Using the top fitness hashtags on Instagram can help you reach a bigger audience and boost engagement. The right hashtags will ensure your posts, reels, and stories are seen by your ideal clients and fitness-focused followers. You might even get lucky and have your posts go viral!
But how do you know what the best fitness hashtags to use are (and which are banned by social platforms – you might be surprised by some of them)? Should you just copy the ones that other successful accounts use? Is it better to go for trending Instagram hashtags or more niche-focused ones?
In this article – we’ve collated 100+ of the best fitness hashtags for Instagram and TikTok that you can simply copy and paste into your social media posts (plus 12 to avoid at all costs).
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Top Vs Best Fitness Hashtags
Here are the best hashtags related to fitness and active living…
#abs #cardio #fit #fitfam #fitlife #fitness #fitnessaddict #getfit #girlswholift #nopainnogain #personaltrainer #spinning #sweat #weights #workout
These aren’t the most popular hashtags or ones with the biggest volume of usage, because those tags aren’t the best ones. Using the most popular ones is a common mistake that many Instagrammers and fitness influencers make. But the best hashtags and the most popular ones aren’t the same thing…
The most popular ones will have the highest usage and search volumes, which means they also have the highest potential reach. But because so many people are using them, it can be really difficult to stand out. You’ll need to work hard to differentiate yourself from the competition and may end up getting no visibility at all…
Top Tip – Use a tool like Later to batch prep & schedule your social posts in advance. It’ll help you post more consistently, which is vital for engagement and growth.
The other drawback of using the most popular fitness hashtags is that they’re pretty dull. Yep, we said it, the most popular tags are also the most boring.
Don’t believe us? Well here’s the proof – using Hashtagify’s handy search function, we were able to identify the top 10 hashtags related to #fitness by search volume…
#diet #exercise #fit #fitfam #gym #health #healthy #motivation #weightloss #workout
As you can see they’re a bit generic and not really that inspiring… Sure, they’re all very relevant and highly popular (read = most competitive). But a key element of any kind of marketing is to make you stand out from the crowd, not get lost in the noise.
Another crucial marketing strategy is to target your ideal client. You want to attract the people who are a perfect fit for your offering… Not every generic fitness fan in the Insta-verse.
So although it may be tempting to use the most popular hashtags in your posts, we suggest using ones that are tailored to your segment. Which is why we’ve researched the best fitness and gym hashtags for Instagram and TikTok that will actually help your accounts grow…
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Gym Hashtags
The best gym hashtags for Instagram or TikTok will relate to your location and fitness specialty.
Using local hashtags can help to attract members or personal training clients in your area (rather than people from all over the world). This is essential for gyms and PTs who train clients in person. Here are some tried and tested gym #tags to get you started…
#babygymrat #certifiedgymrat #gymlife #gymmotivation #gymmemes #gymaholic #gymtime #gymworkout #gymgoals #gymhumor
You might also like… Perfect Gym Quotes & Captions for Instagram or 10 Gym Social Media Ideas For Attracting Clients & Retaining Members.
Workout Hashtags
Here are our top picks for the best workout hashtags for Instagram and Tiktok that you can copy and paste…
#barefootrunning #beastmode #burpeeskilledme #chestday #kettlebell #legsdayeveryday #powerlifting #streetworkout #strengthdefinesyou #sweatinglikeapig #workoutwednesday #yogaposeoftheday
Using a TikTok or Instagram training hashtag like one of these will help your account grow more quickly. Your posts will be seen by the right people who are interested in content like yours, so will be more likely to follow and engage with you.
You might also like… workout quotes & captions for Instagram, creating a killer bio, story highlights cover designs, getting your first 1000 followers, top health hashtags, useful nutrition tags, and the best yoga hashtags to use on social media.
Top Tip – If you’re stuck for caption ideas, some social media scheduling tools have AI-powered features that’ll write them for you!
