Amy Clover was on the brink of suicide 10 years ago, but she fought her way back from that dark place by empowering herself with fitness. She founded Strong Inside/Out to help others do the same.
We’ve always seen mental and physical health as being inextricably linked, but Amy brings a fresh perspective and a great attitude to the table.
Here’s a snippet of Amy’s philosophy:
I feel like a lot of us are raised today not to deal with struggle, but dealing with a little bit of pain and struggle is necessary for growth.
Here’s some things we cover in this episode:
- (2:00) How Amyâs depression led her to fitness.
- (2:23) Why consistent movement was key for Amy.
- (3:15) Why having a support system is so important.
- (4:00) Why Amy is a great role model
- (6:14) Depression and anxiety while working out
- (11:10) What drives Amy to get out of bed every morning. Whatâs her why?
- (12:58) It is about fun and not just banging your head on the wall.
- (16:09) Know your tactics to stay in that positive mindset.
- (17:20) Have a plan and the tools for both working out and life.
Ryan: Are you ready? Because we are rolling!
[Music]Ryan: Whatâs up Amy?
Amy: Whatâs up?
Ryan: How are you doing? How are you doing today?
Amy: Doing great.
Ryan: Weâve been talking for the past five minutes about how chill we are today and how we have no energy, right?
Amy: Yes, totally. No energy at all!
Ryan: No, not at all. Well, letâs get right into it. I was going to start off with those people out there who donât know who Iâm talking with right now. This is Amy from Strong Inside Out. Amy, a little bit about your background. Just briefly, just over the past 20 years, if you could just sum those up in maybe a couple of sentences would be great.
Amy: Oh âŚ
Ryan: How funny that one, yeah.
Amy: I run a site called Strong Inside Out and what we do is empower people out of struggle with movement and living healthy. So a little bit about my background is I used fitness and healthy eating basically taking back the reins of my life to overcome clinical depression in a suicide attempt. So now I help other people take the reins back in their lives and really take control of their body and mind again.
Ryan: So interestingly enough, talk about depression, and you actually went through and tried to commit suicide and we can go into a little bit of that later. You sent a letter to your boyfriend and I mean just really you were ready to check out but looking at you now, you wouldnât think that. I mean youâre a pretty energetic lady. You seem to be loving life. So today, we talk a little bit about empowerment and kind of how you came back from where you were and what you did and of course how it relates to what you do today.
Amy: Yeah.
Ryan: And letâs just go kind of into it and start talking about that if youâre cool with that.
Amy: Yeah, definitely. I didnât send the note to my boyfriend but I did talk to him, my exboyfriend that night and I did write a letter. I did everything and â but I was talked out enough, thank god. But a lot of people arenât which is really unfortunate. So I believe that by really finding fitness and it took me a few years after hospitalization and everything to really find what worked for me. So if itâs a long process, thatâs normal. Itâs not anything that youâre doing wrong or anything that you need to fix. You just need to find your way of doing it.
But when I found consistent movement, it was really helping me to hold on to and kind of just like solidify the practices I was using with my therapist which was cognitive behavioral therapy and it helped me become more disciplined in and outside of the gym as well as just really hold on to that knowledge that I could push past things that were hard because I feel like a lot of us especially nowadays are raised like not to deal with struggle. Like thereâs this medication you could take instead.
If you have a headache, go ahead and take a pill because you shouldnât have to â you shouldnât feel that way and all that kind of stuff and instead, I think that doing with a little bit of pain and struggle is â itâs necessary for growth.
So yeah, I just kind of went all over the place.
Ryan: No, thatâs great. I think â that you brought in there a good part of it. So you did it along with your therapist and so you basically had your support there and I think we all know that. We can all feel like weâre all alone in the world at times and think that â we have to do it. The same thing. I mean I put a lot of pressure on myself and think that I have to do everything myself but there are people there and if we do have a good coach â in your case it was a therapist and Iâm sure that [] coaches and things like that, that these people that are there to help us and sometimes we just need to realize that.
We canât just do it on ourselves. We can be strong but the thing is, is other people were there to help us and so use those people I guess is what Iâm kind of saying. So itâs just great to see you now that the roles have been reversed. So now youâre such a great role model for people out there who are going through this and so you can be those â the coach and the support system for those people out there.
Amy: Oh, thank you.
Ryan: So if we just go ahead and talk a little bit about really some of the things that youâre doing. I mean youâve had the tour. A big thing that youâre doing is the boot camp and so if we could tell â you talked a little bit about your boot camp. Maybe talk a little bit about the tour since I brought that up and I know right now youâre not doing that but itâs probably coming out again I assume.
