The Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Fitness Professionals
Pete Davis
CEO, Ampjar
6 Jun, 2019
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There’s no doubt that the health and fitness world has been changed by Instagram.
The ways we get health and fitness information, inspiration, and motivation have changed drastically over the last decade and scrolling Instagram has replaced chatting with a trainer or coach.
This means as a health or fitness business it has never been easier to get in front of fitness fanatics.
Instagram is the perfect tool to reach specific audiences like gym bunnies, macro counters, and yogi devotees. Unlike traditional advertising, you can start as small as you like – with little or no budget – and still gain traction and get your business in front of thousands of eyes.
Thirty-eight percent of Instagram users check their account multiple times a day
As a fitness business, you should definitely be after a piece of that pie!
Understanding which are the best hashtags to use for your health, fitness or wellbeing account is paramount. The most common hashtags are not always the best for your account and it might be a less popular but more localized hashtag that gets the right eyes on your feed.
Want to get your health or fitness brand in front of as many users as possible? Read on to learn more about the top fitness hashtags to use to make Insta work for you.
Ampjar communities were designed to help you get more exposure without social media – explore how we pair you with the right brands to get your company in front of new audiences. Learn more here.
Best general fitness hashtags
There’s a whole audience of people out there dedicated to fitness that might not subscribe to a certain gym, style of workout, or diet. If you’re looking to promote your activewear, protein powder, or online workouts then general fitness hashtags are a great place to start.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular fitness hashtags on Insta:
#Fitness
#Gym
#Fit
#Workout
#FitFam
#Health
#Bodybuilding
#HealthyFood
#WeightLoss
#Fitspo
#FitGoals
#TrainHard
#GetStrong
#FitFluential
#FlexFriday
#Gains
#Squats
#StrengthTraining
#HealthyMeals
#HealthyFood
#NoExcuses
#JustDoIt
#FindYourStrong
#BestLifeProject
Five of our favorite general fitness hashtags
It’s time to start thinking smart about your tags. While there is no harm in using wildly popular hashtags like #fitness (342 million posts at last check!), it’s a good idea to also throw some more specific hashtags in there.
#MondayMotivation
Jump on board with this trending fitness hashtag – like the obstacle race @Tough_Mudder.
#FitnessTips
Doesn’t hurt to offer people something of value on your post – practical tips are likely to garner more engagement.
#NoShortcuts
Good inspiration to help encourage those hitting a mental wall.
#StrongAsAMother
Want to target a niche audience? Get specific and you are more likely to make real connections. We like this cheeky hashtag.
#LondonWellness (#BrooklynWellness, #SydneyWellness, you get the drift)
A local hashtag will help you reach a local audience – especially if your business is a face to face business (personal training or physiotherapy, sports coaching).
Best yoga hashtags
With an estimated 300 million practitioners worldwide, yoga has come a long way since its founding in the early 1900s. If you’re one of the countless businesses that emerged to support yogis, knowing how to get their attention on Instagram is key.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular yoga hashtags:
#YogaLife
#Yogi
#DailyPractice
#Namaste
#YogaFlow
#YinYoga
#PowerYoga
#YogaAsana
#Vinyasa
#Meditation
#HotYoga
#ThisIsYoga
#YogisOfIG
#Yogaholic
#BendDontBreak
#YogaFam
#MyYogaLife
#SelfPractice
#Asana
#YogaPoses
#PowerYoga
#YogaAddict
#MenOfYoga
#YogaGirl
#YogaPoses
Five of our favorite yoga hashtags
#YogaEveryDamnDay
A hashtag started by Insta star @Yoga_Girl – an incredible example of an owned hashtag that went totally viral.
#StralaYoga
A modern style of yoga started by @TaraStiles – she effectively uses the hashtag and her students and followers around the world follow suit.
#BeginnerYoga
Not everyone who wears yoga pants or steps on to a yoga mat can do a perfect Dancer’s Pose or perhaps even touch their toes. You don’t want to alienate a big group of people by only targeting people at the top of their game. We love how @yoga_by_tanu shows you don’t need to be super bendy to enjoy yoga.
#AcroYoga
An example of getting specific and niche – a smaller community, and therefore easier to target. And pretty inspirational too! Check out @Acroyogaddicts having some fun here.
#UglyYogaPosturesInPrettyPlaces
Just for the laughs – if you need a break from the serious side of social media, this yoga hashtag is enough to make even the most serious yogi wobble. @jenns_yoga isn’t taking herself too seriously here.
Best running hashtags
Millions of people around the world pull on their running shoes and pound the pavement every day. There’s a massive and active community of runners on Instagram and countless business beyond the big names that have emerged with products to help runners.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular running hashtags on Insta:
#Running
#RunnersOfInstagram
#FurtherFasterStronger
#RunningMotivation
#Marathon
#MarathonTraining
#InstaRunners
#CrossCountry
#InstaRunners
#LoveRunning
#RunnerLife
#RunningCommunity
#RunningShoes
#RunItFast
#RunnersHigh
#Cardio
#RunnerLife
#RunningTips
#NikeTraining
#RunningMama
#RunningGoals
#MondayMiles
#FreeRunner
#NeverGiveUp
#HappyRunner
Five of our favorite running hashtags
#TrailRunning
Drilling down into the specific rather than the broad can be helpful in targeting a new audience and new potential customers.
#ParkRun
A global phenomenon where free, 5km, timed runs are held around the world. They’re open to all levels and about community rather than winning. Using local #ParkRun tags is a great way to tap into your local running community.
#StravaRun
Strava is a mobile app and website connect millions of runners and cyclists, allowing them to compete virtually and complete challenges. By using this hashtag you can tap into an existing community – like this NYC based running coach has here.
