Working with influencers can give your brand a more trusted and credible image. People with a desire to look and feel good will often seek out top brands and personalities for inspiration.
In the social media sphere, a number of health and fitness influencers have amassed massive followings. Since health is such a diverse genre, these influencers cover a huge range of topics. These include mindfulness and meditation, Paleo and Ketogenic diets, plus a growing interest in foods that promote wellness.
Boiling down the top 10 health influencers of 2019 was no easy task. We started with a list of over 100 health influencers (make sure you check out our top list of influencer tools) with a presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
We also looked at the number of times each influencer was mentioned on Google news. In addition, we factored in their brand partnerships, their own branded products, and the overall quality of their health and fitness ethos.
This list excludes spiritual figures and healthcare executives. Even though they are just as influential, this list focuses on influencers who spread their messages primarily through social media.
Michelle Lewin
Michelle Lewin did not have the easiest life growing up with her mother and siblings in Venezuela.
However, instead of letting their situation bring her down, she used it to push her boundaries and thrive in the world of fitness, bodybuilding, and overall physical health care.
She first found her love for working out and taking care of her body as a teenager when her mother brought her to their local exercise center. This was further strengthened when she met Swedish bodybuilder Jimmy Lewin who she eventually married in 2010.
At an early age, she was already traveling the world to pursue a modeling career for various agencies, brands, and platforms, and even to participate in amateur bodybuilding competitions.
When she moved with her husband to the US in 2012, she also began joining several National Physique Competitions and International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness competitions which she won multiple times within a few year’s time.
As she was thriving in the bodybuilding and fitness scene, she was also actively documenting her journey on her social media accounts which made more people notice her. Her growing following of more than 13 million on Instagram, almost 9 million likes on Facebook, over 461,000 followers on Twitter, and over 382,000 subscribers on YouTube just shows how much people look up to her.
On top of her rapid success, it is her modest and never-give-up attitude that really endeared her to her fans and allowed her to snag a spot on our list.
“The most important thing is to keep a constant, be disciplined, find the way to reach the better version of yourself,” she said in this video. “You need to set the excuses aside and find some time for yourself.”
Product endorsements:
Fitplan and Mealplan: She has worked with several brands throughout her career, but according to an interview with Forbes, her main focus at the moment are her own brands, specifically Fitplan, which is a personal training app, and Mealplan, which is a meal plan and recipes app
Joe Wicks
Technology has given people more effective ways to get healthy and fit—Joe Wicks was one of the few who delivers without cutting any corners.
He started out his social media journey on Twitter where he showed his followers how they can get a healthy body on his posts called “Lean in 15”. On his posts, he shares easy-to-do recipes you can recreate in 15 minutes, helping you achieve a healthier lifestyle. His posts also include short high-intensity interval training sets you can do anywhere with minimal equipment involved.
He eventually gained a large following across his social media platforms with over 2.7 million followers on Instagram, 3.1 million likes on Facebook, 309,000 followers on Twitter, and 729,000 subscribers on YouTube. He is now widely known as The Body Coach.
In 2015, his “Lean in 15” social media videos became a fully published cookbook entitled “Lean in 15: 15-minute meals”, which sold over 900,000 copies. The following year, he became a TV presenter with his very own show “The Body Coach” on British outlet Channel 4, where he helps people achieve their best self through his programs.
What made him stand out the most, though, is how inclusive his recipes and workouts are and how he practices what he preaches. He shows his followers how effective his recipes are by doing it himself and joining them in their journey towards a healthier and fitter lifestyle.
He designed his program so that even the busiest people can incorporate it into their lives without sacrificing its quality. And, this is why he is part of our list.
Product endorsements:
Joe Wicks’ 90 Day Plan: Although he has worked with several brands throughout his career, Joe has decided to focus more on his own brand. He manages the 90 Day Plan, which includes over 90 brand new easy-to-follow recipes and workouts as well as his very own kitchenware line that includes cookware, ovenware, and even storage materials.
Kayla Itsines
Any list of health influencers would not be complete without Kayla Itsines, the founder of the SWEAT app and the acclaimed Bikini Body Guide (BBG).
Before she reached her current level of success, she has already dedicated her life to health and fitness.
At 18 years old, she was already a qualified personal trainer in Adelaide, Australia. She would train women of all ages and post their before-and-after transformation photos on her social media accounts, which eventually gained popularity and earned her more clients.
As her following grew, her partner and fellow personal trainer Tobias Pearce helped her devise a workout plan that can easily be done by her clients with minimal equipment wherever they may be in the world. In 2014, that easy-to-recreate program became the foundation of her best-selling Bikini Body Guide.
With more than 11 million followers on Instagram, 26 million likes on Facebook, 416,000 followers on Twitter, and 311,000 subscribers on YouTube, she has earned a spot as one of the most influential personalities when it comes to health and fitness, but she still remains to be humble and focused.
