The disciplined life should taste like something.
Shaka Bros is a Chicago health-and-wellness company started by three friends who train hard and take their mornings seriously. We press ginger, apple and lemon by hand, bottle it in glass, and deliver it weekly — to the sunrise plunge, the gym floor, the start line.
Everything we make follows one rule: it has to earn a place in a routine that already works. Small, daily, and honest about what it does. Hang loose — and show up.
Ginger. Apple. Lemon.
Nothing else.
Three ingredients, pressed the morning we deliver. No concentrate, no added sugar, no preservatives — the lemon does that work. Cold, in glass, in three sizes.
One percent better, every day, compounds to thirty-seven times — not thirty-seven percent. That is the whole program. Consistency and intensity in the training, and in what you put in your body.
“The curse of discipline is that every day looks the same. The curse of indiscipline is that every year does.”
A day, with Shaka.
Wake. One shot.
Two ounces of ginger, apple and lemon, cold, before coffee. Ginger for the gut and the soreness from yesterday; lemon for the vitamin C. The smallest promise of the day, kept first.
Two to three hours out. Beetroot.
Dietary nitrate takes time to become nitric oxide. Beetroot capsules taken well before the session — better blood flow, better muscle efficiency when the work gets hard.
Twenty minutes out. Honey.
Fast carbohydrate for the heavy set, the way CrossFit athletes have used it for years — a packet before the lift, another between events on a long day.
Friday. The plunge.
The lake is cold and the coolers are full. This is where Shaka Bros started — handing shots to people who got up early to do something hard together.
Where to find us →Three friends. One rule.
Chicago-based, ocean-minded. Two of the three are on the road to Hyrox Chicago this February.
Alex
Co-founder · CEOI bought a commercial juicer years ago and wanted to build a company around it long before the timing was right. This year juicing became a daily habit, a fresh press every morning, and Shaka Bros is the company I had been waiting to start. Every shot we bottle is one I drink myself. That is the standard.
I grew up playing lacrosse, and sport shaped a lot of who I am. That changed when I tore my ACL. Surgery and rehab forced me to start over, and I chose to take recovery seriously. I was lucky to have great mentors along the way, including my physical therapist, who is now the lead physical therapist for the Charlotte Hornets.
Rehab is where I found calisthenics. The gym used to intimidate me; recovery changed that, because I was focused on my own progress and nothing else. Bodyweight training fit that mindset: real strength, easy on the joints, in tune with my own body. I'm playing a different game than the gym bros, and that's the point.
Training is how I stay grounded. When I skip it, I feel it. I train to failure and aim to be 1% better every day, and that carries into everything else: the business, my health, my well-being.
This February I'm racing Hyrox Chicago in doubles with Matthew, raising money for Women's Empowerment. We were both raised by single mothers, and their strength shaped who we are. I'm not a runner by identity, but eight kilometers between eight stations is the right kind of challenge.
Nick
Co-founder · Brand & contentNick here. My connection to health and fitness started with my own personal journey. After losing over 50 pounds in 6 months, I completely changed the way I looked at nutrition, training, and taking care of myself.
What started as a goal to lose weight quickly turned into a real passion for the gym, healthy living, and constantly becoming a better version of myself.
Shaka Bros sits right at the intersection of a lot of what I care about: health, community, creativity, and building something real. As a co-founder, I help shape the brand, community, and direction of Shaka Bros while staying closely involved in the hands-on work behind it.
For me, it's more than just making juice shots. It's about creating something we genuinely believe in, building a community around health and an active lifestyle, and making products that fit into the lives we're already living ourselves.
Matthew
Co-founder · OperationsI'm Matthew Rilling, a UW–Madison graduate with degrees in Finance and Economics and a lifelong love for sports. After growing up playing soccer and basketball, I'm now chasing new challenges and building a business around my passion for fitness.
My goal is to connect with awesome people while helping athletes manage energy levels and inflammation. Next up: Hyrox, a half marathon, and a triathlon.
Racing for something beyond the clock.
Two of us — Matthew and Alex — race Hyrox Chicago with Race for Impact, the HYROX initiative with High Impact Athletes. Every dollar pledged to the Shaka Bros team goes to the Women's Empowerment fund: high-impact charities expanding access to reproductive healthcare and reducing gender-based violence.
Partners we train with.
Sunrise, mostly.
Fitness events, gyms, clubs and the lakefront. The coolers travel.
Every date →The first run goes to the list.
A monthly subscription, delivered weekly. Ginger, apple and lemon first — beetroot and honey next, or all three. No pricing yet. The list hears first.
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