Amy: Well, Iâm not going to be doing another tour yet this year but I am looking into doing events but the big tour that youâre talking about was started in 2013. I decided I wanted to do something bigger. I had my own personal training business in LA and itâs going great but I wanted to affect more people and especially the people who are struggling like I did back in the time where I felt like there was no hope and why bother even trying to change my life.
I knew this amazing charity called to write love on her arms and they were reaching kids and young adults in a way that no other suicide charity ever had reached that. So theyâre basically making hope cool and for like us [] rocker kids like I was at that time, hope wasnât cool. The positive people were the ones that made fun of us.
Ryan: Sure.
Amy: So it wasnât cool to hope or to try or any of that kind of stuff and to write love on her arms makes that cool. So what I did was I crowd funded over $18,000 to visit 30 cities across the US and Canada to celebrate my 30th birthday that I almost didnât have and I raised money to write love on her arms along the way, which was awesome and I did another one last year called the strong inside out tour and we raised more money for them that year and Iâm still looking at ways to partner with them again this year.
But Iâm just not sure what thatâs going to look like. Itâs going to be a surprise for all of us.
Ryan: Yeah, we look forward to it. What about the book []? So you got your boot camp and a lot of online stuff that youâre doing of course. So whatâs up with that?
Amy: Well, I wanted to also make it more clear cut. There was really no exercise program that took depression or anxiety into account, both of which I dealt with in my past and you have to treat that mindset a little bit differently because with depression, itâs really easy to get overwhelmed. So if you take on too much, youâre likely just going to quit it all at once or just say that itâs impossible and not maintainable and with anxiety, you want to take on too much. You want to take on all of these things and then you get overwhelmed and then you give up entirely.
So our program focuses on using movement as an outlet to make your whole life better. With the mindset challenges as well so itâs basically a monthly membership program and we have personal coaches in there to really tailor everybodyâs experience and really take everybodyâs personality into account and we have this awesome group of support system. Iâm really excited about it. Theyâre so supportive and positive and wonderful with each other. It really is like itâs my baby. I love that program, strong inside out boot camp.
Ryan: Itâs great because it talks about what we were talking about earlier, the support system and knowing that if you have somebody there for you and helping you out. It makes things at least a little bit easier.
[Music]Ryan: Getting back to your life isnât always easy all the time. We all have shit that happens, right? So something you wrote about on your blog recently was looking at mindset changes and so maybe if you can go into a little bit about what are some things that we can do. What are some of these mindset changes that we can use in our daily life that can help us for when we start to feel things get a little bit too much for us? Maybe we donât feel like we have control over a particular situation. What are some mindset changes that we can âŚ
Amy: I think mindset is really all about perspective. So itâs all about like whether you choose to suffer through struggle or not. Itâs completely your choice. It doesnât have to be a negative experience. I know a lot of the time now when I struggle, I will automatically go into that oh my gosh, this sucks. I shouldnât have to do this. It shouldnât be my life. This wasnât this hard for this other person and I will stop myself and thatâs a cognitive behavioral thing too. Stop yourself and actually say it out loud sometimes like I do. Stop. Take a deep breath. I just talk to myself a lot. Itâs a very normal thing.
So stop, take a deep breath and really reframe that thought that keeps repeating in your mind. So with like that thatâs unfair, kind of mindset, instead just reminding yourself that youâre choosing to do this. Whatever youâre struggling through is getting you somewhere. So what is that somewhere that you want to get to? Remind yourself of that place and then ask yourself. Is this worth it? Yes. Awesome! Iâm going to move forward with it.
So thatâs one way to do it and I always use mantras and stuff too.
Ryan: Thatâs pretty cool. So basically something that I like to use and we also do this in GMB when weâre making some decisions is, is it a hell yes? If itâs not a hell yes, then itâs a no. Sometimes we can get sucked into things that maybe we think, oh, we will just kind of give it a try and then all of a sudden we find that it kind of overwhelms us and we realize this isnât really something that is my hell yes.
So just like what you said, is it worth actually pursuing? If so, do you make the choice? Because youâve made that choice, maybe it will be a little bit easier when you say stop, take a breath. OK, get that clarity again for why youâre doing it.
So this is something of course that we talk about a lot is the why. I mean why do you choose to do something and if your why is very strong, then itâs not that it will be easy but you can go back to that and use that as kind of your power to help keep you going even when stuff [].
But yeah, just like what you said, just taking that break and stopping and taking a breath. Yeah, you need to do that a lot too.
Amy: Yeah, constant reminders. Itâs just all about constant reminders.
Ryan: So to me it sounds like you trained yourself to be able to do this. This isnât just something of course you woke up and youâre â I assume able to do the very next day. So I guess then that way the exercise would be a good catalyst to help you to be able to train everything. So as far as the training goes, letâs talk about single leg squats.
