James Villepigue CSCS is an International best selling fitness author of more than 20 books. His
flagship book series, entitled, The Body Sculpting Bibles, have sold close to 1 Million copies over the last ten years.
He has been a featured fitness trainer on the Regis & Kelly Show and The Maury Show. James Villepigue's latest block buster book is Alpha Male Challenge (Rodale/ Sept 2009).
James Villepigue--
I just began training a new client 5 weeks ago. He is a 38-year-old male who weighed 307 pounds. When I met him in person, I could see that he was hungry to make positive changes in his life. He had gotten to a point in his life, where he was clearly not happy about the way he looked and felt.
This was obviously having a major impact on both his personal life and his career. Although I saw his desire to change, I still wasn't sure that he would have the ability to truly buy in to my program. I pull no punches and I expect my clients to give me their all. I wasn’t sure that he could give that to me.
Well, we began the program and as I expected, it was slow going for the first week. He had been sedentary for a while and I certainly didn’t want to rush into things, as I didn't want to do any physical harm to my client by rushing the process.
We started off and again, as I expected, he was quite weak in all areas; cardiovascular, power, strength, muscular endurance and in my opinion, the worst of all, confidence. It also didn't help that he had gotten so far away from the high school athlete that he once was, that he could not even imagine himself ever being in good shape again.
I am delighted to say that in only 5 weeks time, this man has gone from 307 pounds down to 270 pounds! Now a lot of weight loss programs are designed to initially lose lots of weight at first. They are often based on doing what ever it takes to lose weight and don't take into account that most if not all of the weight loss, is often made up of water and valuable muscle tissue.
The people who design these typical gimmicky quick-fix weight loss programs don't care about the fact that their client/customer has actually become physically much weaker 
because of muscle loss. They could care less that the weight loss didn’t include fat loss - So long as there was a loss, they are happy. That's gimmick marketing at its finest.
Good trainers and ethical marketers should primarily be concerned about making sure that clients/customers are healthy and seeing healthy progress. My particular client not only lost 37 pounds of weight, which was predominantly fat loss (of course some of it was water loss too- It's not safe or physiologically possible for most people to lose more than 2 or 3 pounds of fat loss per week), but he also TRIPLED his strength, power and muscular endurance over that 5 week period!
His cardiovascular training went from walking on a treadmill gasping for air, to performing effortless limited range plyometric movements, playing hard core racquetball and performing run sprints on the treadmill. In a nut-shell, this man has managed to make many EXTRAORDINARY and REMARKABLE changes to his body and his mind in a very short time.
Now I would be doing myself an injustice if I told you that my program wasn't a significant factor in his major short-term success, but there is an even bigger reason why he's been so incredibly successful so quickly and that reason is that my client simply "Acted As If." He acted as if he was that 18 year old in shape teenager again. Now I'm not talking about being reckless - We all need to know our limits! What I'm talking about, is that he created a mind-set that encouraged him to take action like he took action when he was younger.
He went from thinking and acting like a 38-year-old obese man to thinking like a 38-year-old obese man with a safe, sound and powerful mission. He stopped eating recklessly and quickly began eating like he was already thin. Food choices changed over from mashed potatoes to a yam, from bacon, egg and cheese on a roll to oatmeal and a healthy omelet, etc.
He wasn’t depriving himself of food (it’s still delicious), but he was fueling his body with premium food choices.
He went from not being physical at all to making sure that he exercised 5 days a week. I along with his family held him accountable to many of these tasks. He went from having little or no confidence to becoming almost cocky, in a very light hearted way. He went from not being able to even imagine looking thinner, to seeing himself now as that buff teenager back 20 years ago!
Now understand, we still have awhile to go, but by the end of our intensive 10 week plan, he will very likely be down 50 pounds or more! Once he hits 257 or so, this man will know for sure, that he can accomplish absolutely anything he sets his mind to. Please note: I didn't come up with idea that he'll need to lose 50 pounds in order to prove that he'll be able to conquer any goal, he did and hey, that's perfectly fine.
I already know that he can accomplish anything he sets his mind to - He's already proven that to me, to his family members and I'm pretty sure to himself too. This is a testament proving how his amazing accomplishments have only made him stronger...So strong in fact, that he now expects great things from himself. Understand that not even a glimmer of this new attitude existed just 5 weeks ago.
So how did he do this? How can you do the same thing, but even more, carry it overto improving all aspectsof your life? You simply mustbegin toact as if you already have what you desire to attain!
If you want money, act as if you already have it. Most people who have money, have worked hard to attain that money. When you Act As If you already have money, you will begin to take on the mind-set and characteristics of a money maker. Acting As If will make you more confident and will inspire you to begin doing things that actually bring you closer to making your "Act As If" goal a reality.
Acting As If isn'tsome Secret formula orQuantum Physics theory, it's simply a matter of taking you out of your present stagnant state and throwing you into a state of positive action. When you Act As If, you become more conscious of your actions or lack there of. You can take yourself to a place of unimagined accomplishments in a very short amount of time.
My client Acted As If he was thin and in great shape; he eats less food and makes sure that the quality of food is healthy, he works out like an athlete, he comes into the gym expecting to see results. He carries all of that positive energy he’s acquired, to the office and back home to his wife and kids. He is quickly becoming the person who he’s decided to Act like; a healthy, thin, muscular, fit, happy, successful and determined person.
Act As If, and you will quickly put yourself in a position of accomplishing your goals faster than you can believe!
Keep Going!
James Villepigue CSCS
Jun 26, 2009 
Janice Taylor--
