Team Dæhlie Matilde Heggeli

Tell us about yourself?

I’m from Kongsberg but I live in Oslo. I’m studying sports management at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences here, and I love it! I also have a great part-time job at Anton Sport. So you could say a lot of my life revolves around activity, exercise and sports.

Your attitude to exercise?

I come from a dance background, specifically a branch called cheerdance, which I usually describe to people as halfway between cheerleading and freestyle/disco. I’ve been competing in that since I was 13 and I still keep it up—it was too hard to give up something I’d been doing for so long… hehe.

Apart from that, doing a lot of different kinds of activity has been at least as big a part of my exercise background as dance. So I have to say my favorite place to exercise is outdoors, whether cross-country skiing, cycling, running, mountain skiing on the plateau, randonnee skiing or alpine skiing on the slopes in the evenings.

I also spend a lot of time working out indoors, of course, and my favorite workout is when I get together with friends to sweat it out at the School of Sport Sciences, or a good treadmill interval workout with good company!

What a week’s exercise looks like for you?

A typical week’s exercise can vary because I’m a strong advocate of tailoring my workouts to the weather. Mainly, though, it consists of a couple of strength training and dance sessions, and a run on the treadmill as well as outdoors. When I can, I like to go on some kind of trip at the weekend! A visit to the cabin, randonnee skiing, a trip to the mountains or something like that.

What is important to you in what you wear during exercise?

When it comes to clothing, for me it’s important for it to be well suited to the conditions I’m going to be in and to the activity and level of intensity. That means it could be anything from lighter clothing for indoor activity to clothes that are better suited to cold conditions because they keep the heat in.

What inspires you to be the best you can be?

There are a lot of people who inspire me, but the most important people to me are those around me: my partner, family, friends and new people I meet along the way. Hearing about what others are working toward or have managed to do, their goals or what they’ve done before, gives me drive, motivation and inspiration. I come from a team sport where we depend entirely on building each other up to get the results we want. That also inspires me to do the same outside of the sport. It brings out the best in you and those around you.

What are your favorite social media channels right now?

Right now, my favorite social media channel is Instagram, and I sometimes find myself scrolling through TikTok too. But Instagram is absolutely where I spend the most time.