Who Are The Top Instagram Fitness Influencers In 2024?

Influencers in many different niches flourish on Instagram, but fitness influencers are some of the most popular creators on the platform. Instagram fitness influencers gain large audiences that they help to instruct and provide motivation to, ultimately shaping fitness trends in real life. 

There’s a wide variety of creators posting fitness content on Instagram, which begs the question, who are the top Instagram fitness influencers in 2024? Also, what is a KOL (Key Opinion Leader), and do these fitness influencers qualify? In this blog, we’ll highlight some of the top Instagram fitness influencers in 2024 based on their impact, following, and contribution to the fitness community.

Who Is The Biggest Fitness Influencer On Instagram?

If you’re trying to determine the “biggest” fitness and health influencer on Instagram, there are a few different criteria to consider. The first question would be: who has the most followers on Instagram fitness? It’s also worth considering the influencers’ engagement rates, their reputations, and whether they’re still active on the platform today. Considering all these factors, here are the biggest Instagram fitness influencers:

• Michelle Lewin (16 million followers): Lewin is a bodybuilder and model originally from Venezuela who built her massive following with workout videos and fitness modeling. Since then, she has launched a fitness app and published a book on fitness and nutrition. 
• Kayla Itsines (16 million followers): Itsines also has a huge Instagram following and is one of the top Instagram fitness influencers in 2024. She gained her followers by posting accessible workout videos and tutorials that anyone could follow to start getting in shape. Her hugely successful fitness app helped maintain and expand her audience. 
• Jen Selter (14 million followers): Selter also gained a larger audience as a fitness influencer by posting accessible content about working out at the gym. She’s known for her poses in her photos and has also launched her own fitness app. 
• Ulissesworld Maddy (8 million followers): Maddy is a fitness trainer who became one of the top Instagram fitness influencers through his content about working as a trainer for professional football players. His audience knows he promotes healthy lifestyles and maintains top physical fitness. 
• Simeon Panda (8 million followers): Panda is known for his strong physique and content about the sports fitness industry. He now offers online training and sells nutritional supplements and workout clothing to his large audience. 

Who Is The Number One Fitness Influencer?

If those are the biggest Instagram fitness influencers, who’s the number one fitness influencer on the platform? Naturally, all of the influencers on the list above are contenders for this title since they have developed large, engaged audiences on Instagram by putting out great fitness content. Taking into account factors like overall influence, brand, and endorsements, the number one fitness influencer is probably Kayla Itsines. 

This Australian personal trainer and business owner has one of the largest audiences on Instagram among fitness influencers. She is also active on other platforms like Facebook and YouTube with engaged audiences there, too. Her fitness and meal-planning app, Sweat with Kayla, has been hugely successful. It even generated the highest revenue of any fitness app back in 2016. 

Who Are Gen Z Fitness Influencers?

Many of the Instagram fitness influencers listed so far are millennials in the 27 to 42 age range. That said, there are plenty of popular fitness influencers from the younger generation, generation Z, who are currently between 11 and 26 years old. These Gen Z fitness influencers are able to connect with and appeal to social media users in their age range, something older influencers may struggle to do. Here are some of these influencers worth watching:

• Whitney Simmons: A young fitness influencer who gears her content toward encouraging other women to try strength training and weightlifting. She’s popular for her high energy and encouraging content. 
• Chloe Ting: Chloe Ting gained popularity through her motivational workout videos and trendy social media challenges. She creates content about improving your overall fitness while building strength and muscle. 
• Bretman Rock: Though known for his beauty content, Bretman Rock has joined the ranks of young male fitness influencers. He posts workout routines and healthy recipes he enjoys, all while trying to promote body positivity to his audience. 

Top Female Fitness Influencers on Instagram in 2024

Female Instagram fitness influencers are some of the most popular creators on the platform, and they are hugely impactful within the fitness community on Instagram. These women help build up the strength and confidence of their female audience members and show the world what women are capable of. So, who are the top Instagram fitness influencers in 2024 female? Here are our picks:

• Kayla Itsines: Kayla Itsines has been a personal trainer for women since 2008 and transitioned that experience into a fitness empire on social media. She has over 16 million followers on Instagram, as well as several fitness e-books and an incredibly popular fitness app available for download. 
• Michelle Lewin: As a bodybuilder and model, Lewin is used to being in the spotlight. Now, she boasts a huge engaged audience on Instagram and posts content meant to help viewers develop their own strength and wellness. 
• Jen Selter: Another female fitness influencer with millions of followers, Jen Selter has been posting fitness content on Instagram for ten years. In that time, she’s built a large and loyal audience of followers who love the fitness videos and pictures she posts to the platform. 

Top Male Fitness Influencers on Instagram in 2024

There are also some very impressive male influencers in the fitness niche on Instagram. Each with their own niche and approach to fitness, these men inspire their audiences and help promote staying in shape. 

The group of top male fitness influencers on Instagram is very diverse, too. There are popular male fitness influencers over 40 who prove that you don’t have to be in your youth to be in shape and passionate about fitness. Some popular fitness influencers focus primarily on weightlifting and building muscle, while others have a different fitness style that’s more about developing agility and functional fitness. So, who are the top Instagram fitness influencers in 2024, male? These are our top picks:

• Chris Bumstead: Chris Bumstead is a professional bodybuilder from Canada with more than 23 million followers on Instagram. For the last five years in a row, he has won Mr. Olympia Classic Physique Champion. He posts images of his impressive physique and training videos to his millions of fans on social media. 
• Simeon Panda: Simeon Panda is another incredibly popular male fitness influencer on Instagram. He posts content about his weight training and shares his unique perspective on the sports fitness industry with many followers.  
• Joe Wicks: Joe Wicks, also known as The Body Coach, is a fitness trainer from Britain who gained a large following on social media. He emphasizes High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts and has written several health-focused recipe books. 

The Rise of Fitness Influencers on Other Platforms

Instagram was the platform where fitness influencers became major social media personalities with huge audiences. Now, however, fitness influencers are also gaining popularity on other platforms. In particular, many fitness influencers have been posting on TikTok, either exclusively or in addition to posting on other platforms. The top male fitness influencers on TikTok, for example, are not all the same as the top male fitness influencers on Instagram. 

Some creators recognize the value of developing a cross-platform audience and post content on several social media platforms. They can create short-form videos for TikTok and then repurpose that content and post it on Instagram Reels or even in their feed. It’s fairly easy to rework the same content slightly so it’s ready for other platforms. This way, the fitness influencers are able to take advantage of the audiences primarily consuming content on TikTok, Facebook, or any other social media site. Learn more about how to use influencer search tools for finding the best fitness influencers of 2024.

How Fitness Influencers Have Adapted to Changing Trends in 2024 

The fitness world is always evolving, and fitness trends reflect that. Instagram fitness influencers must adapt to new fitness trends to stay relevant and engaging to audiences. For example, the rapid growth of AI has led some influencers to incorporate AI into their content, such as using AI-generated images to illustrate a point. Influencers also hop on social media trends like challenges or popular audio to meet audiences where they’re already paying attention. 

Keeping Up With the Top Instagram Fitness Influencers in 2024

From Kayla Itsines to Chris Bumstead, a great group of top fitness influencers is taking the world by storm on Instagram. Fitness is one of the most popular and powerful niches on the platform. Influencers need to be authentic and honest to stand out, as there’s so much manipulation and lying regarding online fitness. Authentic, real fitness influencers can be inspiring to audiences and powerful brand partners for businesses. Check out these top fitness influencers and see if you can find more who offer great fitness inspiration! Contact Lionize today!