The basic tenets of influencer marketing have stayed unchanged over the years—brands pay popular social media personalities to promote their products in exchange for free products or commissions. But what’s changed is just how many brands in the fitness industry have jumped on the influencer marketing bandwagon in the last few years. This is all thanks to its better returns compared to some traditional marketing strategies.
This is because influencer partnerships help fitness brands showcase their products in a highly visual and aesthetic manner, with the stamp of authenticity which is lacking in plain ol’ advertising.
And today’s fitness influencers use multiple content formats to get the messaging across: before-and-after photos, product reviews, how-to-use guides, the list goes on. Safe to say, that they know how to promote your products and giving potential buyers a stronger reason to convert.
But finding the right influencers to promote your brand takes work. That’s exactly why we wrote this article. Here, we list the 15 fitness influencers from around the globe that seem to nail content and marketing. We also cover the benefits of influencer partnerships and give tips on choosing the right influencer.
Let’s begin!
15 best fitness influencers in 2024
Here are the 15 popular fitness influencers you need to look out for in 2024:
1. Emily Skye
Known for:Promoting health and wellness supplements, fitness apps, parenting products, and wearables.
Emily Skye is an Australian fitness influencer popular for her realistic and body-positive post-pregnancy fitness regime. Unlike other post-pregnancy workouts, Emily’s workouts aren’t about extreme diets or workout plans but more about healthy eating habits, sustainable practices and mindful motherhood.
She has also carved a niche in the cosmetic industry through her brand, James Cosmetics, which is famous for its eye and face masks.
Here’s a reel from her Instagram where she works out with her toddler. Videos like these encourage new moms to slow down and live in the moment instead of beating themselves up to get back in shape.
2. Chris Heria
Known for:Endorsing fitness equipment, especially calisthenic ones, sports accessories, supplements, recovery tools and sleep aids.
Chris Heria is a calisthenics fitness influencer with over 1.7M followers on Instagram and 5.02M on YouTube. Heria’s brand, THENX, is the one-stop solution for everything calisthenics, from workout plans to equipment and apparel.
In his ‘I tried’ videos, he blends fitness with entertainment, attempting bizarre challenges like letting untrained friends punch him or burning every calorie he consumes for 24 hours.
Here’s one such video where he is seen trying out the effects of fasting.
3. Chloe Ting
Known for:Marketing home workout equipment, wearables, athleisure fits and fitness apps.
Nothing can match the waves Chloe Ting created with her HIIT home workouts during the pandemic. This fitness influencer in pigtails inspired millions of teenage girls worldwide to work for chiseled abs from the comforts of their homes with her #ChloeTingchallenge.
Even though most of her initial followers have returned to gyms post-pandemic, Ting still has a loyal follower base of 25.3 million on YouTube. These days, she shares a mix of workouts and lifestyle content through her YouTube channel and Instagram account.
Here’s one of her popularHIIT workouts for toned abs.
4. Austin Dunham
Known for:Promoting men’s grooming products, calisthenic equipment, and wearables.
Austin Dunham is also a renowned calisthenic fitness influencer with 418k Instagram followers and 1.15 million YouTube subscribers. Dunham recently started dabbling in self-improvement alongside his main offering, calisthenic training.
According to him, this shift is a part of his mission to equip his followers to be their best selves. He covers topics like improving style and sex appeal, being more attractive to women, and getting a girlfriend.
Here’s one of his YouTube videos where he shares his glow-up routine.
5. Lauren Simpson
Known for: Marketing health and wellness supplements, home workout gear, meal prep containers and tech gadgets.
Lauren Simpson is a corporate employee turned health influencer with 1.9M Instagram followers. Unlike most fitness influencers, Simpson embarked on her fitness journey to battle her obsession with being skinny.
Lauren offers tailored fitness plans, including workouts, meal plans and expert advice to attain a healthy weight and lead a fulfilling life.
Here’s an Instagram reel where Lauren shares the recipe for a naked burrito bowl.
6. Jeanette Jenkins
Known for:Endorsing activewear, mindfulness apps, tech gadgets, health supplements, workout equipment and fitness programs.
Jeanette Jenkins is a celebrity fitness coach and influencer known for her elite clientele, including Simone Smith, Kelly Rowland and Alicia Keys. She has over 1M Instagram followers and regularly posts workouts, recipes, nutritional and fitness advice, product reviews and customer success stories.
