People struggling with an alcohol addiction are harming their bodies in a couple of ways. First, they are introducing a toxic element into their body on a regular basis. Second, they develop unhealthy behaviors that cause them to neglect their overall health. In order to repair the damage done, addicts have to work very hard in treatment and throughout their … [Read more...]

I'd always been an athlete and an amateur weight lifter, but as I drank heavily for a decade, my gym sessions suffered. I would go to the gym, do the elliptical machine for 15 minutes, do some curls or tricep extensions, and then feel so defeated and nauseous that I'd simply go home. Quitting drinking renewed my workouts - which became longer and WAY MORE FUN as I … [Read more...]

I named this site Fit Recovery because I wanted to emphasize the incredible synergy between exercise and addiction recovery.  Once you’ve resolved to quit or cut down on alcohol, exercise can play a huge role in your efforts to recover from addiction and transform your life. The early phase of my recovery from alcohol addiction was made possible by iron bars and plates. During … [Read more...]

Trust me, I know what it's like to wake up and feel weak, fragile and jaded. This is how I felt for the first month after I quit drinking. I also know what it's like to wake up feeling strong, energized and like I'm on a mission to conquer the world. You want to feel weak and fragile for as short as possible so that you can feel strong and energized on a permanent … [Read more...]

You can repeat "mind over matter" all you want, but your mind is made out of matter. If you're trying to beat addiction, you have to physically rewire your own brain. One of the best ways to do this is to make a commitment to healing and strengthening your body. Consider the following: Your gut contains over 100 million neurons that scientists have recently termed … [Read more...]

When I started writing about fitness and addiction recovery, I was upfront about my distaste for running. I have a lot of friends who started ambitious running programs and then simply quit because their joints got sore and their muscles burned out. I still believe that everyone over the age of 13 should lift weights (relative to their size) but my attitude toward running … [Read more...]

It's amazing how quickly you can shift your mind onto a higher plane with a tiny dose of exercise. I did this workout this morning. I was not on the verge of relapse, but I felt needed a quick boost of energy. I remembered the early days of recovery, when relapse always seemed imminent, and recalled how I used to do a 30 minute morning workout to ward off those dangerous … [Read more...]

There's a huge disconnect between what most people do in the gym and what they think they're doing. It's very rare to see a person in the gym who's giving 100%, and a lot of the problem is psychological rather than physical. Give a person who's about to reach "failure" on bench press a bit of help by grabbing the bar, and suddenly they bust out 5 more reps. They think you're … [Read more...]

Maintaining your fitness shouldn't be a drag. Properly done, it will increase your energy levels. I have a 3-pronged approach for staying in shape all year long, and it's pretty simple. Back when I started hitting the weights in rehab, I had no plan except to feel good and momentarily increase my mood. It worked and I started getting leaner and bigger. Without all of that … [Read more...]

I'm going to share with you the fastest way I know of to get fit without a gym. I created this program last summer for myself, because I was about to be out of town for two weddings for nearly 2 weeks. It takes about 30 mins and it's ridiculously effective. After every time I did this, I looked and felt like I'd just gotten back from the gym. It's the closest thing to a … [Read more...]