Maja Tworska, 31, settled in the Algarve in 2019, setting up a Pilates business — The Fit Life Pilates Studio. The Polish fitness fan also runs a nutrition consultancy.

What got you interested in Pilates/nutrition?

As an ex-dancer and sport enthusiast, I always wanted to work with the body and movement. I finished my dancing journey shortly after moving to university, where I decided to obtain a fitness instructor, personal trainer and Pilates qualification.

Since a young age, I also loved cooking, and as a teenager I got interested in healthy food which helped me to decide to study nutrition, first at Health & Science University where I learned about it from a food technology perspective, then at Medical University where I studied clinical nutrition and learned how to actually help people with different health conditions.

Movement and nutrition was fascinating to me. So much so, that I decided to go deeper into health and did a personal medical trainer course to combine all fields of my qualifications.

Who are your clients?

A lot of my clients are midlife — men and women. That’s the age when most of the issues start showing. For women, there is menopause, while men often ease up after an intense time of working and building their lives and finally have time to start looking after their health.

What is the easiest ‘hack’ advice you give your midlife clients?

There is not really a quick solution, but my advice is always to look after the body and mind with love, and be patient. Try to avoid extra stress, as during midlife changes our organism is already under natural stress. Try to relax the mind (psychology consultations, breath work, all other types of mindfulness), look after the body from outside and inside and take care of proper nutrition.

What do they need to know?

Our body (especially at midlife) needs lots of movement — resistance training to build muscle mass and prevent losing bone density. Try Pilates with props or apparatus, strength training or hiking. Cardio workouts take care of the cardiovascular system.

“It is super fascinating how the healthy movement and right nutrition can give us so much benefit when they’re combined.”