In this video, come and join Dr. Justin Marchegiani and Jim Keen as they both share some of their thoughts on living a healthy lifestyle. Jim Keen from ARX Fit used to be a trumpet player for more than 5 years. His lifestyle used to be sedentary and his circadian rhythm was not being followed. Here, the two health experts will give you some tips on how to live healthier, how to exercise better, and how to enjoy a healthier body.
Learn how Jim went from being overweight to being healthy and fit, find out more about his story, and pick up some valuable info which you can use to help you kickstart the health journey of your own!
In this episode, we cover:
02:47 Circadian Cycles and Sleep
09:37 Importance of Dinner-Bedtime Gap time
10:45 Adaptive Resistance Exercise (ARX)
15:27 ARX Can Never Be Excessive
19:13 ARX Alpha Versus ARX Omni
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hey, guys. It’s Dr. Justin Marchegiani here. Welcome back to Beyond Wellness Radio. We got Jim Keen in the house. JIm is a fellow Austin native. Just moved down here last year from Chicago. He’s part of the ARX scene. Again, I’ve seen Jim many times over at the Bulletproof conference over at Paleo. We got a connect here soon in Austin now that you’re in town. But, welcome to the show, Jim. how are you doing?
Jim Keen: Thank you very much for having me. I feel superlative. They can’t stop me now. Two cups of coffee deep, and uh— living the dream here in Austin.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s it, man. Well, you’re interesting because you work with kind of newer cutting edge technology with the ARX, which is cool. You kind of gotten some of these diet and lifestyle stuff down. You kind of intertwined the two. But, you also have a— a personal story. I know you were up to 270-280. And, look at you now. You— you’re all stealth. And not to mention the something that we said for that moustache, too.
Jim Keen: It’s not actually the same way. It’s just the moustache’s just so sonic.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [laughs] I love that.
Jim Keen: It’s an illusion.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Optical illusion. I love it, man. Very cool.
Jim Keen: [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Walk us through your story. How did you get to where you’re at?
Jim Keen: So, I was a trumpet player, my first career. I have a degree in trumpet performance, of all things. And for six years, I worked on broadway shows. When they go on their first national tours, uhm— I would play in the Pit orchestras for those tours. But, I was about 270-280. In college, I got really good at drinking, uh— which was fun. But then, I got super fat, so that was no fun. And then I had just three hours of work, everyday, at night, So, my hobby during the days became how do I get not fat. So, that led me down the big rabbit hole, with which we are all accustomed to, the Primal and Paleo side and also to the Lyle McDonald down on Aragon. Count him up, macro sort of side [crosstalk] mixed together. And then I became aware of the prototypes of what would eventually become ARX. And, eventually, it just became too much. Couldn’t handle it. I said I’m getting off the road. I took some tour money. And I bought what was a previous generation of an— an ARX machine and I put it in my apartment in Chicago, a one-bedroom apartment. I— instead of a couch, I had this ARX Omni machine, uh— which is great. Bringing people over, nowhere to sit, but we had an Omni. So that was good. Uhm— but…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Nice. [crosstalk] Nice.
Jim Keen: …anyhow, one thing led to another and then I’ve come now to— to work for the company.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Great. So, kind of walk me through kind of how the diet and lifestyle component became added, ‘cause I’m always fascinated how people kind of arrive at optimal health. And some people take different journeys. I mean, you had access to this really awesome cutting edge kind of— we’ll talk more about it, kind of isokinetic technology that really kind of shortened your workouts and allows you to hit kind of your best bank for your buck there. But how did you incorporate the diet and lifestyle component? What did the integration look like?
