An Escape With a Goal

If you’ve been considering a week or more away to focus on your health, you’ve probably been eyeing beloved wellness retreats — like Canyon Ranch — that involve a cross-country plane ride. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with distant getaways, but if you want to stay closer to home, you can, thanks to Rock Springs Retreat Center (RSRC) and their Fit Farm fitness retreats in Castalian Springs.

Less than an hour from Nashville, Fit Farm is an all-inclusive retreat where participants focus on their health and fitness goals. For many, that goal is weight loss, while others set their sights on building muscle, gaining mobility or recovering from an injury. Personal reasons are various and layered, like the couple who came to Fit Farm as their first post-retirement trip to solidify wellness strategies before embarking on their travels together. Another reason arrived with a mother who brought her college-age sons: one wanted to lose the “Freshman 15,” while the other looked to bulk up. Sometimes, women want to intentionally focus on their own health, so they book a fitness retreat at RSRC after years of being caretakers to others.

Kristin Intress gets it. The founder of Fit Farm at Rock Springs Retreat Center, Kristin opened the resort in honor of her late mother — a therapist — who counseled people to take care of themselves first, so they could better care for others. As the adage reminds us, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

The Fit Farm formula involves seven hours of movement per day — which can sound intimidating to newcomers. But movement comes through a cross-section of activities. As different muscle groups are engaged, guests are exposed to many kinds of exercise to find just the right personal formula. Activities include weight training, pickleball, basketball, boxing, water aerobics, yoga, running and various high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes. Groups can hike to nearby Bledsoe Creek State Park, and sometimes there are fun outings to obstacle courses and zip lines in the area. Trainers use Apple Watches and Fitbits to help folks track their movement on a regular basis.

In between the fitness and movement activities, there are workshops — more like conversations than lectures — about fitness, nutrition, cooking, mental health and more.

New Yorker Lizzie Tucker has been to Fit Farm nine times — sometimes for a weekend, sometimes longer: “I could go to Rome, I could go to Paris, I could go to all these other places, but I’m not interested in that. This place changed my life. It is just amazing knowing that I can come here, get hugs, get encouragement. I get friendships, healthy food, awesome workout classes and beautiful scenery.”

That scenery is thanks to Rock Springs’ 200 acres of land — much of it undeveloped — offering rolling hills for walks, runs and views of the sunset from the deck of the main lodge.

Part of the Fit Farm philosophy is that everyone works out together, often with partners. Someone pushing their deadlift personal record can rotate with someone who has never lifted weights before. Together, they encourage each other, are exposed to other perspectives, and learn proper form and injury prevention. “It is a nice common denominator; everything else slips away,” Lizzie says.

Paul Kiger agrees. He first came to Fit Farm from Indiana seeking help losing the 30 to 40 pounds he had gained after getting sober. Paul wanted somewhere that would provide nutrition strategies for the long-term, and the fact that he could bring his dog with him was an added bonus. “It became way more than fitness and nutrition. It helped me on my spiritual growth journey. And now I go back,” Paul says, “but not just for fitness. I go back to refill my soul. I go back because of the trainers, because of the fellowship.”

Those trainers and other staff are on-site most of the day, and they are energetic, inclusive, nonjudgmental and encouraging; this isn’t the kind of place where a trainer will yell at you. They might suggest that you add more weight for your bicep curls, but no one is berating you. Trainers are able to offer modifications for everything — bad knees, injured shoulders, fear of water; whatever it may be, they’ll help you replicate the movement in a way that won’t hurt you. 

Staff members also forge connections with guests, remembering their names and their interests, despite meeting many new people every week.

“A company is never about the owner. I’m good at fixing things. I’m good at seeing processes. I’m good at seeing strategy. But ultimately, it’s the people that make the difference,” Kristin says of her staff and their importance. “I can’t replicate a person. I can replicate the process. I can build a building, I can design something, but ultimately, it’s the people that aren’t replicable.”

Sessions are available for long weekends (weekend warriors) and week or multi-week stays. Nashville-area residents can buy day passes, too. Classes are small — currently the total capacity is 40 people — and class size is often around 12 people, allowing guests to get individual attention and build relationships. “I wanted people to feel like it was about them, not about numbers,” Kristin says.

Nothing at Fit Farm is mandatory; one attendee jokes, “It’s not prison.” If you don’t want to wake up for the pre-breakfast run-squats session, don’t. You can opt instead to walk along the rolling hills of the property to visit the horses or check out the vegetable garden — which is integrated into meal prep. There’s Wi-Fi throughout the property and plenty of space to work, whether in your room or in common areas with various views and vibes.

The resident dog, named Tucker, can often be seen roaming the farm and in one of the buildings where Kristin featured his portrait in a mural she painted. The pup is just another member of the community and helps people relax in a new environment. For those going through a major change in their health, having their dog with them can be supportive. As Paul learned, some of the accommodations are dog-friendly — not all are, though, so people with allergies have no need to worry.

Kristin concludes: “The other tough thing about a place like this — and this is why there’s not a lot of [businesses like ours] out there — is that you have to be in the right place in your life to come here. Financially, you have to have a little bit of money, and you have to have time. And that’s the perfect triad: when those three factors align, it’s kind of like an eclipse.”