#SeenOnMyRun
You can have some fun with this running hashtag – and allows you to inject some personality into your account.
#SundayRunday
It never hurts to be able to piggyback on an existing day specific hashtag.
Best gym and workout hashtags
These are for the gym junkies, #GirlsWhoLift, and those who plan their weeks around their workouts.
With an ever-increasing number of people getting fit, hitting the gym and trying new workouts, businesses need to be strategic with how they get in front of this expanding audience.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular exercise hashtags on Insta:
#Fitspo
#Fitfam
#GymLife
#LegDay
#FitLife
#GetStrong
#Workout
#ChestDay
#TrainHard
#Gains
#StrengthTraining
#PhysiqueFreak
#Fitness
#FitFluential
#FitnessFriday
#Flexfriday
#Squats
#LegDay
#Strength
#GymWorkouts
#FitnessMotivation
#Weights
#PersonalTrainers
#StrongWomen
#GetStrong
Five of our favorite gym hashtags
#MoveNourishBelieve
This hashtag started by Australian activewear company Lorna Jane (@Lornajaneactive), now used by a massive community of health and fitness devotees.
#WOD
Want to tap into the huge – and ever-growing – Crossfit community, estimated to be in the millions worldwide? Try this Crossfit specific hashtag. (For those fresh to the industry, It stands for workout of the day.)
#GirlsWhoLift
Tap into this strong and positive community of strong women lifting each other up.
#LearnToLift
It always helps if you can value add for your audience, so any practical tips are handy to get in front of more eyes. If you are a PT or strength coach try this out like @BaseBodyBabes have here.
#FitFamLA (Insert any location here)
We love a hashtag that allows you to connect to a local community.
Best nutrition hashtags
Caring about what you eat is no longer the domain of supermodels and athletes – there’s plenty of office workers around the world toting their mason jar of zoodles, engaging in meal prep, and counting their macros – all of which is good news for your nutrition business.
Hashtags might seem like just a bit of fun but if you want to get your business in front of the right eyes but it pays to spend some time getting your hashtag strategy right. A vegan pea protein will have a different ideal customer than a meal prep company specializing in keto – the right hashtags will help you reach your right customer.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular nutrition hashtags on Insta:
#CleanEats
#HealthyFood
#HealthyFoodPorn
#PlantBased
#HealthyLife
#HealthyRecipes
#protein
#shredded
#BeWell
#GlutenFree
#GutHealth
#InnerBeauty
#Protein
#Superfood
#Wellness
#CleanEating
#raw
#Vegan
#IQuitSugar
#detox
#MealPrep
#RealFood
#ProteinBalls
#PlantBased
#Antioxidants
Five of our favourite nutrition hashtags
Want to tap into an audience who know their golden lattes from their Matcha tea?
Here’s a wrap up of our top five nutrition and health hashtags.
#EatTheRainbow
Who doesn’t want to look at beautiful rainbow-hued dishes?
#HealthyLunchBox
Another example of using a hashtag to get to a more niche audience than broader healthy eating tags. If you make a product that might be perfect for kids lunchboxes then try using more specific hashtags.
#JERF
Just. Eat. Real. Food. Can’t get more simple than that. Tap into an audience that wants healthy and simple food.
#PlantBased
Matcha Mylkbar in Melbourne successfully uses this hashtag to connect to a thriving vegan community in their local town.
#SmoothieBowl
Coconut Bowls (@coconutbowls) used this hashtag as the perfect marketing strategy for their bowls specifically made for smoothie bowls.
How to make hashtags work for you.
It’s all good and well to know which hashtags will increase your visibility and get more eyes on your brand’s page. Hashtags help make your post searchable by category, location and helps you connect with people who want to find your brand.
But it’s not quite as simple as throwing on a few hashtags on any old post. Here are a few of our top tips to make hashtags work for you.
Find your brand’s best time to post
Sure you might think that chiseled abs and the newest Lululemon gear is sexier than data, but leveraging when your users are actually online is what will set you apart from your competition.
Keep a repository of hashtags ready to go
This simple tip will save you oodles of time. Keep a simple note with your standard hashtags – you could have a few versions for the different kind of posts you regularly post.
A simple note in your phone or computer will do the trick. It also means if and when your team grows you can easily share preferred hashtags.
You’ll still need to adjust and refine for each post to make sure the hashtags are relevant to each post, but at least this will give you a head start. You don’t want to simply use the exact same lengthy list of hashtags again and again, but having a list to choose from can help if you’re like many small biz owners out there and trying to do it all yourself!
Think about how many hashtags to use on each post
There may not be a perfect number that applies to all Insta accounts, brands, or industries (we wish it were that simple!) but, it is worth having a strategy to help decide how many your users seem to prefer.
Thirty is the limit of hashtags you can use on a post (ten for Stories) but that’s not to say more is better. In this Bustle post they suggest there is no magic number and it’s all about finding what works best for you.
Sprout Social suggests looking at how many posts similar brands are using, and then also tracking your engagement using a different number of hashtags.
Get specific
While a popular hashtag suggests your post will be seen by the masses, there’s the danger using something too broad and having your post get buried in an ocean of content. Try using more niche or specific hashtags if you want to reach more potential customers rather than just more eyeballs. So if you are a smoothie bar in Bondi, Sydney try #SmoothieBowls, #VeganEats #SmoothieLovers #BondiHealth rather than just the generic and more popular #CleanEats. Using location-specific tags also helps here – make sure people know where to find you.
Want to find out more about which Instagram metrics to track, and some handy tips and how-tos? Check out our earlier post Top Instagram Metrics to Track.
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