Jim Keen: Well, the diet and lifestyle stuff, I— it was actually the reason— one of the big reasons for my career change uh— was when I became aware essentially of Circadian cycles and…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: …sleep. And that was my first big “aha!” moment. It was like, I am messing up. I— The show ends at 10:30 every night, and I’m playing trumpet, bright blue blue lights and loud noises and, like, stress levels and your heart’s beating ‘cause it’s got to sound like cast album. You got to sound good all the time. And so, it’s a high stress thing at 10:30 at night. And uh— that dog ain’t gonna hunt. So that actually learning about all these type of stuff spurred my inspiration to get off the road and— and do this. And then, other than that, uh— just reading all the books we all know in love uh— and just learning the reasons behind like, plants and animals and uh— good clean water, and no blue light after dark, and all these. It all kind of come together. And then when I got off the road, I started actually putting it into practice ‘cause I didn’t know if it’ll work or not. I had read read about it. But then, you don’t know who’s blowing smoke and who’s just selling things. And— So I— Then I tried it on my own, and uh— some things didn’t work, but some things really worked. And then, in each area thereafter, I just became really enamored with those things that gave you a great return on investment. So, in food and in sleep, and uh— and in exercise, which is why I became aware of ARX and sort of joined that movement. Uh— It’s just like in this area, it gives you a great return on investment. So, let’s maximize that and really concentrate it.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love it. So, kind of walk me through. Kind of— where was your diet before? Was it kind of a Standard American thing? And what was some of the first couple of shift that you cut? Grains out, did you just— you know, get more good proteins in, more vegetables versus other types of starch? What are that first diet shift look like? You mentioned the lifestyle shift, which is kind of a Circadian rhythm. I know Dr. Jack. You’re a big fan of him. We know the Circadian rhythm stuff. If you’re out of harmony with it, it can create Insulin resistance, just like eating too much carbs or grains can. [crosstalk] But walk me through that diet transition you made first.
Jim Keen: Well, uh— It was actually me bumping my head against the wall, about seven or eight times in a row, like Einstein’s definition of insanity. And I was just the— “Eat less” sort of idea, and I would count calories. And— So, we’ve all been there. Anybody who has uh— excess weight to get rid of has been there. So that’s where it started, and that didn’t work long-term. So, the first thing— I think this is back in 2008/2009— I’m not exactly sure when the book came up, but I— I read like Garry Taubes, and that was…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh, yes.
Jim Keen: …my first. It was like a good calories bad calories, and I…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Good calories.
Jim Keen: …thought, “Okay. That’s simple enough. I get that. I’m a smart guy. I can just sort of not eat carbs.” And it wasn’t really anything uh— about food quality that I was focusing on. I was just like a— the early days of carb counting, you know, like almost an Atkins style thing. Uhm— and so, that was the first thing. And that was successful. And a lot of people have initial success with that. And then, like a lot of people, your success sort of plateaus out. But to me, hanging out after that weight loss and plateauing, great success. Fantastic. Loving it. I— And so, that was the first sort of thing. And that then leads down the rabbit hole. And there’s lots of articles that are written about that, blog posts that are written about that. And uh— and so, I was absorbing all that information and then slowly took that same basis. And then, started adding in some things I was learning about food quality. Uh— so, it was that book, uh— Jonathan Bailor. Uh—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep.
Jim Keen: The Smarter Science of Slim…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: The Calorie of Illusion—
Jim Keen: …and The Calorie Myth later.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.
Jim Keen: Uhm— That was great background information; a lot of research there. Uh— and the most recently, along that same line is the Jason Fung type stuff, I’ve been given too, about [crosstalk] fasting.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: About fasting. Uhmnn—
Jim Keen: Uhm— the metabolic uh— scenario that’s created in that context. So, I really like that, and that all ties in well. And then learning a lot of other stuff along the way.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Great. So, just curious. System on the clinical side here, just give a quick diet recall. What was your diet like? Just from a…
Jim Keen: Oh yeah.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …breakfast, lunch, and dinner perspective before. And then, just kind of walk me, where’s it right now?
Jim Keen: So, before, it was a— sort of a— my 270 days. It was sort of anything goes, [crosstalk] with the emphasis on that—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: The seafood guy, right?
Jim Keen: Yeah.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: The seafood—
Jim Keen: Yeah. It— Precisely, right. And uh— so I had no problem with fast food and deep-fried stuff, and I’ve just crushed that. And my— my torso was just this well-equipped cauldron of stomach acid that— that could handle pretty much anything. I was invincible. It was great. Uh— but I just get super fat instead. Uh— So [laughs]— So that was cool.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love it.
Jim Keen: I had a lot of late night eating, especially when you go drinking. Got to have fourth meal, and then sometimes, fifth meal. Uh— so I just crushed that. I was really good at that. I— and so, these days, uh— I do more of a— like I mentioned before, Circadian approach of sort of a large breakfast, protein and fat, primarily. Uhm— and then, if I’m gonna do a workout later that day, maybe a little bit of carbohydrate. Uhm— and then, I have a meal right around 3:00 or 4:00 PM, on a day when I’m in control of my schedule. Uh— 3:00 or 4:00 PM, I’ll fire up another sort of smaller meal. Uhm— and I am sort of weird. I like to mix breakfast uh— for dinner. I don’t mind…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love that.
