Create A Killer Fitness Bio For Instagram: 10 Tips & Tricks

Creating a killer fitness bio for Instagram will help you stand out from the crowd. Fitness is a pretty competitive niche, so differentiating yourself is crucial.

In this article – we’ll share 10 proven tips and tricks to improve your fitness bio for Instagram, including name selection, optimisation ideas, and lead generation strategies.

We’ll teach you how to optimise for keywords, use the elevator pitch formula, and even squeeze in a few emojis! Plus, there’s a free optimsation checklist too…

1. Optimise your bio with keywords
2. Use impactful and inspiring phrases
3. The elevator pitch formula
4. Add strategic emojis
5. Sense check your username
6. Include a professional profile picture
7. Link to a lead capture page
8. Share Instagram Stories frequently
9. Add Story highlights
10. Pin posts and reels to your feed

We’re a specialist fitness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve helped gyms, fitness studios, and personal trainers to successfully promote their businesses on social media, so our strategies are tried and tested.

We just went through the process of updating our own Instagram bio so decided to add what we’ve learned to this article. You can be confident that the guidance and best practice in this article is based on what works in 2024…

#1 – Optimise Your Bio With Keywords

Adding keywords to your bio will help you show up more often in search results. Include phrases that your ideal client is likely to search for, and gear your bio around their needs (e.g. workout videos), rather than yourself (e.g. ACSM certified).

Most people don’t realise that they should add keywords after their name too. This is the most powerful part of your bio and helps the Instagram algorithm understand what your account is about.

Choose 3-5 words that communicate what you do and your location (city/town) if you want to attract local followers and leads. Use a horizontal dash (-) or vertical ‘pipe symbol’ line (|) to separate the keywords from your name.

Here are a few practical examples…

• Vox Studio – HIIT Training London
• Om – Yoga | Pilates | TaiChi
• Sweat Fit – Online Workout Videos
• Fly Fit | Miami Personal Training
• Tri Training – Online Fitness Coaching For Triathletes
• BeCycle – Spinning Studio – Melbourne

#2 – Use Impactful & Inspiring Phrases

In addition to using keywords, it’s important to make your bio persuasive. Remember that you’re talking to people, not robots…

To make your fitness Instagram bio impactful, set out what makes you different from other accounts or businesses. Talk about the benefits of what you offer, as well as features. Explain how your products and services will help people (not just what they include).

So instead of ‘HIIT workouts’, talk about ‘workouts that burn max calories in minimum time, so you can fit them around your busy lifestyle and work commitments’.

Or instead of ‘modern gym’ talk about ‘a supportive and luxurious environment that you’ll actually enjoy coming to’.

Using inspiring words can make a huge difference to the number of people who follow you. Diets, losing weight, and tough workouts won’t sound very appealing to potential clients. But smart word choice can totally change this…

• Diet ⇔ Nourish – Fuel – Nutrition
• Lose Weight ⇔ Transform – Renew – Shred
• Push ⇔ Motivate – Inspire – Enable

#3 – The Elevator Pitch Formula

Your Instagram bio has a limit of 150 characters, so it’s important to make every word count. Many people will decide whether or not to follow you on the basis of this section, so it needs to be clear and impactful.

Use the following ‘elevator pitch formula‘ to summarise exactly who you help, what you do, and how long it takes…

We help [insert ideal client] to [overcome common problem] in [time frame].

Here are a couple of practical examples for gyms, personal trainers, and fitness bloggers…

• We help people who hate gyms to fall in love with fitness in 7 days.
• We help busy mums to lose their post-baby bump in 12 weeks.
• We help non-runners to train for marathons in 6 months.

Using this formula will help you appeal to your ideal client. People will read it and think “that’s me!” or “this is exactly what I need”. Adding a time frame makes it even more impactful since everyone wants to know how quickly they’ll see results.

Learn more… check out what the best fitness accounts on Instagram say in their bios.

#4 – Add Strategic Emojis

Adding emojis to your fitness bio for Instagram will help break up the text, making it easier to read. They also help to communicate things visually, which some people prefer.

Try using fruit, veg, or shapes in place of bullet points. Bonus points for colour-coordinating the emojis with your overall branding.

Don’t worry about emojis coming across as unprofessional. They’re totally acceptable on Instagram (as opposed to LinkedIn where they might not be as universally accepted).

You might also like… 20 Proven Strategies for Boosting Instagram Engagement.

#5 – Sense Check Your Username

Your username appears next to all your posts so it has a big impact on how you’re perceived. Usernames like ‘caz123’ are fine for personal use but they don’t make it obvious that you’re a fitness professional to potential followers.

Using catchy fitness names for Instagram ensures that your profile is memorable and conveys what you do. So, check that your username actually makes sense to people who don’t already know you.