Fitness Motivation Hashtags
Here’s a selection of motivational hashtags that’ll inspire your fitness followers to take action…
#fitnessgoals #fitnessmotivation #fitquote #fitspo #gethealthy #getstrong #goals #gohardorgohome #healthylife #liftheavy #motivationmonday #noexcuses #trainhard #transformationtuesday #youcandoit
Weight Loss Hashtags
The top weight loss hashtags for Instagram combine a mix of nutrition, exercise, inspiration, and body positivity…
#cleaneating #fitmeals #getfitnlean #shredded #weightlosstransformation #weightlossjourney #weightlosstips #weightmanagement #weightlosscoach #weightlossprogress
You might also like… Empowering Weight Loss Transformation Journey Quotes or Funny Weight Loss Quotes & Caption Ideas.
Bodybuilding Hashtags
These bodybuilding hashtags will boost your reach and follower engagement in the training community…
#bodybuilding #bodybuildingcom #bodybuildingcompetition #bodybuildingmotivation #bodybuildingnation #classicphysique #igbodybuilding #instagrambodybuilding #liftheavy #weightlifting
CrossFit Hashtags
The best CrossFit hashtags for Instagram are ones that target your community and inspire them to work out with you…
#crossfitlove #crossfitters #crossfitlifestyle #crossfitbox #crossfitaddict #crossfitmasters #crossfitcommunity #crossfitmotivation
Home Workout Hashtags
Exercising at home has become increasingly popular, especially as our lives get busier. Popular home workout hashtags include…
#homeworkout #homegym #homeworkoutideas #homeworkoutsrock #homeworkoutswork #homeexercises #exerciseathome #exerciseeveryday #workoutathome #workoutfromhome
Best Fitness Hashtags For Followers
You can also use fitness hashtags to get more followers by combining popular hashtags with targeted ones for your specific niche.
Popular tags will expand your reach, resulting in more likes and followers. Niche tags will have a smaller reach but be much more effective in appealing to your ideal clients.
Using a fitness hashtag generator like Later’s tag tool, RiteTag or Keyhole allows you to explore an entire web of related hashtags. Segment-specific hashtags are still highly popular with loads of followers, with the added bonuses of being more targeted and specific.
This will help you attract those perfect clients instead of generic fitness fans with no interest in buying anything from you. You can also include a couple of straight-up ‘follow hashtags’ to give your account a quick boost.
#fitnessfollowers #fitnessfollowback #fitnessfollow #fitnesslike #fitblr #fitnessfriday #fitnesslove #fitspo #instafit #instafitness
Banned Fitness & Gym Hashtags To Avoid
Some hashtags are banned by Instagram so it’s really important that you don’t use them. If you do, your post, reel, or story simply won’t get shown to any followers.
Banned fitness, gym, and workout hashtags to avoid include: #tag4like, #tagsforlikes, #swole, #pushups, #mustfollow, #models, #loseweight, #instasport, #hardworkpaysoff, #bikinibody, #assday, and #armparty.
How many hashtags are best?
Using a super-targeted list of hashtags will help you attract the right audiences on Instagram. The platform allows up to 30 tags per post (hence the length of our list) but they recently suggested that 3-5 is the sweet spot. This might be because their algorythm has improved in recent years, so they’re no longer reliant on hashtags for categorising content – this video explains more…
Interestingly 3-5 hashtags is also the recommendation for TikTok. But it varies across other social media sites – on Twitter it’s just 2 and with Facebook it’s 0 (yes zero!).
How Long Are The Best Hashtags?
Research shows that the best hashtags on Twitter are a single word or less than 6 characters in length. Because of the 280 character limit on Twitter (previously 140), you don’t want to waste too much space on long hashtags.
But you don’t need to be as strict when it comes to Instagram. Shorter hashtags will be quicker and easier to type, so more likely to be searched for.
However as you can see from our list, there are lots of top hashtags that don’t fit these criteria. So don’t be put off using one that’ll resonate with your clients just because it’s a bit longer than the guidance. The most important factor is whether a hashtag is a good fit for your target audience.
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