REPS ROUNDUP

AUGUST 2026 

Stronger Starts Here. 

Your latest dose of workouts, wins, motivation, and everything happening in 
and around REPS! 

Welcome to the first edition of REPS Roundup!

There is a lot that happens in and around your gym and neighborhood that deserves more than a quick post or a conversation by the squat rack. A monthly newsletter felt like the right way to
bring it all together.

Each month, we’ll bring together practical fitness topics, updates from inside REPS, and a few things happening around Chicago. Some months we’ll talk training. Others might cover
recovery, mindset, nutrition, or questions coming directly from our members.

The goal isn’t to overwhelm you with information. It’s to give you one or two things each month that can actually make a difference in how you train and how you feel.

And if there’s something you’ve been wondering about, struggling with, or want us to cover, let us know. Talk to one of our coaches or send us an email.

That is a big reason this newsletter exists.

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Did you know?

Your membership comes with a complementary consultation with one of our trainers, including a body composition scan. It is a simple way to get a clearer picture of where you are, talk through goals and figure out the next best steps for your training.

Click here to leave us your request. A trainer will reach out to you soon. This conversation can be about anything; body comp, form, workout routine suggestions, etc

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First, we want to take a moment to acknowledge some familiar faces who recently moved on from REPS.

Erin brought to REPS a passion for small-group training and a drive to reach as many people as possible. He was organized, energetic, and always looking for new ways to improve the facility
— even the smallest conversation could turn into a huge brainstorming session. He, his wife, and their new child are headed back to California to be closer to family. His insight will be
missed, and we wish them the best!

Will always brought a burst of energy to his classes and clients. He started with us at the front desk before studying to become a trainer and group exercise instructor under Gabe’s guidance.
His laughter and smile were something we always looked forward to seeing. He’s headed to Scotland to follow his girlfriend on new endeavors. Good luck, Will!

Julia joined us as a newly certified instructor and quickly connected with members, especially the women she trained. She brought positivity, enthusiasm for the industry, and jumped into
coaching like a veteran. She’s headed to Colorado to be with family. Good luck, Julia!

We’re grateful for everything they gave to the REPS community and wish them nothing but the best. Once a REPS coach, always part of the family.

Now, the good news: we’ve got four new coaches joining the REPS team, and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce them.

Coach Key started boxing as a way to lose weight and ended up stepping into the ring as an amateur boxer. That journey taught him what discipline and doing hard things can really do for a
person. Now, as a USA Boxing coach certified through ACE and NASM, he brings that same energy to every class — fun, competitive, and genuinely pushing you further than you thought
you could go.

>>> Check out our classes here 

Joe brings a bachelor’s degree in biology, a background as a Chicago firefighter, and a certified trainer’s eye for body composition and functional movement. His philosophy is simple: every rep
should have a purpose, and every session should leave you knowing your body a little better than before.

>>> Check out our classes here 

Kumresh is a human movement specialist with a B.S. in Movement Science from the University of Michigan and NASM certification, with expertise in biomechanics, corrective mobility, and
sports performance. He and Coach Key have a history of working together, so you’ll likely see them sharing space and pushing each other — which means you’ll be pushed too. Kumresh will
be teaching and subbing strength classes, assisting Coach Key with our boxing program, and helping with an Intro to Muay Thai event soon.

Jevone is a certified personal trainer and strength and body-composition coach with more than 20 years of experience helping clients become stronger, improve their fitness, and build
sustainable exercise and nutrition habits. His specialties include strength training, muscle development, body recomposition, fat loss, movement quality, corrective exercise, nutrition coaching, and long-term program design.

His continuing education includes the NSCA-CPT, Precision Nutrition Level 1, and advanced training in program design, periodization, hypertrophy, fat loss, strength development,
movement assessment, and behavior change. His coaching style is knowledgeable, supportive, and detail-oriented, helping clients understand the purpose behind their program and make
consistent progress without extreme or unsustainable methods.

Jevone will be teaching strength classes, personal training, and specialty classes and events for REPS. (Coming soon!)

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COACH’S PICK

“Boxing is one of my favorite sports. It’s very individualistic, which I personally love. Once you learn the fundamentals and things start to click, it can become very 
therapeutic. The best part is it’s a hell of a workout and it’s fun. It’ll condition you while making you feel like a badass. Not to mention, it’s a skill you can take with you 
anywhere (just don’t go starting fights now, ya hear?). 

