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How to Make Money As a Fitness Influencer (15 Tactics For 2025)

Some ways for fitness influencers to earn money include affiliate marketing, selling digital products (e.g., courses), doing online fitness coaching, generating ad revenue from videos for YouTube and TikTok, launching a membership website, selling branded merchandise (clothing, yoga mats, water bottles, and gym gear), and even speaking at events.

15 Tactics for a Fitness Influencer to Earn Money in 2025

1. Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are a form of advertising where a brand pays an influencer to create one or more social media posts promoting a specific product or service. 

Such posts are generally created to appear organic, but good practice for influencers is to add an #ad or #sponsored hashtag to maintain transparency.

Unlike brand deals (which we’ll discuss next), such arrangements come without commitment. Regardless of the outcome, the brand can pay for a single post and move on. 

Because of that, sponsored posts are generally a less reliable way to earn money, especially for influencers who are just getting started.

The way these posts work is quite simple. A brand seeking to advertise itself can reach out to an influencer with a similar audience and offer to pay them for a shoutout.

For example, brands selling sportswear, supplements, and workout equipment generally target influencers who create fitness, gym, and weight training content.

The earnings potential for influencers depends on their follower count and engagement rate. 

For instance, influencers with a small audience (generally fewer than 10,000 followers) can earn around $150 per post. In contrast, an influencer with a mid-sized following (up to 100,000 followers) can earn $600+ per post, and those with more than 100,000 followers can earn between $1,000 and $5,000.

Of course, these are average estimates from various sources. Your earnings potential will heavily depend on your engagement rate (i.e., how many of your followers like, share, and comment on your posts) and your ability to negotiate a fair rate. 

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2. Brand Partnerships

Brand partnerships are more formal and structured arrangements between influencers and companies, moving beyond the unreliability of one-off sponsored posts. 

Instead of paying an influencer a fee for a quick social media shoutout, these arrangements often come with a contract clearly outlining expectations, the duration, payments, and other legalities. 

Such partnerships often last for extended periods (months, sometimes years) and come with greater trust and familiarity between brands and influencers. 

Influencers often take on the role of brand ambassadors, where their job is to promote the companies they work with. For authenticity, brands typically send products to their army of influencers to use and show to their audiences.

The demonstration process could be quite thorough, with influencers often unboxing products, filming their initial impression, using the products, and sharing their thoughts days, weeks, or months later. 

For instance, if an influencer promotes a pre-workout supplement, they may do an initial taste test and explain how that first dose felt during training. 

Then, they could continue to mention the product in their posts (often with a discount code in the description) and thoroughly review it after using it for some time.

In some cases, especially with companies that make sports apparel (e.g., Gymshark), their influencers come in for photoshoots to display new clothing lines. For that, influencers only have to show up. The brand does all the work: taking the photos, editing everything, and publishing to social media.

Brand partnerships are similar to what professional athletes do when they sign with big brands like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. The primary differences are the actual scale and monetary reward.

3. Affiliate Marketing

affiliate programs

Affiliate marketing is another popular way for people to leverage their influence on social media platforms to earn money. 

Instead of getting paid for Instagram posts, you take the initiative by joining an affiliate program (check out our guide on the 13 best fitness affiliate programs) and promoting products you think your audience would like.

The first step is to find brands that offer products or services you think your audience would enjoy and benefit from. Then, see if they have an affiliate program––for example, by Googling “brand name affiliate program.”

Join the program or apply and wait to be accepted. Most affiliate programs are easy to join and don’t have special requirements. However, some, such as Nike, require those interested to apply, which means not everyone gets approved. 

Once inside the program, you can generate a unique referral link (typically a link to their website with a unique code attached). You then browse their website, copy the link of products you want to promote, and add your unique code. 

That way, when someone clicks on your link and visits the website, a cookie is stored in their browser. That typically lasts 30 days and means you would get a commission if they purchase something from the website at a later time but before the cookie expires.

All that’s left is to promote the most relevant products to your audience with the unique link you’ve generated. 

Depending on the program, your commission may be as low as 3-4% or as high as 30-50%. If someone purchases something for $100 through your link, you may earn as little as $3-4 or as much as $30-50.

