There’s no membership or fee. The only requirement is 48 hours of sobriety, on an honor system.
Eric Henderson chills out at the Phoenix Gym and Community Center in Boston. (John Tlumacki/Globe)
December 4, 2025 | 12:44 PM
2 minutes to read
For most people, April 8, 1997, was just another Tuesday. For Scott Strode, it marked the start of an entirely new life.
It was his first day in recovery from cocaine and alcohol, a milestone he still cherishes, even if he did have to look up the exact date to make sure he had it right (to his delight.)
“It’s always a gift to be sober long enough that you have to look it up,” he told Boston.com in an interview.
Scott Strode (center). (Photos by Danny Bristoll) – Danny Bristoll
Strode, a South End father of two, grew up under the power lines of childhood trauma. His father suffered from untreated mental illness and his step-father from untreated alcoholism. This led his self-esteem to suffer, he said, which fueled the flames of his addiction.
At the time he began recovery, Strode was living in Boston and working as a woodworker in the boat yards at Charlestown Navy Yard. His addiction, he said, was eating him and his ambitions alive.
“Substance use was just stripping away the dreams of who I thought I could be,” Strode said.
His recovery didn’t begin in a 12-step program or rehab — it began with exercise.
A boxing class in Kenmore Square led him to buy a Gore-Tex jacket, which led him to climb New Hampshire’s White Mountains. “I thought getting outdoors might get me out of my addiction,” he laughed over the phone. Turns out, his impulse purchase was the silver bullet.
“Every time I got to the top of a climb, I was more of a climber than an addict, and that shift started to help me solidify my recovery,” he said. “I just wanted to share it with other people.”
Strode is the founder of The Phoenix, a nonprofit gym built around a simple idea: exercise, community, and creativity can support sobriety. There is no membership or fee associated with using The Phoenix’s gyms. The only requirement is 48 hours of sobriety, on an honor system (no drug tests are conducted). The classes are mostly taught by volunteers who are in recovery themselves.
Since its 2006 founding in Colorado, The Phoenix has expanded nationwide serving more than a million people. Strode brought it to Boston in 2018, opening a gym at 54 Newmarket Square — near the heart of the city’s opioid crisis.
“It’s exactly where our front door needs to be open,” Strode said.
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(Photos courtesy of The Phoenix) – Courtesy of The Phoenix
Research supports the approach: exercise can “provide important mental, physical, and social benefits integral to sustaining recovery and supporting long-term well-being,” according to Current Sports Medicine Reports.
The Boston location has now served approximately 20,000 people, with about 100 people served per day, offering 10-12 daily programs including group exercise, yoga, boxing, jiu jitsu, coffee socials, and support meetings. First responders are also welcome to train in the gym. It’s a part of Strode’s goal to create community and show “the hope side of recovery.”
“We have fire cadets that train in here and are working out alongside people whose lives were saved on the street” he added.
Strode believes The Phoenix is more than just an alternative recovery model; he sees it as a way to help reverse the stigma around addiction by sowing compassion, not discord.
“We have folks that society would view as on the fringe or the problem in our community,” he said. “In this moment, where we can feel polarized and divided, if the Phoenix community can help each other rise, we can do that more broadly as a country.”
Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.
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