R3VIVE’s Member of the Month, December 2022

R3VIVE Fitness • December 11, 2022
Woman in gym dips on a wooden box. “Dec 2022 Gym M.O.M.” text. Gym interior with another woman in background.
Introducing our Gym M.O.M. (Member of the Month) for December 2022 … Merian Lopez !⁠
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Merian has been a valuable member at R3VIVE for over 2 years now. Her journey began with personal training and personal programming, which then evolved into constantly taking classes.
 
During her initial visits, it was easy to see that Merian was fully capable of participating in classes due to her high energy and how she moved. However, the choice was made to create a path that would set her up for long term success rather than short term.

Going the route from personal training to classes has proven to herself that creating and following a long term plan outweighs any “quick fix” plan. We hope that her journey inspires you!
 
We are super proud to finally crown her as our gym’s member of the month!

Learn more about Merian below:

Q: What made you decide to start functional fitness training?
I decided to start functional fitness training to gain muscular resistance in a general way, increase cardiovascular performance and to avoid muscle imbalance in the future.

Q: Are you a student/working professional/both? What do you do for a living?
I work full time as a preschool teacher and administrative assistant.

Q: What are your hobbies/interests outside of the gym?
I love listening to romantic music and walking

Q: What are some of your favorite movements (name up to three)?
 My favorite moves are: back squat, front squat, deadlift

Q: What are your least favorite movements?
 My least favorite movements are: Lunges and biking

Q: What movements do you want to improve at?
 Clean and jerk and Kipping pull-up

Q: What advice do you have for someone considering our gym?
 I would say to them that they should definitely participate in a group training class where they can train in a supportive community with the common goal of achieving optimum health all while having fun.

Q: What’s your favorite “cheat” food?
 My favorite cheat food is the Dominican Sancocho that is made of all kinds of meat and vegetables and different carbohydrates.

Q: What is your guilty pleasure?
 My guilty pleasure is white bread with avocado and the pistachio and Myers’s rum Raisin ice cream flavors from JP Licks

Q: Do you have any nicknames?
 When I was a child they called me “Apirina” and some relatives still call me that.

Q: Tell us an interesting fact that we probably don’t know about you!
An interesting fact about me is that I like to help others. Every year I travel to my city of birth in the Dominican Republic, to make different donations such as donating clothes and toys to children, wheelchairs, walkers, canes and pampers for the elderly. If someone is in a difficult situation, they contact me and I collect so I can help them either with food or some medicine. I love being able to help others!

Why Can't I Always Lift My Max?

By Derek Saffold • February 19, 2026
Strength expression is our ability to show or utilize the strength we have. We call it expression because in the world of lifting, CrossFit, functional fitness, or training, our ability to show that strength varies. Even though our potential strength is the same, we are not always able to fully express it the way we want. Whether that is hitting a max back squat, doing heavy thrusters in a CrossFit style workout, or hitting that heavy clean complex when olympic lifting, we will not always be able to hit our maxes, this is because of factors outside of just our strength itself.

Introducing EL3VATE

By Derek Saffold • January 27, 2026
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Apex Training Cycle

By Derek Saffold • December 26, 2025
Hey R3VIVE Athletes, The Apex training cycle, going from January 5th to April 3rd, is our next training cycle! This will be the firt training cycle of the new year! this is a chance to refocus and get in some good work to help you reach your goals! lets all work together to crush this training cycle! Functional Fitness: The Apex Cycle is designed to make your year-long strength work truly functional, focusing on controlled, powerful movements, complexes under fatigue, and mandated touch-and-go reps to prepare you for mixed-modal workouts. Our strength culminates in the classic CrossFit Total and the "R3VIVE Other Total," while conditioning features a wide variety of time domains, movement volume builds (like wall balls, toes-to-bar, and burpees), and regular Friday retests of past workouts to track your progress and ensure you perform your absolute best. Build: Designed to bring together all your training from the past year and prepare you for your strongest performance yet. Our strength work will focus on controlled, powerful movements, building you up to test your limits with both the classic CrossFit Total and the "R3VIVE Other Total," which challenges your skill and strength balance. Expect a well-rounded program including unilateral strength, skill work, and core stability, with dedicated days for deadlifts, squats, gymnastics, and varied accessory work to keep you healthy and constantly progressing. For conditioning, we're tailoring the work to challenge you in new ways, featuring a wide variety of time domains and movements, and a specific volume build on common movements like wall balls, toes-to-bar, and burpees. Instead of a standard test/retest, we'll be performing regular retests of past workouts on Fridays, allowing you to easily track your progress and see how far you've come. Our weekly template balances intensity—with short, fast metcons on Mondays—with recovery, incorporating lower impact endurance work on Thursdays, and a strategic taper toward the end of the week to set you up for success on Friday! Partner workouts will wrap up your week every Saturday, bringing the whole community together.
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