Jim Keen: …having dinner foods at breakfast. I—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love that.
Jim Keen: I have no problem having a burger or pork chops at breakfast.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: I’m sort of weird that way. And I have no problem having, you know, six eggs and a bunch of veggies uh— in a bowl with— with some seasonings for dinner. Uh— and my girlfriend thinks it’s weird, and I regret nothing.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I love when I do bacon and eggs for dinner, just really mix these things up. It’s just awesome.
Jim Keen: So, it— yeah, makes the moustache thicker, too.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [laughs]
Jim Keen: More power.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I love it. [crosstalk] I like good [inaudible] of that.
Jim Keen: [inaudible] to that. Yeah. [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Very good. So, I’m just curious, like when it’s all said and done, like, what do your macros look like? And you may not have run it through like a Chronometer or MyFitnessPal, but any idea kind of where they sit, protein, fat and carbs?
Jim Keen: Sure. So, I do kind of a— a cycling thing, ‘cause my ARX workouts— I get…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: …a whole week’s worth of workout in uh— just one day. So, typically, i’ll do one day a week of a very intense ARX workout . And uh— so I usually have that to be my Carb Day. So, I’ll workout, fasted, and then, as far as macros, I might go 200 grams of carb, 140 of protein and the balance in fats. Uh— I don’t add extra to really hit uh— any macro goals these days—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And you don’t like— just like whole foods, like chicken thighs, like just real foods with real fat in it, right?
Jim Keen: Correct. Yeah.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: And uh— and then, uh— normal days, I typically keep carbs by happenstance, around 50 grams uh— or fewer.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhhm— uhmn—
Jim Keen: Sometimes, it’s just sort of a steak and eggs. Like old-timey bodybuilder, we just like kind of eat steak and eggs, and Brussel sprouts and broccoli, and chew on some nails. And then, that’s it. Uh— It’s so— Sometimes, I won’t have any use for any sort of starches or fruits or anything like that, and I’ll go for five or 6 days like that. And then it’s time for the workout day, and I will uh— kind of skip breakfast and do the workout, fasted. Uh— tear up some muscle. Empty out the remainder, the glycogen. And then, carb up again that afternoon. Being careful to leave four or five hours between the last bite and your head hitting the pillow.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: ‘Cause I hate going to bed on a full stomach these days.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Okay.
Jim Keen: Uh— I like to— like to leave plenty of room there.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And do you feel like you sleep better when you up your carbs like that or do you feel like it doesn’t matter? You don’t notice any difference with diet changes and sleep.
Jim Keen: I feel like uh— it doesn’t make any difference, so long as I leave plenty of time in between dinner and bedtime. Uh— you’ll— you notice a heating up affect you. Burn through those carbs and you might start sweating a little bit more than normal. Uh— those nights, I sometimes wake up at 2:00 A.M. having covered to sheets and sweet, just ‘cause my body’s still revved up from that. Uhm— but, normally, yeah. I— I sleep pretty well, normally. I’ve put a lot of uh— thought and time and energy and money invested into my sleep thing. Like, I’ve got a Magnetic Sleep pad and a nice mattress…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh!
Jim Keen: …and I have a…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Nice.
Jim Keen: …blackout shades. And I keep my bedroom uh— you know, pitch-black and cool. And so— Away from— no electronics, and all that sort of stuff. So, uh— So, it would— it would take a lot to have me sleep best.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s great, man. Really cool. And then, just curious. So, you kind of get this diet stuff dialed in, anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense, low toxin kind of uh— Paleo template. And then, walk us through. How did you start incorporating the ARX? And then also, can give you just keep people— just a first— I— just a cursory overview of what the ARX is. And then, let’s dive in detail. What’s actually happening, scientifically, there.
Jim Keen: Yeah. So, ARX stands for Adaptive Resistance Exercise.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: And what ARX is— is a technology that we uh— invented, that we produced and that we shipped out and sell, that allows people to perform strength training— resistance training. So, it’s a tool for that purpose. And uh— I was uh— still am, a big fan of high-intensity training…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep.
Jim Keen: …which I heard about first from a guy named Ellington Darden, that has a book—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Aah.
Jim Keen: He has a lot of books, but one of them I got a hold of. Uh— 2007 was my first introduction to that. Very quickly, I became aware of a guy named Arthur Jones. And if you…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: …remember that name, he’s the guy who invented the Nautilus…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep.
