The MiMove blog has met Patrik who is passionate about wellness and training. He works as a naprapath and a personal trainer and has been in the wellness industry for 20 years. He got fed up with the stress and the bad weather beginning of 2018 and moved to Marbella in Spain. His aim was for a life with less stress in Spain.

I worked at different wellness centres in Sweden often with highly demanding clients. I worked long hours with a lot of stress and felt that I had come to a crossroads. The work in itself was rewarding and fun but everything around was getting to me, my environment was beginning to feel too small. One day I just decided to throw myself into the unknown.

I moved to Marbella, partly because I had been there before and liked it, and partly because it is an international melting pot. I thought with lots of Scandinavians there, it might be easier to get clients. It is always a little scary to change your life around completely and then create a new life from scratch and make it work. To add to that, I am not fluent in Spanish yet, meaning I will need to get by in English and Swedish for a while yet.

Living my dream in Spain

I work for myself now and I am living my dream. It feels amazing to be working with what I love and to wake up to the light and the warm weather. You can train outdoors all year round if you want and everyone just seem happier here. And the light, it does make such a huge difference to my wellbeing.

So far, the business has taken off much better than I expected it to. I have done a little marketing via social media but above all it happens through word of mouth. People socialize a lot here and you might mention to someone that your back hurts and that person recommends me as I have helped him or her previously.

I am almost surprised myself, sometimes it only takes one client to get loads more. I love it, it is such instant feedback when people get in touch because of recommendations. I have also, dropped off my calling card to local businesses to let them know I am here. There has been a lot less stress in Spain due to the flying start my business got.

Universal pain

Many are in pain here, just like everywhere else in the world. People are just not moving enough, they sit way too much. I always try to combine treatment with training. The effect is better, and the client understands the connection between training, movement and pain better than if I just fix the problem.

I treat my clients according to their needs. It can be to increase their joint mobility or manipulate the muscles with massage, pressure or acupuncture. If the mobility of the joints is poor you start to limit your movements, and youbecome stiffer and stiffer and don’t use the muscles properly. And of course, I make my clients train straight away and give them homework. Together we lay a new foundation for healthier living.

Treatment and training make the difference

I have two categories of customers. I treat one category as a naprapath and the other category want my services as a personal trainer. The patients are a diverse group of people but they all experience some sort of pain when they move: tennis elbow, runner’s knee, neck pain, backache, nerve pain etc. When you are in such a lovely climate it is easy to push too hard. Either because you are visiting and aren’t used to training or just because of training to much since it is so fantastic to train outdoors. The clients wanting me as a personal trainer are the people wanting to get help creating new healthier habits or help with reaching a specific goal. I certainly have a diverse bunch of clients.

Open gym culture

Gyms in many other countries sign up a few trainers and the members can only choose one of them. Here the culture is more open. In many places I just pay the entrance fee for me and the client and then we can use the gym as we please. As a result, I am free to go to different gyms to suit the client’s needs and wishes.

However, I work quite a lot in M13, a gym located centrally in Marbella. It is a super nice gym and very popular meaning I meet many potential clients. It is a great place.

I had to start a company in order to work for myself in Spain. There is quite a lot of bureaucracy, but it works. I have enlisted the help of a “gestor” to get everything up and running. To set up a business as a sole trader you have to pay social contributions shy of €300 a month regardless of income and then you also pay a progressive, fairly low tax.

No stress in Spain

It has been a bit tricky to find somewhere to stay as I have decided to rent initially and there is plenty of competition for the good flats, but in the end, I found somewhere. Everyone is so helpful here. Anytime you have a problem, someone knows of someone who can help. You don’t have to fret, there is always a solution to every problem even if it doesn’t look that way to begin with. When you have embraced that mentality you can create a life free of stress in Spain. I like that mentality.

My future looks bright, but I worry about mankind. More and more people are getting overweight and live sedentary lives. That has a negative impact on both health and wellbeing. It is negative for the individual but also for society at large. For me, however, it is quite good as my services will be in demand.

Sit less, move more

My advice for a healthy lifestyle is simple: sit less and move more. Small adjustments are sometimes all it takes, like adding walking into your daily routine. Once, I asked a client to use a pedometer and it turned out he only walked a few thousand steps per day. He lost 18 kilos in a year just by walking more and adjusting his everyday life slightly. If you are sedentary small changes make a huge difference. Movement and training is also great if you are looking for less stress in Spain.

I hold a degree in naprapathy and got my certification as a personal trainer from The Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. During the years, I have had the benefit of working together with The Academy and the best trainers in Sweden and in the best training centres. I have also been able to contribute to changes in the industry through my work with The Academy. In Spain, the situation is a little different. As a whole, the fitness and wellness industry isn’t quite as mature as elsewhere. I am really excited to see what I can do here with my background and experience.

I am living my dream now, in every way!