John Cunningham, right, and Meagan Cunningham stand in front of a weight rack inside Rat Park CrossFit and Fitness, an exercise center that is slated to open in April. The center is the vision of Recover Out Loud, an organization that helps people going through recovery from substance use disorder, and will be open to the public.
Through the burn, sweat and weariness, the group forged a sense of strength.
Members of the Recover Out Loud community found exercise to be a key part of their recovery from substance use disorder. In group fitness classes, participants have established important routines and developed relationships to support each other.
Now, the organization is hoping to increase that reach to others.
Recover Out Loud plans to open a fitness center in April in Columbus as another tool to fight against addiction. Rat Park CrossFit and Fitness will offer group classes, utilizing exercise as a tool to maintain a healthy body and mind for both people in active recovery and the general public.
Organizers hope the center provides an important tool for people who are struggling with substance use disorder, giving them the support to leave addiction behind for good.
“We really believe the opposite of addiction is connection. With this fitness program we’ve created, fitness is the core part of it,” said John Cunningham, an Edinburgh native and founder of Recover Out Loud.
Recover Out Loud uses fitness, sports, social events and other activities as an integral part of the recovery process. They are open about the trials that led them to this point, and share their own experiences in the community.
Since forming initially in Greensburg, they have expanded to include six different gatherings in Franklin, Columbus, Bloomington, Seymour and Nashville. They are also active in the Edinburgh area.
Recovery Fitness in Training, or R-FIT, became one of the organization’s keystone programs during the pandemic. They blend exercise classes such as HIIT, endurance training, CrossFit, POUND, yoga and dancing, using fitness as a tool to heal their bodies, minds and spirits for a holistic approach to recovery.
“When you’ve been an addict for 15, 20 years, it’s really hard to look in the mirror and find any self-love or confidence,” Cunningham said. “When we bring in the body piece, not only am I clean and sober, my mind is strong, and I’m physically healthy. I can look in that mirror confidently.”
Cunningham, his wife Meagan Cunningham and others transformed a carport into a gym, and members would meet outside to do open-air workouts starting in May 2020.
“We were doing virtual, but just going stir crazy, because we’re very connected people,” Meagan Cunningham said. “We created this little group of our recovery community, just to make sure we had something to keep us going through the pandemic.”
The success of R-FIT inspired Recover Out Loud to explore opening a permanent place to hold their exercise. They reached out to the Phoenix, a national sober active community, to partner with. The Phoenix’s program has shown impressive results. Of people who started their program and stayed with them for at least three months, 87% have remained sober.
Recover Out Loud leadership chose a very specific reason for the new fitness center. Studies done by psychologists in the 1970s and 80s found that rats given morphine, and then isolated, would take the drug continuously until they died. But when rats addicted to morphine were placed in a cage with other rats, better food and exercise wheels, that socialization resulted in the addicted rats being less likely to take the drugs.
Researchers named the social cage Rat Park.
“That’s where the whole idea of the opposite of addiction being connection comes from,” John Cunningham said.
The facility is located next to Recover Out Loud’s community center in Columbus. Sessions involve recovery fitness education and discussion, before taking the information they learn into the gym.
The classes will be led by certified trainers, who also are all in long-term recovery.
Brittany Dyer will be one of those trainers. The Columbus resident first became involved with Recover Out Loud in January of 2020, when she started her own recovery journey.
Attending other recovery meetings helped somewhat, but Recover Out Loud was a revelation.
“There were these people who just wanted to live life sober and be happy. That was a new thing to me that I’d never heard before in any other meeting,” she said. “It really inspired me.”
Using her own experience to help others in recovery is an opportunity Dyer is excited about.
“My biggest goal is to show people how to live a holistic life, and show all of the benefits that fitness can have, not just for your physical health but for your mental health. That’s a huge deal for people in recovery, and people in general. Fitness is a staple piece in living a happy life,” she said.
After pausing briefly last year, Recover Out Loud will resume its R-Fit on March 7. They plan to open Rat Park during a block party on April 2, featuring sample classes, a DJ and other activities. The fitness center will be open to the general public, and the hope is that it offers a place for all people, including those who have been impacted by family or friends battling addiction.
“We’re really trying to hone into this larger community who weren’t addicted but have been severely impacted by the epidemic, and bring them in to give them a sense of support and community,” Meagan Cunningham said.