Jim Keen: …line of equipment and also founded MedX. Uh— and so, I read everything he’s ever written. Uh— that took a little while but I had a lot of free time. I was out on the road, just living in hotels. So, I had a lot of free time to read. I— and so, I became aware of the idea of brief and intense and infrequent exercise. The modern uh— iteration of this is Body by Science, the Doug McGuff and [crosstalk] John Little book.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.
Jim Keen: Uh— And so, some of your listeners might be aware of Doug McGuff and Body by Science. And it sort of uhm— a revision of the high-intensity training principles. And uh— So, that was what I was trying to do. That’s the protocol. That’s the goal. I— And then I was just looking around for what’s the best tool for that purpose. And you could use a barbell to do it. You could use can use a dumbell. You can use a selectorized weight stack machine. Uh— But I became aware in 2009 of these uh— what would eventually become ARX machines. And they’re just another form of resistance, just like a weight is, but they’re a better tool for the job. And so, uhm— what it actually is, is a computer-controlled motor-driven form of resistance. What it allows you to do is uh— it provides what we call adaptive resistance. But essentially, it just means equal and opposite. However hard you push, that’s the resistance you receive in return. So, a weight is the same weight, up and down. It’s just using gravity. So, if you lift a hundred pounds, you have to lower a hundred pounds. But, the weird part is that, that means you’re underloaded for a lot of the time. And you might notice, lowering a thing is easier than lifting that thing.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Jim Keen: And a lot of people say, “Well, it’s because gravity is helping you.” But, that’s not really the reason. The reason is, you have a far greater potential for producing force in the eccentric when your muscles are lengthening. And that happens when you lower a weight. So, for instance, you can control the descent of a far heavier weight than you could have lifted in the first place. And a lot of the research these days sights 40 percent as the number. You can lower 40 percent heavier than you can lift. Now, if you’re using a weight, I would agree, you can control a forty percent heavier weight on the way down than you could have lifted in the first place. But there’s a big difference between lowering a weight, and resisting and irresistible force. So, with an ARX machine it’s moving at a constant velocity. The motor is moving it. It’s man versus machine and you’re fighting the motor. And you’re intending to not move, and then it moves you, right? So, it elicits a far greater response from your muscles. But then, even on the pushing part, it resists you now. So first, you’re resisting it, then it’s resisting you. And at all times, the resistance is perfectly matched to your strength with the weight. Here’s your strength— you’re fresh starting strength. You need to select the weight that’s down here just so you can have multiple repetitions and have a set of exercise. So, after the first rep, now your strength is here. You’re a little fatigue. After the second rep, after the third rep, after the fourth rep— and you get all the way down until your strength is equal to the weight that you selected. But it took you like a minute or two to get there. So now, that’s the failure moment. That’s where you can’t move anymore,and that’s where your set is done. But what if you can have a weight that matches your strength right away, and then matches you each step on the way down. What if you had that failure intensity right from the very first rep and the whole way through. That’s perfectly match resistance. And it’s because of that, that it’s such a potent dose of the active ingredients in strength training: mechanical tension, muscle damage and metabolic stress. So you take those three things, you concentrate them, and you get a better bank for your buck.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Imagine it probably also decreases injuries as well, because the weight’s always within what you can handle. Your threshold versus— Your threshold drops 20 percent now; the weight 20 percent over. So, imagine you must see less injuries as well.Is that true?
Jim Keen: Precisely, right. And the main two reasons uh— like you just mentioned, the first thing is it can never be excessive. So, we’d all experience being in the weight room, and the weight that you selected is all the sudden excessive. Maybe because you picked the wrong weight, but maybe because now you’re fatigued. So, that big heavyweight you chose for your fresh strength is now being applied to your fatigue _____[15:26] So that’s the first thing. ARX can never be excessive. It’s only responding with you.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. [crosstalk] That’s nice.
Jim Keen: But the other things is that nothing’s gonna fall on you. Gravity acts on the user a hundred percent of the time, through gravity. So, as soon as you picked up a weight, you’ve just made a commitment to lower that weight. No matter what happens. So, you feel something weird in your shoulder, your hip, your knee. Well, good luck getting that thing back to the ground ‘cause it’s trying to get to the sun [inaudible]…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right.