Many companies have an affiliate program because it’s a win-win for both parties. They get extra business, and referrers get rewarded commissions at no additional cost to the customer.

4. Creating a Supplement or Clothing Line

Contrary to the previous tactic, creating a clothing or supplement line is riskier, more expensive, and more suited for experienced influencers. 

Creating any physical product complicates things to a greater degree because you must secure a permit, think about shipping, decide how to handle manufacturing, and countless other things. 

In the case of supplements, the process is even more complicated because you’re producing something for people to consume. This means you must be incredibly careful about your formula (how you dose ingredients) and where you get the ingredients from.

Like any physical business, influencers interested in starting a line must register a firm, research what permits they need, do market research to see what products may sell well, and calculate the initial costs of getting started.

The process often takes longer than selling online products or services (more on that below), and there is a greater risk because you must invest more money to get started. 

Also, overhead costs (those not directly related to the product) are much higher because you have:

  • Inventory
  • Storage
  • Shipping
  • Marketing
  • Website upkeep
  • Insurance
  • Legal costs
  • Employees
  • Utilities

Established influencers can get started and enjoy success with a product line because they can put together money for the initial investment and leverage their influence in the fitness industry to hit the ground running.

Rather than struggling for every sale like a brand new business would, they can promote their supplements or clothing to tens or hundreds of thousands of followers.

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5. Selling Digital Products

Digital products, such as courses, eBooks, webinars, and workout programs, are another lucrative option for fitness influencers. Selling such products offers some unique advantages over physical products, such as fitness equipment:

  • Low entry barrier – you don’t need special permits or certifications to create, market, and sell fitness digital products
  • Low production cost – depending on your skills (writing, design, editing, and creating PDF files), you can opt to do the majority of the work yourself and save money; alternatively, do some of the work yourself (e.g., writing) and outsource the rest to a freelancer (e.g., design)
  • Great profit margins – given the low production costs and non-existent costs of storage and delivery, digital products have excellent profit margins, allowing you to keep the majority of the revenue
  • Create it once and sell it an unlimited number of times – you can create a digital product, such as an eBook, once and sell it thousands or even millions of times
  • No expiration date – digital products live on forever, allowing you to sell them for many years
  • Easy to track, manage, and deliver – with product systems like SendOwl, email systems like Aweber, and digital stores like Shopify, you can create any digital product you can think of, market it to your target audience, deliver it with ease, and track crucial metrics to determine the conversion rate and overall interest in what you offer

Social media allows you to market products to your target audience and gather valuable feedback before creating anything. For instance, you can use polls and surveys to ask your followers.

That way, you can more confidently make products you know at least part of your audience would like to buy.

6. Online Fitness Coaching

online personal trainer

Online fitness coaching is a topic of interest for any personal trainer looking to expand their reach and help more people lead healthier lives. It also presents the opportunity to earn more money while working less. 

The beauty of online coaching is that you can pick from several options, including:

  • Monthly subscriptions – clients pay a monthly fee (typically $100-300) and receive ongoing training, nutrition, and recovery guidance
  • Virtual sessions – coaches hold classes online and walk their clients through each workout, including the warm-up and cooldown period; clients typically pay per session, similar to in-person training
  • Workout programs – this is more of a digital product than а service, but there is still a degree of personalization; the client receives the 4, 8, or 12+ week plan and follows it as outlined, making day-to-day training decisions independently

Online coaching services based on a monthly subscription are generally the go-to option for clients and trainers because they are affordable and productive. 

The trainer doesn’t spend as much work on each client, which means they can work with more individuals and earn good money. Similarly, the client gets the training and nutrition guidance they need and can contact their trainer with questions or concerns.

As a fitness influencer, you can leverage your social media following to promote your service and quickly fill all the roster spots.

You can use Hevy Coach if you want to train people online. The personal trainer software allows you to create workout plans, assign them to clients, and track their performance and adherence from a single dashboard. Make changes to any plan when necessary and chat with your clients through the platform. 

Related article: How to Start an Online Personal Trainer Business: A Complete Guide

7. Leverage Popularity to Train People In Person

Most health and fitness influencers look for tactics to earn money online, which is not necessarily bad. However, they may miss opportunities to expand their influence locally and make good money. 

