If you are trying to grow your fitness Instagram, you probably have had trouble at one point or another coming up with ideas for new content.
After all, when posting regularly for weeks on end it’s tough to try to keep things interesting and exciting.
However, any good Instagram marketer knows that having a balanced variety of posts on their account is what keeps followers engaged and keeps their account growing.
Here you can discover the 10 content ideas for fitness Instagrams that many of the most successful Instagram fitness influencers use to grow their accounts.
By incorporating these post ideas, you can keep your account interesting and gain more followers as a result.
1. Poses
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Ah yes… poses.
You couldn’t make an official fitness Instagram account without a healthy dose of posing pics.
After all, if you really want your fitness Instagram to take off, it’s a good idea to show your followers evidence that you are in shape yourself. Being in outstanding shape proves your credibility as someone who knows a thing or two about fitness.
“How would I pose for the gram?” you might ask. There really isn’t a right or wrong way to do it as long as you feel comfortable doing so.
Often times you will see fitness models with incredible physiques posing nearly naked to show off as much of their figure as possible. However, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this, a quick picture here and there of you posing in your favorite gym clothes is fine. It doesn’t need to be anything special.
2. Food, food, food
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They say that muscle gains are made in the kitchen. This statement couldn’t be truer, and given that diet and nutrition is a huge component of fitness, its never a bad idea to document your eating habits on your fitness Instagram.
Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can do this. For instance, if you are big into meal prepping like many fitness fanatics and bodybuilders are, then you can post a pic every so often of your weeks’ meals in Tupperware containers lined up back to back. You can even go the extra mile and list the macronutrients in each meal in the caption.
On the other hand, your food posts don’t necessarily have to be this elaborate. If you are proud of a healthy meal you that’s pleasing to the eye, don’t hesitate to post a picture of it!
3. Workouts… of course.
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You would be hard-pressed to find a fitness or bodybuilding Instagram account that didn’t have numerous workout videos.
There are many ways in which successful accounts post workout videos. However one of the most common methods is to post short, back to back videos for multiple exercises. For instance, a post might be titled “back and bicep day” where the account owner might have five back exercise videos, that last 6 seconds each in one post that you can swipe through. The first might be showing a lat pull down, the next might be a bent-over row, followed by a video of a bicep curl, ect. All the exercises shown would represent your back and biceps workout day (see the video above for a workout video example).
The point of these videos is often not only to show how you work out parts of your body but also to demonstrate how to do the exercises properly and effectively.
4. Inspirational posts
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It’s really motivating to see pictures of someone in excellent shape that isn’t afraid to show the world. This is one of the reasons why some of the most successful fitness accounts upload “inspirational posts” for their followers.
By inspirational posts, I mean posts that often have a captivating picture and a moving caption. The caption could simply be a motivational quote by someone famous. On the other hand, it could be a long drawn out personal story about overcoming adversity and developing an impressive physique through relentless perseverance. Either way, oftentimes these posts are simply more about the caption than the picture its self.
5. Right vs wrong lifting styles
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These types of posts are fitness trainers and coaches bread and butter.
These are basically instructional style posts to educate followers on how to properly lift weights. Usually, the account owner will upload a video of the “wrong way” to do a certain lift in which the account owner will purposely do an exercise incorrectly (the way that many people wrongly do the exercise). In the same post, there will be another video of the same exercise performed the “right way” where the account owner will demonstrate how to properly do the exercise to fully engage the muscles while avoiding injury.
Posting actionable tips like these is an excellent way to build a loyal following that can really benefit from the advice you have to offer… if you know what you are talking about that is. Just make sure that you have a really good understanding of how to properly do exercises or else you can lose a lot of your credibility.
6. Gym humor
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People love to laugh… even gym rats.
Posting a picture or video with some quality gym niche humor is an excellent way to mix things up and keep your audience engaged.
In fact, some fitness accounts specialize in just producing this type of content. Although these accounts often aren’t very educational, they become incredibly popular because their followers simply love a good laugh. Some accounts even focus on almost exclusively producing this type of content. For instance, internet personalities such as Dom Mazzetti, the creator of Bro Science Life and Blessing Awodibu, a charismatic bodybuilder have built following from their witty humor.
7. Before and after posts
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There is nothing more telling of a successful fitness journey than some solid before and after workout pics.
Often times Instagram accounts owners will post a pic from years ago when the account owner was either skinny, overweight, or just average looking, alongside a picture of their current self with a much more developed physique. Often, these posts are for inspiring their audience.
On the other hand, a bodybuilding account might post a picture from perhaps just 10 weeks ago before they started cutting body fat alongside a current picture just to show they were able to effectively reduce their body fat while maintaining muscle mass. Often these posts are to show progress in preparing for a bodybuilding show or perhaps for educational purposes to explain what to do to reduce body fat for example.
8. Sponsorship posts
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Once your fitness account has a few thousand followers, you might be able to get a sponsorship from a fitness brand. Once you become sponsored you may have the option to make posts advertising the brand you are affiliated with.
There are numerous fitness brands are looking for affiliates and brand ambassadors on Instagram. Supplement brands, apparel brands, fitness equipment, and fitness media brands are constantly looking for new Instagram accounts with considerable followings to promote their products. Furthermore, you can get quite creative in how you promote these brands as well. Posting about discount codes for supplements, or pictures of you wearing your sponsored brands gym clothing are just a few examples.
The best part of course is this is an excellent way to earn some side income!
9. Science and educational tips
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Certain fitness Instagram accounts have built massive followings by regularly posting science-based gym and nutrition advice.
For instance, some accounts may regularly post about how you can track the foods you eat in a calculated fashion in order to cut fat or build muscle. All the while these accounts may walk you through the more nitty-gritty nutritional science to support their claims.
Other accounts may teach their followers step by step on how to do certain exercises in order to strategically engage very specific muscles. All the while, these accounts may do so by referring to anatomical diagrams for further explanation.
Instagram and YouTube channels such as AthleneX are well known for this type of no-nonsense fitness education.
10. Lifestyle posts
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Successful fitness Instagram accounts don’t always post about fitness. Sometimes these accounts mix things up by posting about everyday life. After all, fitness models and bodybuilders do have personal lives and although it might not seem like it, they have hobbies aside from working out.
These posts can be centered around anything from spending time with family to relaxing on the couch on a rest day. Really you can choose to post about anything you might find fun to do in your free time that your followers might be somewhat entertained by.
The point of these posts is to keep things interesting. Even though people follow fitness accounts for the gym related content, it can be refreshing to see content every now and then pertaining to things that have nothing to do with fitness.