Jim Keen: …and you’re in the way. Uh— but ARX can only act in response to the user, so uh— it’s very safe for that reason. Nothing’s gonna fall on you. It can never act on you unless you first act on it. And if you stop pushing, the resistance drops to zero, instantly.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Well, the cool thing I like about it is the feedback of the— the new screen— uhm— feedback, where you can see your power [crosstalk] output. And that’s phenomenal because the cool thing about it is you can go back and you can look where you started the workout. Where you ended it. You can see how you progressing from previous workouts. And then, isn’t there like a threshold where when there’s a drop from your maximum output, 20 percent or 30 percent. What’s that threshold where ar— you’re done, you’ve hit that maximal threshold decline? What’s that at?
Jim Keen: That’s uh— will be called In-Road mode. And there was…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: …an idea from Arthur Jones that it means fatigue.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: And, you can program it to end after a certain number of reps, after a certain amount of time, or— and this is for people who want to be really targeted about what is the minimum effective dose. You want to induce a very specific amount of fatigue and no more. So, what we uh— have is the In-Road mode that establishes a green work zone, and you could set it for any percentage you like. Let’s say, you set it for 50 percent. And what that means is whatever your maximum is and you look at the— the screen right in front of you— whatever your maximum is, there’s a green zone that is then established based off at that maximum. Uh— that represents 50 percent [inaudible].
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: ____[17:14]
Jim Keen: And then, each rep, you would attempt to get up into the green zone. So, as long as you get up into the green zone, you get to do another rep. Congrats. [laughs] You do another one. Another one. When you encounter the repetition, where you can no longer get up into that green work zone. I as the trainer, I know. I’ve taken 50 percent of your strength away from you and your steak is done. We take you off the grill.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That it?
Jim Keen: And I press stop. And that’s it. ‘Cause you’re 5 percent fatigue. That’s all I want. Next movement. I am— So, that is like, “Whoah! Why eight reps? What if I need ten today? What if I only need 6 today? Or, how come two minutes? What— What if I only—” I mean, people are very dynamic. They’re not static with their recovery ability. So, if you’re having a bad day, it might be only four reps. And I’ve taken half of your strength, and you just don’t have it today. Why do any more? Why beat a dead horse? So, we can measure that, which is very cool. And the other thing you pointed out was uh— we have a couple of people on the team who were fans of Mario Kart, from back in the day.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yep.
Jim Keen: And so ghost car in Mario Kart is where you do a run and then you race yourself in the ghost car and how you did before. So, we thought, what if you could do that in your workout instead of just lifting per sets and reps? What if I could see as I was doing the workout. What if I could visually see what I did a week ago, or six months ago, or a year ago, and compete against that guy? That’s really cool. So we have the ability now to do that, where I can pull up any workout I’ve ever done, put that up on the board, and then fight against it, in real time. Just the whether I’m improving or not.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I love that. That’s so cool. Now, you guys kind of started that with like a fixed type of device to start. It was like uh— kind of a straight push, or a straight— you know, with the— with the arms…
Jim Keen: Uhmn—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …or with the legs, or a pull, correct? But then now you kind of moved your way to a cable so it’s a little bit more of an unstable environment. Can you talk about that transition and what’s on the horizon? I know, we interviewed Keith Norris last year, around May or so. And, you know, Keith is part of— one of— one of the founders behind ARX. So, anyone listening to this interview, take a look at Keith’s interview last year. But can you talk more about that transition, and where are you guys next?
Jim Keen: So, it started out with— and we still— the motor on this machine is still humming along from 2008. Uh— but it’s— Imagine a forklift laid on its back.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.
Jim Keen: And the thing just goes back and forth. [laughs] and you put a plate on it to put your feet. You put some handles on it. So, with that, you can do a leg press, and you can do a chest press in a row.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: A row.
Jim Keen: So, upper body push and pull, and legs. And that is, developed over the years, so ten years later, a bunch of R&D into what we call our Alpha, the ARX Alpha. And it’s the main sort of— when you think ARX, you think about the Alpha. It’s the maximum in efficiency. It’s a whole body workout in three moves, from the same chair. Uh— it’s for the masses. There’s zero learning curve. It’s kind of like uh— how people all drive automatics, typically, today.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: There’s some people who drive manuals, and that’s if you’re an enthusiast…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: …if you’re a car guy, or if you want to have that versatility and control. But, most people— they just want everything done for them. Thanks.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: Like, what’s the easiest possible thing? We even train people to drive using automatics now. So, that’s what the Alpha is. It’s all your major skeletal muscles. All the medical benefits in strength training. Uh— and off you go. Great. Very quick workout. But then, we, of course, uh— ourselves, and through a lot of people who are athletes or enthusiasts, weekend warriors or people like that who want a little bit more novelty, and wanted a couple more bells and whistles and different angles of things, so then, we created the Omni. That was the second uh— of the two machines that we offer. And the Omni’s like the manual transmission.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: It’s a little bit more in versatility and control. There’s— a— anything you can do from a Cable Pulling Machine, you can do from the Omni. But it still has that motorized resistance, that is the real the real driving force behind the technology. So, uh— a Pulldown with any attachment —bles of chest press, a belt squat, a deadlift— Romanian deadlift, compound, row, biceps, triceps, shoulders. It’s— it’s got all that type of stuff. Uhm— but again, for my parents, and my grandparents, uh— it’s just Alpha all the way. It’s just sit down. Sit down, Ma. Push. Pull. Alright. Go live your life. See you next week. And then, week after week Ma gets stronger. Proveable uh— in the data. So, those are sort of the difference between the two that we have now.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mixed. So, one’s more of a cable type of environment. What’s happening next? Is— Can you share what the next evolution’s gonna look like?