Iâm just kidding.
Amy: I love them.
Ryan: I know. It drives you crazy when people say that. Thatâs just why I was bringing it up. But basically as far as exercises and things though, what drives you? What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning and continue to do this? Whatâs your why?
Amy: Is this a podcast where I can swear?
Ryan: You can say anything you want. We will do the little âbleepâ. No, Iâm just kidding. You can say anything you want. Feel free just as long as it does â let me drink my coffee before âŚ
Amy: Yeah.
Ryan: You say something funny so I donât spit it all over you. Yeah.
Amy: The thing that gets me out of bed every day A is the number of lives that we help make better, with strong inside out and the strong inside out boot camp, but B for my own personal â like a growth with training and everything because as you get more proficient at everything, as you start â I mean I am definitely â I m addicted to getting certifications so itâs like nonstop for me. Do you have that problem? I definitely have that problem.
Ryan: Yeah, not anymore. I used to like a lot but yeah.
Amy: I definitely have that problem and I like never stop learning and like you can definitely reach a point where itâs just like oh, well I know how to do all of this. What am I going to do today?
Ryan: Yeah.
Amy: But like really pushing myself to do bad ass shit is what gets me out of bed every single day and I just recently like this last year â OK. Plug, feel free to use this as a testimonial for your site by the way.
I just âŚ
Ryan: Hold on just a second.
Amy: Exactly. Get your quill out. Iâve been working on handstands for a year, literally a year, probably about five days a week. Mostly every single day for six months of that and I could not hold them. I could not hold them at all. I got your free opt-in for the handstands and I started doing hollow body holds. Within two weeks, Iâm holding an effing handstand. What up!
Ryan: Itâs the secret to everything in life and that is join GMB âŚ
Amy: Exactly.
Ryan: No, itâs really cool to hear that. But you â something to back up and something that we like to say is do cool shit.
Amy: Yeah.
Ryan: Do cool shit, right? If you find something that you like to do, I mean youâre doing it for so long and youâre doing them five days a week. Well, obviously you want to do cool shit and you kept going with it which is â Iâm just glad we could help but I mean Iâm sure that there are people out there though that have the same thing. They want to do something and theyâre just banging their head against the wall and then they find you and youâre just like no, it can be this way and I think thatâs so cool that you and me, we can be role models for people and show people that itâs not just about banging your head against the wall. It is having fun with what youâre doing and you can do some cool shit in the process.
So itâs very cool. Thanks for letting me know that.
Amy: Yeah, of course dude. Thank you.
Ryan: Testimonial!
Amy: Totally video testimonial.
Ryan: Love it, love it. So yeah, so getting out of bed and being able to help people and then also focusing on doing cool shit like you said. I think thatâs great. So as far as â not just exercise but life and you actually moved. So you donât live in LA anymore, right? So where do you live if you donât mind me asking? Address, please. Just so I can hang out with your husband, thatâs all.
Amy: Yeah. I live in San Diego now and Iâm loving it. Itâs like LA but a little bit more chill, a little bit slower. We just kind of like â my husband and like work for ourselves now and completely just strong inside out now. So being able to live wherever we want is definitely a perk but we only move two hours away. But Southern California is hard to beat.
Ryan: Sure.
Amy: But I say that because Iâve never been in Japan.
Ryan: Well right now you donât want to. Itâs pouring rain and cold. So âŚ
Amy: OK.
Ryan: But itâs all good. Itâs all good. I think too something â I mean I think â again if you look at things in the positive â and this is so tough. This is so tough to do, right? And itâs raining outside and itâs cold. But you can look at that as shit, itâs raining and itâs cold or you can look at it a different way, an opportunity to say OK, I would have loved to be outside today but instead I can focus on something else and do something because itâs raining.
Amy: Yeah.
Ryan: Just like what you said, is try and look at things not in a negative way, but step back, take a breath and say hey listen, whatâs really going on? What can I do in order to make that a positive? So this is something that I really like, especially like looking at your site and your intro video. Itâs great because you just feel that positive energy thatâs in there.
Now, Iâm willing to bet that youâre not positive and life is cheery 100 percent of the time, right?
Amy: No.
Ryan: But it is good to see that in a video and things like that, something we try and do â obviously Iâm as human as they come but I think that like looking at you and also chatting with you and letting people know that it is OK to just be yourself, have fun and laugh any which way you want when youâre on video.
Amy: I think thatâs really important that you said that. Sorry to totally interrupt you hijack your speech there but I think that itâs really important to note that well, I struggle with clinical depression and that means it just comes in and out no matter what. Youâre not here. I donât â I didnât just take a magic pill and it just went away. It still hits me. Itâs just that I have those coping mechanisms, those tools in place that when it hits me, it doesnât affect me as long or as deeply. I donât fall into that dwelling place.
