Madeleine Karlsson and I met in October 2016 on the Run For Laura, in memory of the 13-year-old Bastille Day victim and daughter of SBM employee Jacques Borla. We instantly hit it off, especially as we share a passion for Sweden (she is part-Swedish and I write for ÖTILLÖ Swimrun). Gorgeous on the inside and out, she is the real deal.
At the time, Maddy had been living in Monaco for about seven years and teaching Pilates privately. “I had been doing this for years and was often asked to provide clients with workout videos for when they were travelling or when I wasn’t around,” she says.
She also started training as a Nutrition & Health Coach online, working with people from all around the globe, who were also asking for workouts. “My clients in Monaco started asking for recipes and my clients online asked for workouts so the idea came to put it all in one program online,” she explains. She started Fit Body Fresh Mind at the beginning of 2019.
Maddy confesses: “I’d always loved the idea of having an online business but it wasn’t something I ever thought I could do since the tech part really scared me. The early days definitely involved a steep learning curve and a lot of cursing at my computer but somehow I ended up with an online program that is now followed by several hundred people from over all corners of the Earth.”
In 2019, she partnered with Monaco resident and fellow Swede Janni Deler Olsson (wife of influencer Jon) and they added a pregnancy program for women expecting. Maddy also added group coaching programs and a mini-program in French, as well as (pre-Covid) Pilates, Yoga and Surf retreats.
In October 2019, she packed up a decade of her life in Monaco and moved to Costa Rica. “It had been my dream to live here since I first set foot in the country in 2008 but somehow the time didn’t feel right until now. I think having an online business definitely helped in taking the leap.”
Life in Costa Rica couldn’t be more different than life in Monaco. “I live in a jungle town on the Pacific Coast, around a five-hour drive from the capital. The roads here are pretty crazy, although they did get paved recently, and I replaced my Mini with a 4WD that I only just manage to squeeze my surfboard into. I haven’t seen or heard a sports car since I left Monaco and I can’t say I miss it.”
A fixture in Monaco’s social scene, Maddy says, “I don’t remember the last time I wore makeup or heals or that I dressed up for that matter. There is no real occasion here so I spend most of my life in swimwear, Yoga wear and flip flops.”
With the rain, she sometimes wears rubber boots (especially with Hurricane Eta) and she recently bought a horse. “So yeah, life is pretty different and I can’t really think of anything that is the same as my life in Monaco, but I am loving every minute of it. I really needed the change.”
She admits Covid was challenging and the drastic lockdowns prevented her from going to the beach, the main attraction where she lives. “I did miss Monaco at times, especially during the first confinement when I watched on Facebook my old neighbourhood being entertained by Martine Ackermann and Didier Casnati of the Gypsy Queens on their balconies. It would have been a lonely time regardless of where I was living so I am grateful I decided to stay here even though it means I am far from my family in Belgium and friends in Monaco.”
As we kick off the New Year, Maddy encourages women to forget the pressure of resolutions but rather aim to make 2021 a healthy one mentally and physically, despite Covid and all its excuses. “The biggest hurdle a woman needs to overcome in her body and mind is to stop being so critical of herself. This will only backfire when you try to get in shape and feel you are not living up to perfection, which leads to ongoing cycles of being ‘really good’ followed by periods of being ‘really bad.’ This produces feelings of guilt, which serves no purpose other than keeping you stuck in that vicious cycle.”
A large part of her work is about teaching women to be less critical and kinder to themselves by working with their bodies, not against them. “Not only does it make us feel better mentally but our bodies thank us for it by responding really well physically, too,” Madeleine Karlsson reassures.
Madeleine Karlsson is starting a free 10-day New Year challenge tomorrow. Here’s the Fit Body Fresh Mind link to register.