In an interview with Hello, she credited her followers and the women she trains as her source of inspiration. “The fact that I’m showcasing the success of other women. Rather than showcasing what I do, it’s more like, look at this girl, look at what she’s done” she said.
Product endorsements:
SWEAT and Bikini Body Guide (BBG): Itsines has been constantly improving her own brand ever since she started to gain a significant following on social media, and this can be seen in the success of her SWEAT app, a fitness guide with 28-minute workouts, Bikini Body Guide, a 12-week workout program, as well as her very own meal plan.
Massy Arias
Massy Arias did not live the healthiest lifestyle growing up in the Dominican Republic. In fact, she just found her love for exercising and living a healthier lifestyle after going through a bout of depression.
“I fell into a deep depression when my brothers both developed cancer. I was basically living in the hospital and in an awful relationship where I lost sight of my worth,” she said in an interview with Elle.
Her situation got worse after her brothers fell ill. She was rapidly losing weight, hair, and self-confidence during those trying moments of her life. So, one day, she decided to take things into her own hands and turned to workouts to find herself again.
She documented her journey on her social media accounts, and eventually, it garnered her more than 2.6 million followers on Instagram, 318,000 likes on Facebook, 80,000 followers on Twitter, and 58,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Through her fitness journey, she was able to rediscover herself and claim back her life. As people started seeing her progress, they asked her to train them herself.
Today, Arias continues to help people all over the world by training them and posting about effective workout routines, supplements, and meal plans. At 29 years old, she has shown the world that you can definitely bounce back with the help of the right lifestyle and determination.
Product endorsements:
Massy Arias, MankoFit, Tru Supplements: Massy Arias has been crafting her brand since she began in the health and fitness scene. She has seen great success in the workout plans, meal plans, and vegan and organic supplements that she has been endorsing.
She is also an active endorser of Covergirl and Fabletics.
Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson
He started out as a college football player and then became a star in the World Wrestling Federation as ‘The Rock’. After retiring from the ring, Dwayne Johnson became a blockbuster movie star in such films as Jumanji, The Scorpion King, and the Fast and the Furious 6.
He has over 100 million Instagram followers, but a lot of those follows are because of his film or wrestling work. He also uses his Instagram channel to showcase his hardcore workout routines. However, what really gets him on this list is a single post made while on the set of his HBO show Ballers. In the post, he opened up a dialogue on mental health by recounting a story of his mother’s attempted suicide.
The post got over 1.5 million likes and 100,000 comments. More importantly, it helped to remove the stigma about mental health discussions. “Struggle and pain are real,” he wrote in the post. “We’ve all been there on some level or another.”
Although a large portion of his social media content is devoted to promoting his movies, his workouts are a key ingredient as well.
Thus, he makes our list. Not for his entertainment fame, but rather for using his platform to encourage mental health dialogue and awareness. Given that fitness requires passion and motivation, his influence adds depth to the discussion, and also inspiration in the results.
Product endorsements:
Under Armour: This is one of the best celebrity-brand partnerships in the retail sector. Johnson’s own Project Rock product line features shoes, shorts, tights, and t-shirts. Recent additions include headphones, earbuds, and workout bags.
Adriene Mishler
Adriene Mishler is a multi-talented woman. She is an actress who appeared in films, such as Detective Calzone, Austin High, and Everybody Wants Some! However, when she is not on set, she is making free yoga videos that are easy to follow. These videos cater to everything you want and need, from losing weight to finding your inner zen.
“Find what feels good,” is the message Mishler spreads since she started helping people understand the practice of yoga beyond stretching and flexibility.
She has led millions of people across the world to fitness through her channel “Yoga with Adriene”, which has earned her more than 554,000 Instagram followers, 523,000 Facebook likes, 81,700 Twitter followers, and more than 5.3 million YouTube subscribers.
She creates videos of simple yoga flows that her subscribers can easily follow at the gym or at their own homes.
Product endorsements:
Yoga with Adriene: This is the brand she started with and has cultivated through the years. Under her brand, she runs “Find What Feels Good,” a yoga video subscription service, and sells clothes and accessories perfect for yoga.
Deepak Chopra
Long before health and fitness advocates started taking over social media, Deepak Chopra has already made a name for himself.
With a background in medicine, he started as a licensed physician when he first moved to the US and even became the chief of staff at the New England Memorial Hospital in the 1980s. However, during his time there, he became involved in the Transcendental Meditation movement, which changed the way he viewed human healing.
He then established the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center and wrote several books about alternative medicine and healing, which gained nationwide popularity. During the 1990s, Oprah Winfrey interviewed him due to his innovative ways and beliefs, and this propelled his career more.
Today, Chopra is a public speaker, author, advocate of alternative medicine advocate, and “the O.G.(uru)” with a firm belief that the “perfect health” can be attained as aging is “fluid and changeable.”
Eventually, he became the executive director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine of Sharp HealthCare and the co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.
His musings, books, beliefs, and alternative ways of living has helped many people live a healthier life, making him one of the most influential people in the health and fitness industry today at the age of 72.