The good news is you don’t have to do it alone. And you probably shouldn’t. If you’ve ever thought about getting into boxing, now’s the time. The best way to learn 
is from a coach, and now you can learn alongside others right here at REPS. I highly recommend jumping into a class, no matter your experience level.” 

— Coach Nate 

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TOPIC OF THE MONTH

MUSCLE ACTION VS. MUSCLE FUNCTION 

WHY “STRONGER” ISN’T ALWAYS THE ANSWER 

Let’s start with a common concept most people get backwards. Everyone loves training their glutes.

Bridges, bands, booty burners. But your glutes don’t even work that way in real life.

Here’s the problem: how a muscle functions isn’t the same as how it acts. But most rehab and training programs ignore that distinction entirely.

Let’s start with the word “function.” It’s the industry’s favorite all-purpose seasoning. Functional warm-ups. Functional bands.

Functional BOSU circus acts. But ask five coaches what “functional” means and you’ll get five different answers.

Here’s ours: real human function is how the body behaves when we walk and breathe. That’s it.

The good news? You don’t need a PhD to understand this. If you’re a walking, breathing human, you’re qualified. Even better: this definition gives us a smarter, more efficient way to train and rehab.

Here’s the breakdown. Muscle action is what a muscle does when it moves from insertion to origin. We build strength through muscle action. Muscle function is how that muscle behaves in real life, as we walk and breathe. This is how we build stability.

Take the gluteus medius, for example. Its actions include internal rotation, extension, and external rotation at the hip. That’s why most people prescribe clamshells, monster walks, or any flavor of hip abduction. Pretty standard PT stuff.

But here’s the catch. That’s not how it functions. In real life, like when you walk, you’re not externally rotating or abducting your hip with every step. That would be crazy. That person should be institutionalized. You’re stabilizing on one leg. In fact, 60% of the gait cycle is spent in stance phase. One foot on the ground, glute working its ass off (pun intended) just to keep you from tipping over.

That’s function.

You ever see someone walking with their feet flying out to the side on the sidewalk? Me neither. But somehow those same clamshells are the go-to fix in most rehab settings. It’s like trying to
learn swimming by doing jumping jacks. This is a textbook example of confusing strength with stability.

And it’s a big reason why glute med strengthening often fails to solve the actual issue.

Here’s where the reframe matters. When someone has knee or low back issues, the instinct is to strengthen the glutes.

But if you reframe it as a stability problem rather than a strength problem, everything changes. You stop doing clamshells and start training single-leg stance. Completely different exercise. Completely different goal.

Maybe the glutes, like a lot of areas, shouldn’t be so quickly labeled weak. Because if we’re calling something weak when it’s really unstable, we’re solving the wrong problem.

Not sure where you fall on that scale? Grab one of our trainers. That’s what they’re here for.

Now, are isolation exercises bad? Of course not. We still use them when they make sense. It depends on the person and where they’re at. But the goal is always to get people functioning as
soon as possible. Because when you train the body to co-contract, stabilize, and move with quality, it carries over to everything: walking, running, jumping, lifting. More efficient. More fun.
Better results. Understanding both muscle action and muscle function lets you map exercises on a sliding scale of strength vs. stability. Not right vs. wrong. Just purpose.

PUT IT INTO ACTION: 

Next time you’re programming glute work, ask yourself: am I training the action or the function? If you want to test the function, try a side plank for lateral hip stability. It also works shoulder
stability and your core in the frontal plane. Great bang-for-your-buck exercise. Or even better, a single-leg deadlift. But wait a sec…

The single-leg deadlift actually requires a more integrated approach involving multiple joints working together. But that opens up a whole other conversation. And this has already gone on way too long for the
first issue, so we’ll save that for next time 😉

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So that’s a wrap on issue #1.

We had a lot of ground to cover our first issue. We hope you find something useful, something fun and/or something to share. If there is anything you want us to cover next month let us know. This is what this is for!

See you next month!

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REPS MISSION STATEMENT 

At REPS, our mission is to empower every member of our community to achieve lasting health, confidence and connection through disciplined training, inclusive programming and meaningful
service.

Every workout, every class, every act of support is a REP toward a stronger, kinder, more resilient community.

REPS. Train hard. Serve harder.