Personal training could be a fantastic way to earn money as an influencer. Take celebrity personal trainers as an example. They routinely charge $300-$500+ for a single workout session, but have you ever wondered why? 

Sure, they are typically good at what they do and can coach people in a traditional gym setting. However, that’s not it. 

The real reason they can charge as much as they do relates to reputation, perception, and personal branding

It’s not that these people possess some industry secrets for coaching clients better or that they are experts in motivating clients. It’s simply that they are associated with celebrities, which instantly boosts their value in people’s eyes.

“Oh, that person is coaching Gal Gadot! They must really know what they are doing because she looks great.” 

Because of this perception, celebrity trainers can charge as much as they do, and people who can afford it would hire them without a second thought.

Do you know what’s interesting? Being a fitness influencer provides some similar opportunities for the same reasons. People’s perception boosts your value and allows you to charge good money.

You can set up a contract with a gym where you pay a monthly fee or share a percentage of your revenue to rent some of the equipment and space. That way, you maintain your independence and can coach clients online without investing in equipment, renting a studio, or worrying about upkeep. 

8. Create a Fitness App

A fitness app is a digital product with tremendous potential. Apps have become a huge and indispensable part of people’s fitness journey.

Good apps can help people eat better, track their nutrition, create or generate training plans, log their workouts, have more effective cardio workouts, do yoga, attend virtual fitness classes, and meditate. 

Some of the biggest fitness brands today have developed fitness apps because they recognize the huge potential when done right. Some of them include Nike, Under Armour, and Peloton. 

The problem most app creators face is they must start from scratch and slowly work their way up. Even getting people to sign up for early testing can be challenging, making it difficult to get adequate feedback and fix bugs before the official launch.

Fortunately, as a fitness influencer, you can leverage your online fame to launch an app and instantly get people on board for testing and genuine, day-to-day use. You can get a lot of feedback and gradually improve the app until it’s among the best.

For example, fitness influencer and personal trainer Kayla Itsines co-founded Sweat––a fitness app for women to work out at home and in the gym. 

Of course, creating and launching an app is easier said than done because it takes time, money, and skilled developers. However, an app could be fantastic if you genuinely want to make something great for people and are ready to listen to feedback.

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9. Generate Ad Revenue

As an influencer, you can create helpful, thought-provoking, and humorous fitness content for YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to grow your audience and generate ad revenue.

YouTube is perhaps the most popular option. It’s become increasingly popular in the last few years, especially with the launch of YouTube Shorts in September 2020. 

You can create videos and teach people valuable lessons that could help them train better, eat healthier, stay more consistent, feel more motivated, save time, avoid gym anxiety, and much more. 

Noel Deyzel is a prominent example of someone who came seemingly out of nowhere and took the YouTube and TikTok world by storm with his short, informative, humorous, and honest videos. 

He creates content on various topics related to proper training, eating, mindset, cooking, and mental health. While he has some long-form videos, most people know him for his short videos that pack a ton of value and practical tips sprinkled with humor. 

To earn money from ads, you must meet specific criteria. Here’s some info from YouTube:

“1,000 subscribers and either 4K valid public watch hours in the last 12 months OR 10M valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.”

Factors that determine your ad revenue include:

  • View count
  • Engagement (likes, subscribes, comments, and shares)
  • Ad types (skippable or non-skippable)

The beauty of making videos for established platforms like YouTube and TikTok is that the engagement rate is typically far higher than writing blog posts. 

Even videos with fewer than 1,000 views can get at least a handful of comments and dozens of likes, which can help you get some initial traction and reach more viewers to grow your audience. 

