CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There's that moment in a workout when you think, "I'm done and I can't go on."

Sometimes we stop short but these men in this one class are fighters.

“I looked in the mirror and saw a ghost. There was no soul at all,” said Nate Hamilton.

Hamilton used to be a financial planner, but he also used to be addicted to alcohol.

• Five CrossFit trainers volunteer at the Charlotte Rescue Mission.
• Nate Hamilton, who used to be addicted to alcohol, is a volunteer and teaches a class.
• Know an Everyday Hero? Nominate them by emailing us at everydayheroes@charter.com

“On the outside I looked very successful,” Hamilton said. “On the inside I was completely done.”

Help came in the form of counseling. It also came from an unlikely activity.

“I've got a hamster that just keeps going and going and going. It gets going too fast and I get all whacked out, so i have to slow that hamster down a little bit,” Hamilton said. “The workout helps me to slow that hamster down a little bit.”

But at this CrossFit class Hamilton isn't the student, he’s the teacher.

Hamilton is a certified CrossFit instructor and every week he volunteers and teaches a class to men also facing hardship at the Charlotte Rescue Mission.

The residents spend four months at the mission. They get counseling to help with their addiction but it's exercise that keeps them sound.

“It makes you feel like a human being again, like a man, it gets my endorphines back up, almost like the drugs and alcohol used to,” said resident Daniel Wolf.

But to get their endorphines spinning, Hamilton wants them to sweat.

“He's pretty tough,” Wolf said. “About a one to 10, I'd give a six.”

Not too tough but he's giving them a workout, including Wolf who does CrossFit five days a week.

“The pain that I go through doing this exercise, when I'm out of breath, when my bones and joints are hurting... if I just push through it I'll just do better,” Wolf said.

This is a lesson he applies to his addiction and his goal of getting back on track in life.

For Hamilton, the weekly workout is not so much work it’s therapy.

“I'm surrounded by guys who inspire me and allow me to stay sober. I think this is as powerful as anything I do for my recovery,” Hamilton said.

Helping himself while also pushing others is why Nate Hamilton is not just a CrossFit instructor he’s an Everyday Hero.

The Charlotte Rescue Mission has five CrossFit trainers who volunteer at the mission.

Learn more and find out how to volunteer here.

If you have an idea for someone you believe should be our next Everyday Hero please email us at everydayheroes@charter.com