Jim Keen: Well, at this point, we’re sort of the next evolution uh—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Is it more portable? I— I know you guys have a portable one that you give demos with. But is that where it’s moving, where it’s a little more portable?
Jim Keen: There’s uh— yeah. The demo unit is one thing. We’re sort of innovating new ways to have a smaller footprint…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: …so, we don’t need to build a big crate ship one. Uh— and we could carry it in our cars to trade shows, and we can give it to people for that purpose, for home use. So, that’s on the horizon. But really, uh— essentially, we’re a technology company now, ‘cause we’re having all these data. We have uh— over a 115 units out in the wild. So, we’re collecting all these data in the cloud and doing nothing with it, right now. And so, that’s our next thing. How are we gonna use just all of this data we’re accumulating? Uh— We don’t know. That’s a big blank spot. We’re also uh— We have, in Beta version, adashboard people can see their data from home. Obviously, we have to build an app for that same purpose. Have all the API calls, satellites linking in space, talking to each other, and you can start to integrate your ARX data with the rest of your uhm— you know Internet of Things quantified self data. Uhm— so that’s sort of where it heads at uh— where it heads at now. And then, integrating that into larger uh— corporations and employee wellness initiatives, or in the assisted living communities around the country, and having them compare notes and share data. And, what’s the best way to help that population? And so, uhm— there’s a— a bunch of different sort of avenues that way that we’re also uh— focused on.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. The cool thing I like about it is it’s an objective workout. You can see your performance. You can— you can see trends, and it’s fast, and you’re not gonna hurt yourself. That’s kind of the big benefit of it. And you’re always pushing. You’re always pushing but you don’t have to go to the rack and grab a bigger weight and throw it up, and hope you can get it down like you said. It’s this— You’re kind of being pushed in a zone where you’re not gonna hurt yourself.
Jim Keen: Yeah, and what you’re describing is just one of the what I call barriers to entry. And for a health practitioner, it’s sort of huge that everyone sort of knows we need to be strength training. But, we’re just not gonna spend— spend a time to go to the gym in three, four or five times a week. And we’re gonna look stupid. And we don’t know what routine to do. And there’s people grunting in there and loud noises. So, you know what, I’m gonna retreat to my elliptical or retreat to my uh— treadmill or my bike. But, we need to be strength training. If it were a pharmaceutical, it will be a billions of dollars per year industry. It’s per bone density and metabolic health, and tendon and ligament…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh, totally.
Jim Keen: …resilience and longevity, and on and on. This big scroll like long list of benefits. And so, for a practitioner, to put even like just the Alpha in a facility and uh— and you s— you read out that l— laundry list of benefits, and then you say, “I have a non-invasive outpatient procedure that I can now do. Takes about 10 minutes.” And you come in for it once per week, and you can get all those benefits and completely avoid the bone and muscle loss associated with aging. What do you say? Like, what sort of patient is gonna say no to that? That’s like, “Shut up and take my money.”
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: I— And so, in that way, it’s providing strength training, real meaningful strength training to the masses who aren’t gonna do it otherwise. Democratizing strength training. It’s for the masses now. It’s just a better, easier to use tool uh— for that purpose.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Love it. So, let’s say someone— So, first off, how can someone get a hold of some of these devices? Where can they find who has them? And then, let’s say, they’re not quite there yet, or they don’t have something near them, what can people be doing at home outside of just conventional, you know, resistance training with compound movements or interval training? So, I’ll kind of give you that in two parts. Go ahead.