10. Launch a Membership Website

A membership website is essentially a platform where paying subscribers (members) can access exclusive content: 

  • Articles – research breakdowns, how-to guides, lists of tips, product reviews, supplement info, and beginner guides
  • Videos – these can be informative (e.g., recent study breakdown), instructive (e.g., here’s how to bench press with perfect form), and Q&A sessions (where members submit questions and you answer them on video)
  • Workout plans – you could create tailored programs with the help of templates for people in different categories––for example, beginners, intermediates, and advanced trainees
  • Nutritional guidance – meal plans based on specific calorie (e.g., how to eat 3,000 calories daily) or macronutrient (e.g., how to get 200 grams of protein daily) targets
  • Live classes and workshops – stream live sessions for your members, where you discuss topics of interest and answer questions
  • Community features – for example, you could create a Subreddit, a forum, or a Facebook group where your members get together for discussions, encouragement, and to get their questions answered
  • Resource library – a collection of downloadable PDF files and spreadsheets (workout plans, eBooks, and informative videos)

You could also offer special discounts for paying subscribers. For example, subscribers could get other digital products you offer (e.g., courses or eBooks) at a special discount.

One thing to be mindful of about a membership site is that it can sometimes become a trap when you don’t have many subscribers to earn good money but must still produce new content monthly.

If you’re unsure about subscriber numbers and retention rates, perhaps a better first step would be to make a course. That way, you won’t have as much ongoing work and can steadily earn money, even if you don’t make that many sales.

11. Speak at Events

This is a more advanced tactic but can be highly lucrative. You could earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars for as little as one hour on stage. 

Of course, speaking at events can be time-consuming because you have to negotiate the terms, prepare your presentation, travel, and wait for your time to step on stage. However, it can be a fantastic way to move out of your comfort zone and boost your credibility.

As an established influencer, people already look up to you and value your input on specific topics. Brands and event organizers are more likely to reach out and ask you to speak at their event to attract more people and fill the schedule for the attendees. 

Such a deal can be a win-win for everyone. You would gain exposure, earn money, and boost your credibility. The event organizers could sell more tickets, and those attending could see you live and learn valuable lessons.

Another benefit of speaking at events is that you get to network with other fitness influencers, business owners, and fitness enthusiasts. This can often lead to new opportunities, such as brand partnerships.

To be more successful and appear professional:

  • Promote your participation ahead of time – let your followers on social media know about your engagement; include the date, time, and location
  • Know your audience – learn as much as possible about the event and the attendees
  • Prepare a quality presentation – once you understand the target audience, take your time to prepare an engaging presentation; discuss something new in the industry or put your unique spin on an old idea
  • Speak slowly – once on stage, take your time with your presentation and don’t rush through the material; speak slowly and take brief breaks to breathe
  • Maintain an open body language – look around at your audience, keep your arms uncrossed, and smile to create an engaging presence for your audience
  • Answer questions on stage – allow attendees to ask questions for you to answer on stage if there is enough time
  • Engage with attendees afterward – following the speech, engage with attendees and encourage them to reach out on social media or sign up for your email list to boost engagement

12. Selling Stock Photos or Videos

In a world of stock images, photos, visuals, and videos, the demand for unique and high-quality media is high. Brands are often looking for quality videos and images for their ads and to enhance the quality of their content. 

For example, someone selling a course with workout programs included can use videos as a visual aid to boost the overall value of their digital product. 

Also, buyers can use the media in their articles, similar to how Healthline includes short instructional videos when discussing bodyweight exercises, yoga poses, and stretches.

Even simple photos can be highly valuable, as brands can use them for their ads, blog posts, videos, and other types of content.

Influencers with a relatively small following can opt for freelance modeling work by selling stock photos or videos.

Some ways in which you can earn money include:

  • Exercise or workout demonstrations – film yourself doing specific exercises for clients who can use these videos in their paid courses or articles
  • Wearing a brand’s clothing – have a brand send over some of their new apparel; take videos and photos wearing their clothing for them to use as advertising material
  • Test products – test weight belts, wrist wraps, knee sleeves, exercise mats, and other fitness equipment for brands

You can use a freelance platform like Fiverr to market such services and earn income for each order.

13. Patreon Donations

Though less common in the fitness industry and sometimes frowned upon, Patreon donations can be a viable revenue stream, especially for influencers who create free content for social media, YouTube, or their blog. 

The flexible model allows those interested to donate a small sum and support their favorite content creator. For example, if someone spends multiple hours of their time every day or week to create free content, audience members can show their appreciation and support through donations.

As a creator, Patreon offers two distinct advantages. First, we have the obvious benefit of financial support from a predictable revenue stream that can complement your earnings from other endeavors. 

