Keeping your fitness ticking over online
Physical trainer Brian Keane has 250k followers on TikTok.
In a world where social media feeds us an endless supply of free workouts, there is a new star in the form of TikTok. Once the preserve of viral dance routines and instant health hacks, the outlet has turned its attention to fitness with full effect. TikTok fitness is fast – most videos are just 15 to 60 seconds in duration – but they are also fun, sometimes even frivolous, and most importantly they are free. No wonder we are lapping it up in our droves. The hashtag #fittok currently has 3.3bn views and #fittoks 69.7m views, and a host of fitness professionals are emerging as the new gurus of instant-access workouts.
Its niche appeal is that it is a launch platform for new workouts, unusual exercises and body-part challenges – there are more than a billion combined views for videos with #abworkout or #absworkout and over 680m views on videos for stronger glutes – with a rapid rate of turnover to prevent anyone getting bored.
A host of FitTok superstars is emerging including Demi Bagby who treats her 13.8m followers, inspiring videos of backflips and walking handstands, and Antonie Lokhorst, a buff-bodied TikTok trainer from the Netherlands who has 4.4m devoted TikTok followers. As Bholi Parihar and Divyansh Sharma who present with thehandle @ProYogaExperts put it, the beauty of TikTok is that “anybody can see your videos no matter if they follow you or not, so good content generally gets its appropriate appreciation”.
Predictably, the TikTok fitness trend is not without its critics. An informal survey by the websitemoney.co.uk reported that 5% of all video clips analysed by a personal trainer were graded with the lowest score possible with the kettlebell swing – a move using kettlebells to work your core, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, glutes and back – the most commonly incorrectly executed of all moves. Of all the videos that demonstrated the move, 80% had incorrect technique.
So which to choose? Here’s our guide to what the best TikTok fitness influencers have to offer:
Brian Keane once worked full time as a primary school teacher but is now one of Ireland’s leading influencers on all things health, fitness and nutrition. Alongside fitness and diet nuggets such as ‘how not to do a shoulder press’, there are mini HIIT workout routines like the side lunge and squat alternative to running - three rounds of one-minute glute and thigh-burning exercises.
An emerging TikTok star, Bongiwe Pinana is a personal trainer from South Africa who has workouts ranging from a weighted skipping rope regime to a booty workout at the gym that includes a step machine session, squats and deadlifts. She demonstrates indoor and outdoor exercises with many requiring no equipment.
An international power lifter who weighs just 8st 7lbs, Ru is a powerhouse and an expert tutor at all things weights related. Her deadlifting demos are second to none but there are plenty of bodyweight-only strengthening moves if lifting heavy is not (yet) your thing.
Bholi Parihar and Divyansh Sharma, both in their 20s, have garnered 1.2m likes on their TikTok rhythmic yoga videos. Some of the advanced yoga moves are more inspirational than achievable by the masses, but there are excellent tutorials on how to do headstands and on how to get a flat tummy through yoga.
Rayner is a British former competitive gymnast and diver turned fitness model and coach who appeals because she offers beginner and advanced versions TikTok posts featuring her mum as her assistant. Her easy-to-follow workout videos have amassed 7.3m likes and most are performed in her living room and require no equipment.
California-based trainer Rebecca Louise embraces an approach that optimal wellness is based on 20% fitness and 80% nutrition. She is founder of a ‘5 day better you programme’ and posts exercises that target body parts (3 ways to a better butt) and plenty of advice on eating healthily and well.
Best of all, her advice is sensible. “At the age of 17, I suffered with anorexia and terrible complexion which led to depression,” she says. “Discovering the proper balance of exercise and great nutrition set me on track to take control of my health, wellness, and life.”
Isaac Smith is a buff-bodied fitness entrepreneur who posts his workout videos alongside fitness tips to his followers. His well-produced videos mainly focus on one specific workout goal at a time – want superman biceps, triceps like Kratos or abs like Thor? He’s your man.
Skipping (or jumping rope as it is called in the USA) is cheap and has unrivalled cardiovascular fitness benefits and there is so much more to it than simply swirling a rope overhead. Follow Kat for advice on good technique as well as how to turn skipping into a workout that will rival anything you can do at the gym.
Jennifer Tavernier is a fitness trainer who posts everything from ab and glute challenges to hotel room workouts and training videos with her young daughter but also provides personalised workout plans if you have specific goals. With a million followers, she is one of TikTok’s top fitness influencers.
Eyal Booker is a model who shot to fame after appearing on . His TikTok account is a mix of workout ab-firming videos – the high knees bodyweight cardio is a great fat blaster – interspersed with lifestyle posts featuring his girlfriend, friends and pets.
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