Jeanette’s fitness regime involves a mix of different training styles, such as weight training, pilates, yoga and dance, complemented by clean eating and a focus on mental well-being.
Here’s a home workout bench review she shared on Instagram.
7. Lisa Migliorini
Known for: Promoting running gear, athleisure, skincare products, health bars and wearables
Lisa Migliorini, popularly known as @thefashionjogger, is an Italian female fitness influencer with 2.3 million Instagram followers and 1.33 million YouTube subscribers. Since her niche lies at the intersection of fitness, jogging and fashion, she attracts a broader audience with mixed interests.
She is also an active blogger who shares expert advice on running, nutrition and self-improvement through her blog, ‘The Fashion Jogger’.
Here’s a video from Migliorini where she shares running tips.
8. Kai Greene
Known for: Endorsing health and wellness supplements, activewear, and fitness gadgets.
Kai Greene is a professional bodybuilder and fitness influencer with a whopping 7.8M followers on Instagram. Greene, a three-time Arnold Classic Winner, is known for his distinct posing routines, which combine bodybuilding and performance art.
He posts detailed workouts, motivational content and personal stories through his Instagram to inspire his followers to enter the bodybuilding world. He also regularly endorses fitness and nutrition brands through his posts.
Here’s one such example where he promotes Darc Sports, an activewear brand.
9. Vladimir Shmondenko
Known for:Promoting healthy food products, sports supplements and wearables.
Vladimir Shmondenko, better known as Anatoly Lifter, is one of the most popular Ukrainian gym influencers. His gym prank videos, in which he poses as a janitor and surprises people with his effortless lifting, have garnered him over 5.39 YouTube subscribers.
Apart from entertainment, Anatoly offers tailored workout programs with meal plans for both men and women.
Here’s one of his gym prank videos from YouTube.
10. Joe Wicks
Known for:Marketing home gym equipment, fitness and mindfulness apps, recipe books and recovery gear.
Joe Wicks, the workout influencer specializing in HIIT, has around 3.4M followers on Instagram and 2.82M subscribers on YouTube. He is known for his #Leanin15 recipes, which feature healthy meals that can be cooked in under 15 minutes.
As a true advocate of holistic health, Wicks started an at-home training series, PE with Joe, to help families work out from their homes during the pandemic. Wicks, also called the body coach, posts specialized workouts for women, like this one for menopause strength training.
11.Scott Herman
Known for:Endorsing health and wellness supplements, home gym equipment, and wearables.
Scott Herman is a fitness model and fitness influencer with 2.8 million YouTube subscribers and 1.4 million Instagram followers. He gives advice on fitness, nutrition, and self-development and inspires people to pursue holistic health.
One striking thing about Herman as an influencer is the clever and organic ways he plugs in brand promotions. Here’s one such promotion with the right blend of value, humor and advertising.
12.Brittany Lupton
Known for:Marketing gym fits, health and wellness supplements, tech gadgets and pregnancy care products.
Brittany Lupton, known for her pre- and postnatal workout programs like LIFT and REVIVE, has 477k Instagram followers and 196k YouTube subscribers. Her content aptly blends holistic fitness, motherhood, lifestyle and fashion.
She regularly interacts with her followers by responding to their comments and queries, building a solid rapport with them.
Here’s one of her haul videos where Brittany tries on gym fits from Gymshark.
13.Kyla Itsines
Known for:Promoting maternity and pregnancy products, wellness supplements, cosmetic products and athleisure.
Kayla Itsines is an Australian HIIT workout influencer who specializes in pregnancy and postnatal workouts. She has amassed over 15.9M Instagram followers and 414k subscribers on YouTube by posting videos about workout tutorials, fitness tips, healthy recipes, lifestyle content and post-pregnancy wellness.
Itsines is the founder of the Sweat app, a fitness app with over 11 programs for women who want to live a holistic, sustainable and healthy lifestyle.
Here’s a video from Kayla on how one can workout from a hotel room with just a band.
14. Lilly Sabri
Known for:Endorsing fitness trackers and journals, wearables, portable gym equipment and mindfulness apps.
Lilly Sabri, the YouTube fitness influencer with 5.43M subscribers, is on a mission to make fitness fun and sustainable. Her style combines pilates, resistance training, and high-intensity training. Sabri posts regular workout videos and offers training programs and recipes through Lean with Lilly and Lean Food apps.
Here’s one of Lilly’s pilates workouts for lean hips.
15. David Laid
Known for:Promoting mass gainers, gym fits, sports gadgets and workout equipment.