Second, earning more money gives you the freedom to create content that aligns with your values, allowing you to stay true to yourself. 

Rather than promoting affiliate products you may not fully believe in or creating sponsored posts for companies you don’t fully understand, you can discuss topics you’re knowledgeable about and have strong opinions to share. 

The approach can also be valuable for your supporters. First, they can donate a sum they feel comfortable with, even if it’s just a few dollars monthly. Second, they can feel more fulfilled knowing they are supporting you and helping you spend more time creating valuable content.

Third, you could offer subscriber-only bonuses, such as content, as an incentive, essentially turning your Patreon community into a membership website where subscribers decide how much to pledge each month.

14. Sell Branded Merchandise

Like creating a supplement line, developing a fitness app, launching a membership site, or speaking at events, selling branded merchandise is a more advanced tactic. It requires an upfront investment and involves more planning around manufacturing, storage, and delivery.

However, despite the difficulties, it can be a fantastic way to earn extra money from loyal followers and exercise your creativity by making fun designs for T-shirts, shorts, joggers, hats, and other types of clothing.

For example, if your brand has a cool logo and motto, you can add those to your merch. Take a look at Gymshark––one of the most popular and successful companies for gym apparel. Its clothing lines are characterized mainly by the Gymshark logo.

Alternatively, add motivational slogans like the popular “DON’T QUIT.”

Another option that works particularly well is relying on humor. Let’s take Omar Isuf and his Raskol Apparel line as an example. Omar first gained popularity with his educational and humorous fitness videos on YouTube and later started selling branded merch.

One of his T-shirt designs includes the writing, “I can’t die! I don’t have abs yet.” and features two dinosaurs lifting weights and watching as an asteroid is about to hit Earth. 

Another fun design puts a spin on the classic saying, “No pain, no gain.” Only his version is, “All pain. No gain.”

He also has several designs with the wording “Team no calves,” which is a callback to an inside joke Omar has with his audience.

Now, it’s important to note that humor is subjective, and there is a fine line. Some jokes are riskier than others, so it’s best to test things out with fewer units to see what people resonate with. 

Also, you don’t have to limit yourself to clothing. Other types of merch to consider include:

  • Customized yoga mats
  • Water bottles and shaker bottles
  • Workout gloves
  • Lifting straps and wrist wraps
  • Workout belts
  • Knee sleeves
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15. Teach Business and Marketing

digital marketing woman

Are you a successful fitness influencer? Do you have a good grasp of business practices and marketing? Are you interested in branching out and teaching people something new? If so, why not teach others the lessons you’ve learned while building your business?

Looking back at your journey to understand what made you successful can be a great way to remember those early days of struggle, express gratitude for where you are now, and put together teaching materials for a series of articles, podcast episodes, emails, or even a paid online course.

As an influencer, you can share unique insight and speak from experience about business tactics, branding, and marketing ideas. 

For instance, if you’ve built a large following on social media, you can package everything you know into a course and sell it to people. Or maybe you’ve built a large fitness brand with an online presence and physical locations (e.g., gyms or supplement stores). 

Going through that has likely taught you much about best business practices, marketing, regulations, product manufacturing, delivery and storage, creating engaging content, and countless other skills.

You could package these into digital products, such as courses, eBooks, or webinars, or become an online business coach.

The biggest advantage for you is that you could leverage your online success to generate buzz around new and upcoming products, coaching services, or webinars. Instead of starting from zero, you can hit the ground running and successfully transition to a new niche.

Conclusion

Earning money as a fitness influencer can be tricky, especially at first. But, as you can see, there are numerous strategies to consider––some ideal for those starting, others more suited for influencers with an online presence. 

There are many best formulas for success. Some tactics may work better than others, depending on your target audience and unique skillset. 

The best thing you can do for yourself is to remain authentic and try to be as helpful as possible because people will always value honesty and integrity. 

If you build a reputation as a good and honest person, your followers will value your opinion, listen to your recommendations, and use your products.

Now, if you’ve made it this far, check out our personal trainer software: Hevy Coach. With it, you can build workout programs in minutes, assign them to specific clients, and track their performance and adherence from a single dashboard.

You can also chat with clients and make quick changes to their training plans when necessary.

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