If it doesn’t, then change it. You can switch up your Instagram username as many times as you like. Simply go to Options ⇒ Edit Profile and enter a new username. Where possible, try to keep usernames consistent between all social platforms.

It’s best to choose a name with less than 15 characters because that’s the limit on other platforms like Twitter. That way you can use the same name on every site which helps create a consistent brand.

You can check username availability across all social platforms at the same time using a site like Name Checkr. It might feel like all the best fitness Instagram names are taken, but if yours is already in use then there are a couple of options…

• Add your location – so flyfit becomes flyfitUK or flyfitNY.
• Add a verb – such as goflyfit or getflyfit. But try to avoid using punctuation like underscores (i.e. flyfit is preferable to fly_fit).

You might also like… Creative gyms & studio name ideas.

#6 – Include A Professional Profile Picture

For gyms and studios, it’s best to use an element of the logo (such as the first letter or icon). For example, Soul Cycle use their wheel icon instead of squeezing their full logo into a small circle. We don’t recommend using a full-size logo since when viewed on a mobile it appears super-small and isn’t easily readable.

For personal trainers or bloggers, there are more options… Since it’s a single person representing the business (rather than a team) you can either use a headshot or logo element.

Headshots can come across as more personable (which is why we recommend them on printed trainer bios too), whereas logos can appear more professional. It’s an individual preference and there is no right or wrong – it really depends on how you’d like to come across to your audience.

The minimum profile picture size is 110 x 110 pixels, but you also need to allow for the fact that Instagram will crop the corners into a circular shape.

#7 – Link To A Lead Capture Page

Of all the fitness Instagram bio ideas we’ve mentioned, this may be the most important. After all, what’s the point in social media marketing on Insta if it’s not driving leads for your business? So, make sure that you link directly to a lead capture page.

You might also like… Instagram Tips For Personal Trainers – 5 Ways To Get More Followers

The web address in your fitness bio for Instagram is the only clickable link on the platform. This makes it the easiest way to send visitors to your website, so don’t waste it. Most people just link to their homepage, but this is missing an opportunity…

Instead of linking to your homepage, link to a page that’s specifically designed to capture leads. You want to drive visitors to a form that asks for their email address, so you can continue to build the relationship outside of Instagram.

This way you have more freedom to communicate in different ways (especially handy if your account is ever blocked).

You’ll need to offer something really valuable in order for people to hand over their email addresses. Ebooks, fitness challenges, and workout guides all work really well. It’s best to offer something that will solve a small problem, help them complete the first step towards their goal, or provide a quick win that’ll make them feel good.

#8 – Share Stories Frequently

While not strictly part of your bio, Stories do appear on your profile. They show that your account is active and are an opportunity to post additional info on your account page. So it’s vital to share Instagram Stories frequently (ideally every day) to maximise your profile’s impact.

When would-be followers visit your account page, they’ll see the glowing circle around your profile picture indicating that you’ve posted a Story. It’s the perfect space to share additional info about your products, services, client wins, or special offers. You can also include a link in your Stories which makes it a powerful tool in your bio.

#9 – Add Story Highlights

Pin Instagram Stories as highlights under your bio to promote services or convey additional information in a visual way. If you’re designing the bio for a fitness page, then adding Story Highlights will really aid branding.

You can choose a cover photo to represent each story that matches your colour scheme or brand style. These appear as circles underneath your text bio and link directly to the stories themselves.

Check out how Cassey Ho uses them under her Instagram fitness bio to promote events, programs, and lead magnets…

If you’re creating a fitness studio or gym bio for Instagram, then you could add Story Highlights about personal training, spa services, or membership options. For a personal trainer bio, the highlights could cover training goals and FAQs. It’s super-simple to do – check out the basic steps here.

#10 – Pin Posts & Reels To Your Feed

Our final tip for creating an awesome Instagram profile is to select the best posts and fitness Reels for the top of your feed. You can pin up to three so that they’ll always be the first pieces of content people see when visiting your page.

Pinning posts and reels is a way to extend your profile and give visitors even more reasons to follow you. They’re additional Instagram real estate that you can use to your advantage.

Fitness accounts can benefit from pinning…

• Client reviews and testimonials
• Calls to action (e.g. free day pass – visit our stories)
• Special offers and promos
• Intros or ‘about us’ posts
• What makes us different

Including these types of content at the top of your feed is a way to extend your bio beyond the character limit. You can also use them to convert more visitors into followers and clients!

Creating A Killer Fitness Bio For Instagram

Implement these tips and tricks, and you’ll have a killer fitness bio for Instagram in no time! For more social media ideas and strategies check out our other articles on starting a fitness Instagram, popular health hashtags, and the best fitness hashtags for likes and followers.

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