The Australian fitness influencer market is already pretty saturated, but its trailblazers show how newcomers to the gym influencer space can carve out their own niche.
There is no strict formula that everyone looking for influencer jobs or trying to build a community must follow. It’s all about discovering what makes you stand out, feels authentic, and is going to help you reach your goals.
1. Kayla Itsines: Focusing on community
@kayla_itsines (15.7 million followers)
Itsines started hosting exercise classes in her parents’ backyard after graduating from the Australian Institute of Fitness at 18.
It snowballed. Soon 300 people were joining her beach-based training while exposure from before-and-after pics posted online convinced Itsines to collect her workouts in the Bikini Body Guide, which was soon downloaded over a million times.
She’s since featured in Time’s 30 Most Influential People on the Internet and earned an estimated net worth of AU $171 million (US $111 million/UK £82 million).
Itsines found success on social media by:
- Knowing her audience
“My guides are aimed at predominantly women,” she told the Independent in 2016. “I have trained with women for over [17] years now, so I feel I have developed an understanding about their goals.”
“Every day is about research for me – what my community wants, what they feel, what they need,” she told the Daily Telegraph. - Staying persona
Unlike some influencers, who outsource the management of their socials, “I run my own Instagram account,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I don’t let anyone touch that.” - Putting the community above herself
“I strive to focus my account on the inspirational transformations of my clients, rather than it always being about me and my life,” Itsines shared with Forbes.
2. Nick Cheadle: Leveraging social media
@nickcheadlefitness (736,000 followers)
Like many fitness gurus, Nick Cheadle boasts a diploma in nutrition and health coaching and a phenomenal physique, but it’s social media that anyone hoping to become an influencer must understand – and that’s where he stands apart.
“My business was not killing it,” he recalls. “I just thought that social media might be a way of putting myself out there.… I had seen a few online personal trainers at the time have success selling meal plans and training programmes.”
Cheadle nurtured his following by:
- Interrogating his content strategy
“The question that I kept asking myself is: Why should people follow me? Why would they follow me? Why would they keep following me? I ask myself that every time before I post,” Cheadle said on the Muscle for Life podcast. “If you are in the position where you can give them something for free…do that.” - Syncing up his channels
“I now use social media for the most part to drive traffic elsewhere…getting people on my [email] list and being able to give them free content,” he told Muscle for Life. - Staying consistent
“I tend to post at the same time every day,” he said. “I know that from personal experience, posting around certain times tends to receive more engagement.”
3. Tammy Hembrow: Being an entrepreneur
@tammyhembrow (17 million followers)
Hembrow went from having a minor online following to gaining major attention in 2014 by documenting her ability to stay fit and healthy while pregnant. She smartly capitalised on it, and in 2019 launched Tammy Fit, a downloadable fitness PDF programme-turned-app, which had more than 3 million downloads by 2024.
“My initial investment was about AU $400 (US $259/UK £191) I spent with someone to illustrate the exercises on the programs I was making,” she told The Project Factory. “From that, I just wanted to elevate it more and more.”
She’s since been named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Business News Australia and launched her own activewear company.
Hembrow converted her Insta-fame into a business by:
- Putting in time – and money
“I wanted everything in this app to be absolutely perfect, so I didn’t spare any cost, I didn’t cut any corners, and I’m super proud of what we’ve done,” Hembrow told the Daily Mail. “I funded everything myself.” - Starting small and moving fast
“Start with whatever you have,” she told the Daily Mail. “Don’t wait for the ‘right time.’ Don’t wait for more money.” - Trial, error, and not giving up
“There are always going to be mistakes,” she said. “But you have to be consistent and committed to working through those mistakes or figuring out creative ways around them.”
4. Stephanie Sanzo: Focusing on strength
@stephaniesanzo (3.4 million followers)
Sanzo is one of the Australian gym influencers fighting societal expectations by advocating for women in strength sports and heavy weightlifting. “I decided to move away from ‘exercising’ and began ‘training’,” she posted on Instagram.
Unlike many other female fitness influencers, Sanzo is focused firmly on strength training and recommends that people “treat cardio as a tool rather than a necessity.”
“Her workouts are meticulously planned, focusing on building strength, power, and endurance,” according to a profile of Sanzo in Firm Abs. She has partnered with Gymshark, released her own programme on Itsines’ Sweat app, and launched her own app, LIFTit, which focuses on strength-training workouts.
Sanzo defined her brand by:
- Curating a focused account
“I researched how to Instagram properly and decided to make mine all about my fitness journey and being a single mum and all the struggles I face to encourage people,” Sanzo told the Daily Mail. - Specialising workouts
“I typically have a theme for each workout, which is the main lift or muscle group for the session (this is the strength component) and then follow that with some accessory work (which is the hypertrophy and assistance component),” she told Insider. - Maintaining integrity
“It would be easy just to go sign up to anything or start shouting out … products I don’t even like just for the cash,” Sanzo says. “I was like, ‘No, I believe in what I’m doing and I want to stay true to my values’.”
5. Chloe Ting: Flourishing on YouTube
@ChloeTing (25.8 million subscribers)
Chloe Ting is one of YouTube’s biggest fitness content creators. She started posting in 2011, but her content really took off during COVID, as millions of people unable to attend the gym started following her high-intensity home-based workouts.
Her video Get Abs in 2 Weeks went viral – it currently has over 578 million views – and 2 Weeks Shred Challenge became one of quarantine’s most popular fitness routines. She’s continued to nurture her channel while also creating her own clothing collection and launching a range of fitness equipment in over 3,000 US Walmart stores.
Ting has gone the distance as an influencer by:
- Working behind the scenes
“I create free workout programs on my channel that take weeks of planning, training, filming, and editing,” she told Her World. “There’s a lot more work that goes on behind the scenes with product development, brand consultation, and more projects in the works. - Ignoring negativity
“Being on social media for several years has taught me to not value negative opinions,” she said. “If you’re contributing positively and are actually helping people out there, there really isn’t any valid reason to be concerned with negativity.” - Taking inspiration from peers
“The main platform that I focus on is YouTube, so, naturally, I follow a lot of YouTubers who inspire me,” she said. “So there isn’t a single person that inspires, but it’s more of a collective group of content creators out there who make a massive impact in the world.”