David Laid is an Estonian-American fitness influencer known for inspiring his transformation from a skinny 90-lb boy to a 198-lb giant of a man. As an advocate of the DUP training philosophy, most of his training programs involve daily/weekly variations of weights and reps.
He has over 4.9M Instagram followers and 1.8M subscribers on YouTube. Here’s David Laid’s iconic transformation video.
How to choose the best fitness influencer for your brand?
Influencer marketing isn’t about partnering with someone who has the largest follower base. To make the best out of an influencer partnership, you should pick the right influencer for your brand. Here are some pointers to keep in mind while choosing the right influencer-partner.
1. Define your goals and budget
Identify the main goals you are trying to achieve through influencer marketing. Are you trying to expand your reach, generate more leads, get more UGC or build brand credibility? What’s the age group of your target audience? Which are the social media channels they have most engagement on?
Once you finalize the goals, review the budget allocated for the collaboration. Knowing this is important to decide if you should partner with one mega influencer(<1M followers) or a mix of macro(110K-1M followers) and micro-influencers (10K-100K followers).
2. Find influencers that align with your brand and goals
Fitness influencers is an umbrella term used to identify a large group of fitness enthusiasts, including bodybuilders, fitness coaches, fitness equipment reviewers, community fitness leaders and wellness influencers.
Knowing the difference between each group and what they stand for is crucial for a successful collaboration. For instance, choosing a calisthenic influencer to promote a weight-lifting machine is a misalignment and can impact your brand authenticity. However, choosing a bodybuilder or a strength trainer for the same can drive better results and boost your brand credibility.
For Dr. Walker Portersfield, founder of Clarity Health Centre, brand-influencer alignment is all about the ‘vibes.’ “ The best criteria we have found is vibes. It sounds crazy, but the people I want to attract to my business will share the same values as me. So when I find an influencer I share similar interests with, similar activities and get a sense of good energy, I send over an offer,” he says.
3. Pay attention to their engagement
After shortlisting influencers who align with your brand, analyze their engagement data. The number of likes, shares and comments gives you a picture of what to expect from your collaboration. For instance, if a gym influencer has 100k followers and gets 7000 likes on every post, then the engagement rate is 7%.
Why should you partner with fitness influencers to grow your business?
84% of today’s buyers buy based on influencer recommendations at least once a year, and 49% buy at least once a month, reports Sprout Social. This means that if you haven’t jumped on the ‘influencer marketing’ bandwagon, you are missing out on sales. Here are more reasons why you should hire fitness influencers to promote your brand:
1. Build brand credibility
One major difference between influencers and celebrities is how the general public perceives them. People find influencers more on par with them, relatable and trustworthy. Their candid and unscripted promotions also play a role in this.
So, when you partner with a fitness influencer to promote your product, buyers will view your brand positively, building credibility and authenticity. They’ll be more willing to try out your product as they believe they can involve influencers in the feedback loop in case of grievances.
2. Boost reach and visibility
Influencer marketing is all about piggybacking on the fame and follower base of influencers. By collaborating with fitness influencers, you can tap into new audiences and expand your reach in a cost effective manner.
According to The State of Influencer Marketing Report by Aspire, the average engagement rate by follower count for nano, micro, and macro influencers is 4.39%, 2.59%, and 1.44%, respectively. These numbers suggest that investing in nano and micro-influencer marketing yields better ROI than macro-influencer marketing.
3. More conversions and more ROI
Influencer marketing is more persuasive than traditional forms of marketing. Fitness influencers leverage the hard-earned trust of their followers to promote your product and nudge them to buy. They influence potential buyers by giving social proof and offering limited-time offers and affiliate links. This results in higher conversions and, thus, a higher return on investment.
Pro Tip: Here’s an Influencer Marketing ROI calculator you can steal to decide your influencer marketing budget. Tools like these help eliminate the guessing game and get the best out of your marketing budget.
Make the best out of your influencer marketing campaigns
Partnering with influencers results in broader reach and more sales. With Flockler, you can amplify these results by attracting potential buyers from all channels regardless of the campaign’s original platform. Flockler helps you create and embed a custom influencer marketing campaign feed on your website by pulling posts from the social media platforms of your choice.
With these influencer marketing campaigns on your website, you can drive more potential buyers to the influencer accounts and nudge them to buy. These feeds also make your websites more appealing, give enough social proof, and encourage visitors to spend more time on your website.