Jim Keen: Sure. So, the first part, uh— go to our Facebook page, facebook.com/arxfit, forward slash arxfit. Uh— you can just shoot us a message. Let us know where you are, and uh— we’ll uh— connect you with whomever is closest. Uh— and that’s probably the best way to figure out where one is near you. And uh— the other thing, that what to do if I don’t have an ARX near me? Or I don’t have a wherewithal to go use one, what do I do? Uhm— the first thing I would do is uh— go check out either the book, Body by Science.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: Uh— you get an audiobook or regular book, whatever your flavor. Uhm— read that book as just a primer. If you know nothing about strength training or even if you have a little bit of a background, still, read that book as a good primer on…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmn—
Jim Keen: …what to do and why. So, that’s the first thing. That’s great. And then, uhm— whatever routine you end up doing, based on what you learn in that book, I guess the important thing to realize is uh— a misconception that we fight with all the time is the idea that more is better. And people think that more is better because they imagined that the benefit, the good part happens during the workout, while they’re burning the calories, while they’re on the bike, while they’re doing the thing that’s when the good stuff is happening, and that’s just not true. The workout is the stimulus, and the adaptation that we want, the muscle development, the bones, tendons, ligaments, all that— that happens while we’re resting and recovering. So, when you go to the gym, just realize the good stuff isn’t happening in the gym, and so, more is not better. And basically, uh— for some more specifics, I would just recommend that each workout be a full body workout, just for return on investment purposes. And while it is, you can do six days a week and do the bro split. Mondays, chest, then Tuesdays…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: …biceps and back in Wednesdays.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally.
Jim Keen: You could do that but I— we’re talking about return on time investment, and less wear and tear on the joints. And I’d say, two times per week max. Uh— just go, like the workout should fit around your life, not the other way. So, uh— a full body routine that prioritizes multi joint movements. So, compound, multi joint movements, uh— like a leg press or a belt squat, or something similar for the lower body, uh— a horizontal push pull/pull and a vertical push/pull. That’s a good basic starter routine. Those five sort of things constitute a full body workout. And uh— my basic recommendation would be trying to again find the minimum necessary dose. The minimum effective dose uh— would be one set of each thing. And if you’re using free weights and you’re not being too hard-core about it, okay. Do a second set of each thing. That’s fine. Not gonna kill anyone. Uh— just do a couple of rounds of that. Select the weight that permits between eight and 12 repetitions. If you get to 12, make a note to increase the weight for next time. And then, slowly, you increase the weight. Increase the weight. Always keeping between that eight and 12 repetition range, and that will produce an amount of weight that’s not dangerous and hard to handle.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: And is not unmeaningful either. So, it’s a good sort of happy place. And even that, that’s like your 80-20. That will get you a lot of the [crosstalk] benefits in strength training. And once you have more competence, and once you’re convinced that it’s safe, then you’re into the groove of it after three or six months. Then you can branch out and do as you like. But that’s good to build a base. If you don’t have access to uh— an ARX machine.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And you like a longer contraction. So, like a seven-second kind of contraction. So, you’re really stimulating the lactic acid and the growth hormone. Is that correct?
Jim Keen: Yeah. I— [crosstalk] I’d say—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That longer contraction?
Jim Keen: Yes, so long as your eliminating momentum.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally…
Jim Keen: You’re in control…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …and
Jim Keen: …of the weight the whole time and there’s so—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And if someone’s used to using momentum at all, you don’t need nearly as a heavy of a weight. Because when you just take away all momentum, it’s amazing how much harder that weight becomes to push.
Jim Keen: Right. Precisely right. So, if the goal is to lift some weight, you’re gonna— yet the goal is external. I’m gonna do whatever I can to use momentum and lift this weight. But, you have to reverse your perspective. The goal is in your body, and we’re just using the weight as a tool. I don’t care how heavy the weight is. I care what’s happening in the body. So, to your point exactly. You can use far lower amounts of weight, which makes it safer, which is good uh— ‘cause weights are inherently dangerous. So, yeah. Less weight and really control it uh— ‘cause the goal is in here not extra.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right. So, some kind of uh— a push or pull something in the— in the frontal plane here, where you’re pulling down straight, uh— a hip extension, a knee extension, uh— just things like that, that really hit all those different factors there. Is that true?