Product endorsements:
Deepak Chopra: His name and books are his own brand. Under it, he has multiple best-selling books, a resort and spa, a 21-day meditation experience app with Oprah, as well as videos and podcasts.
Simeon Panda
If you are into bodybuilding, then you have probably heard of Simeon Panda.
His love for weightlifting and bodybuilding started right in his own home. He began lifting when was just a skinny 16-year-old who wanted to improve how he looked. This further improved when he got to college and met a friend who inspired him to practice and lift more.
“I was training in my living room and a friend of my brothers who had not seen me in a while came over and was shocked and said I was huge. That really motivated me to go at it even harder,” he said in an interview.
The bigger and fitter he got, the more motivated he was to improve his routine. This went on until he started joining bodybuilding competitions where he was eventually recognized as a pro in Musclemania.
As the years passed by, he was able to develop his own name, brand, and following which earned him 5.4 million followers on Instagram, 5.5 million likes on Facebook, 102,000 followers on Twitter, and 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube.
Product endorsements:
SP Athletics: Aside from his workout programs, Panda is also the CEO and founder of some of the top athletic wear brands today. These include Just Lift clothing and gym accessories, Vanquish Fitness clothing, as well as the products under the SP Athletics line. These lines also partner with other brands, such as TW Steel.
Emily Skye
Before becoming the health and fitness powerhouse she is today, Emily Skye was deeply involved in the modeling industry.
However, the pressure of maintaining her the thin physique of models eventually took its toll on her, which cost her happiness and health.
“None of it made me happy, being skinny never made me happy, being as perfect as I could be never made me happy,” she said in an interview with Whimn Body and Soul.
Eventually, she decided that enough is enough. She took her life into her own hands and credited meeting her boyfriend and business partner, Declan Redmond, in helping her change her mind about health and fitness.
Since the changes, she’s put on 13 kilos while lifting heavy weights and doing some HIIT. She claims these changes have made her happier and healthier. What’s more, she no longer obsesses about her looks. Instead, her focus is on training for health and longevity.
Today, Skye has more than 2.6 million followers on Instagram, 10.5 million likes on Facebook, 113,000 followers on Twitter, and 74,000 subscribers on YouTube. And, she uses these platforms to help other women gain confidence in themselves through proper workout and nutrition.
She never forgets where she came from but, instead, she uses it to encourage other women who have gone through the same experience, making her a standout influencer.
Product endorsements:
Reebok: Aside from maintaining her own brand, Skye is also a brand ambassador for Reebok. They have worked together to create workout shoes and clothes to empower women to “be more human,” which is the brand’s philosophy.
Caleb Marshall
While other health and fitness influencers promote the lifestyle by going to the gym, lifting weights, or practicing yoga, Caleb Marshall promotes a healthier life through dancing.
Marshall first began posting fun dance videos in October 2014 on his YouTube channel “The Fitness Marshall”. He has been performing with his local show choir and for school events that it was only natural for him to gravitate towards dancing until his college days.
Although he was majoring in film production at the Indiana University, he still turned to dance as his main creative outlet. He eventually recorded his energetic and sweat-inducing choreographies which then gained traction online.
Today, he has more than 238,000 followers on Instagram, 955,000 likes on Facebook, 11,800 followers on Twitter, and more than 2 million subscribers on YouTube, who regularly watch his videos. In 2017, he even had the chance to tour the world and dance his heart out with his supporters.
However, over the past year, Marshall was faced with massive changes in his life that almost made him cease The Fitness Marshall. Thanks to his loyal “Booty Army” and their unending support, he did not drop it.
“I had spent the last year trying to be something for everyone else that I forgot they fell in love with The Fitness Marshall because I WASN’T trying to be anything for anyone,” he said in a post. “I want to do a better job of representing as many people as I can.”
Product endorsements:
Imperfect Produce & Booty Army merchandise: As a fitness enthusiast, it is important that your nutrition is in line with how hard you work, which is why Marshall partnered with Imperfect Produce to promote organic food that lessens food waste at the same time.
Along with this, he also maintains and develops his own brand that promotes self-love and a healthier lifestyle.
Conclusion
As this list shows, each health influencer on this list has a few things in common. First, they (obviously) focus on a particular aspect of health. Second, they touch on broad, relatable topics that widen their appeal beyond their health niche. Third, they all endorse very carefully selected brands.
The key takeaway is to recognize how to leverage your position on social media platforms. One option is to start your own influencer brand, build up a following and then use that platform to market your products.
A more effective method is obviously to partner with established influencers. Keep in mind that the influencers mentioned in this article are the best of the best.
Use these examples as references as you search for influencers that reach the audience you are targeting. There are literally thousands of budding influencers out there begging for resources to help them power their own brand.
Find them, reach out, and negotiate deals that fit with your budget. The sky’s the limit.
And if you ever need help in finding the right influencer for your campaign, contact me!
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