Like at the beginning of the year actually right when I got back on tour because I was so exhausted and because it was such a great high and then you get back to reality and youâre like oh, wow, what am I doing? But itâs all about knowing those tactics and for me thatâs just like leaning on my support system which is so important, getting moving even if itâs just like yoga or just like even walking or something like that. But I know that running is really important for me and also really, really expressing out loud gratitude. Thatâs really important for me.
Ryan: Cool. We touched on the tools side of it and I think that a lot of people donât really have a plan in place for when shit happens and so when it happens we can just consume them and Iâm not â this is something a lot of people might think that this is a negative thing but maybe hope for the best but plan for the worst kind of thing. So â and gradually â and Iâm meaning this in my case an exercise point of view but I think itâs also for life.
So for example if we look at like going back to the handstand this is a case where I want everyone to have the tools necessary so that if something happens, theyâre not going to injure themselves. So thatâs for example why we first start off learning the cartwheel, how to turn out of it in case you come crashing down, making sure that your wrists are good and ready for it. So that you donât get injured and things like that.
I think if we look at that in life too, and understand that â you know, what are we going to do when we might be down and itâs just good to hear that you have some things, an outlet I guess of sorts if thatâs the right way to say it that you can go to and have that available for you.
Support system, yeah, I think thatâs wonderful and Iâm sure you probably agree with me, but sometimes your support system isnât there whether it be â maybe theyâre out of town or maybe theyâre having a day too and so sometimes you just have to kind of figure things out on your own, so I think thatâs why itâs really cool.
With the way you have things set up and the way that youâre teaching people is to really believe in yourself and getting back to that empowerment.
Amy: Yeah.
Ryan: So âŚ
[Music]Ryan: Really that empowerment, what does it really mean to you? And if you could â this is I know a very tough question maybe for you but in your own life, what does that empowerment mean to you?
Amy: I think empowerment really means â itâs almost â Iâm trying to think if itâs a combination of a couple of things or if I can sum it down to one thought here. Itâs first of all having the knowledge that you can get through anything, that nothing will defeat you and that â I mean as the [] goes, that if itâs not killing you, itâs making you stronger, that thereâs a reason for it and I think it really means taking the blows and looking for the lesson in them. I think thatâs really empowerment right there, being able to see that it is happening for a reason.
Ryan: Yeah, thatâs so good, so good. I mean itâs tough, right? I mean you look at things and so there are people around us, a lot of people around us that are probably going through depression and I know that a lot of people tend to step back because they donât know how to deal with it or help that particular person but I think it goes for everybody in their life. Itâs just what you said is that resilience of sorts and being able to get back up even after youâve been thrown. This is a big thing for me and my judo because I came over here as the only white boy, right? It was like all these people wanting to use me to clean the mats basically. Itâs like I used to say and it was like just â it was â I just had to keep getting back up and itâs good. I think more people if they can look at that and understand that weâre all not necessarily going through the depression for example but you come through but we all have to go through things and as long as we keep getting back up, and trying and keep going, things can be pretty cool. It can be kind of fun because just look at you. You fucking love life. I tell you what.
Amy: I do. I do now and itâs not always sunshine effing radios but it is like â it is â even the struggle part is enjoyable now. Itâs just all about âŚ
Ryan: That is so cool to hear.
Amy: ⌠perspective. Yeah, itâs all about perspective. You can totally shift that. It just starts with the choice to do it.
Ryan: Cool. Itâs so awesome. Well hey listen, weâre going to end it right here. You know we will be talking again but âŚ
Amy: Oh, yeah.
Ryan: Tell you what, letâs â for those of you listening out there, we will have all the info and strong inside out Amy where you can get all the goods but anything you want to leave, like last words of advice. I think you pretty much said everything. I was like, yeah, thatâs good! Yeah.
Amy: I think just know that even if you are dealing with depression or anxiety or any kind of like life sentence disorder that they gave you at the doctorâs office, youâre not broken. Nothing needs to be fixed. Itâs just your way of being in this world and thereâs nothing wrong with that and I think that just really learning to live in spite of whatever they told you you have is really the key to enjoying life. I hope I can help you do that.
Ryan: This is awesome. Thanks so much Amy and we will be looking forward to seeing you on tour in Japan next âŚ
[Crosstalk]Ryan: Did I give it away? All right. Thanks everybody.
Amy: Thank you!
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A graduate of our Trainer Apprenticeship, Rachel wore a lot of hats at GMB for almost eight years. As content manager, she authored some of our most popular articles and guides.