Jim Keen: Yeah. The most consolidated routine you could do and have like kind of your 80-20 effect would just be like a leg press, a chest press and a row. Even if you did those three things intensely and focused, uhm— I’d maybe call it— Yes, 70-30. It’s better than sitting at home. It’s— it’s great for longevity and all the rest. You can add two more upper body movements to that uh— to make it a little more rounded out. And then, if you wanted to expand that, then you could talk about some of the single joint things like leg extension or leg curl or uhm— typically, it’s young males, but uh-huh— people will just— yeah, do some biceps, do some triceps, rows— Don’t let bros skip biceps. So—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly.
Jim Keen: …to be fired up
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly.
Jim Keen: Oh— Oh, it’s the guns every now and then. And uh— get your life together like that. And uh— but yeah. So that— so that’s what I would recommend. Have. Try to make each workout be uhm— worth your trip. Full body workout, focus. Be intense but safe.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Awesome, Jim. Is there anything else you want the listeners to know…
Jim Keen: What up—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: …that you think is important?
Jim Keen: Yeah. I— I think the uh— the— the ARX— I’ve kind of explained what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and uh— I—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.
Jim Keen: Of course, all about that. I changed careers to be part of the ARX movement. [crosstalk] So—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Jim Keen: So, I’m into that. But as far as uh— a take away for your listeners- ‘cause I keep forgetting it myself, how important it is to prioritize sleep.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm—
Jim Keen: And no matter how much you learn about it, seemingly— at least this is me. Maybe I’m just slow. Uh— and no matter how much you learn about it, it tends to just eventually get neglected until you wake up one day, and you’re like, “Why am I eating 30 minutes before bed? And how come I’m going to bed at 11:30 after watching some movie, and how come I’m— uuh— I needed to go to bed earlier. I need to get the electronics out of the room. I need to make it pitch black in here. I need to not go out so often.” Or whatever you need to do, when you start sleeping really well, uh— everything is better. Your decision making is better. Your thinking is better. So— And you grow better from your ARX workouts. Uh— and your growth, your sleep— That’s where more is better. That’s where the good stuff happens. Whatever [crosstalk] change you want, your body is produced while you’re sleeping. So, get the hell to bed. It’s my— my main advice.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Make sense. So, we got growth hormone tapping out between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM, so get in bed. The hours on the other side of midnight count for double, so keep that in the back of your mind. Maximize your hormone so you can grow outside your workout. Love it, Jim. Alright, man. Hey, appreciate it. arxfit.com. Checkout the Facebook page as well. And Jim, can people follow you anywhere?
Jim Keen: Uh— Well, my personal uh— Facebook page tends to get a little wild and willy. So you can follow me.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: It does. [laughs]
Jim Keen: As you know.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I know.
Jim Keen: So, you could follow me. Uh— I’m the guy who does the ARX posts for Facebook. But…
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Oh, yeah.
Jim Keen: …of course, family show language. And so, uh— you can follow me at ARX’s Facebook page. It’s probably the best way to get my takes on uh— on the latest and greatest in the health and wellness, and technology uh— field.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I love when you managed it, and you have people that have silly posts and you— you kind of comment [JIm laughs] on it, and then you took a screenshot of it. Oh, that is just—
Jim Keen: I— I am not immune uh— to messing with the trolls. Uh— I— I got to avoid boredom too, you know. I— I got to— I got to keep myself busy, so that’s always a fun time.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You should never feed the trolls. I love it, man. Very cool. Well, Jim, appreciate it.
Jim Keen: [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Jim Keen. Uhm— phenomenal. We’ll have the show notes up, and everything below. Any last link to send the listeners at all?
Jim Keen: Just arxfit.com. We have a bunch of videos and resources there. Check us out. Reach out via personal message of the Facebook page. It’ll be me answering that message. So, if you uh— have any questions for me, personally, just shoot ARX Fit a message and I’ll get it. I— and then uh— yeah that’s— that’s probably best. I look forward to hearing from everybody.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And if you want to troll Jim, you’ve been warned. [laughs]
Jim Keen: [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Thank you for coming to the show, Jim. Really appreciate it. You take care.
Jim Keen: Right. Uh— thanks, Justin.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Bye.
References:
Dr. Jack Kruse
Garry Taubes
“The Smarter Science of Slim” and “The Calorie Myth,” by Jonathan Bailor
Jason Fung
High Intensity training by Ellington Darden, PhD.
“The Nautilus Exercise Principles” by Arthur Jones, founder of MedX
“Body by Science” by Dr. Doug McGuff and John R. Little
The Ghost car in Mario Kart
Keith Norris’ May 2017 Interview in Just in Health
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