quizzes. From the time you start the program, NASM gives you a full calendar year to complete the lessons and take the exam. Despite taking time off, I remembered a lot of the material I learned in the Spring, and I was able to catch back up fairly quickly.

The exam

The NASM Certified Coaching exam is 100 multiple choice questions, and it is open book. They provide a practice exam for free, but I didn’t realize this until I was able to take the actual exam, in which case I just wanted to attempt it and get it over with. The exam questions are a lot like the quiz questions in the lectures, so I was thankfully I spent a good amount of time reviewing those. You get 3 attempts to pass the exam and if you fail, you can contact NASM and purchase more attempts.

My thoughts on the program

I felt like the course was definitely worth the money (especially given that there was a sale), and ultimately I learned a lot. My goal was to learn more about the foundations of nutrition, and then learn more about how I can use nutrition to increase my performance for my activities and in general, just feel better. I also got a way better sense of how to navigate all the conflicting information that’s out there about nutrition, and dieting, and performance. Now I have a good idea about which things I want to incorporate into my lifestyle, and which things are unnecessary for me. One of the benefits of the course is being able to download the book, course materials, and save all my notes and refer back to them when I need them in the future.

I was working with a nutritionist for most of the time I was studying for the certification, and I think that helped tremendously with really understanding a lot of the nutrition planning and the strategies of things. It’s one thing to read about some of these concepts, but for me it was way more valuable to actually try it and see it in action. I honestly don’t think I would have gotten as much out of the certificate if I had not been working with a nutritionist while I was doing it.

Taking the NASM course and working with my own nutritionist has made me realize the importance of picking a very knowledgeable, trusted nutritionist. Picking someone who is fully invested in that lifestyle and has a breadth and depth of knowledge about nutrition and fitness is crucial. My nutritionist is also an athlete, and a coach, and because of that, she is able to give great recommendations and make astute adjustments to my nutrition plan. This is important because in the NASM Certified Nutrition Coaching program for example, a lot of the recommendations for macros and RDAs are really dated and not appropriate for people who are very active.

While I learned a lot from the program and enjoyed it very much, I don’t feel like it prepared me to start coaching clients. I was never intending to do that, but if I were, I would feel like I need the guidance of a professional nutritionist. All in all, I would still recommend the NASM Certified Nutrition Coaching program as a good baseline for understanding more about nutrition and how to make optimizations for yourself.

Photo: Balboa Park San Diego, CA