How to Make Fitness Videos [A Complete Guide]

Are you a lover of everything fitness who's decided to turn what you love into what you do? Step up your game and reach clients, followers, and a wider fitness community through learning how to make fitness videos.

Why you should create workout videos: The benefits of workout videos

If you know that video ads are the #1 way consumers discover a brand they later purchase from, then you know having popular videos can launch your influencer career, or sell your product.

This phenomenon is also true in the fitness industry. Whether you're a personal trainer, influencer, yoga instructor, or you own a fitness business, making a great video with access to easy-to-use online video editors and step-by-step templates is surprisingly simple.

Some of the many benefits of fitness videos include:

• An excellent method for reaching out to new potential clients or followers
• A cheap and flexible potential source of income
• More engaging than writing extended captions or posting pictures
• Workout videos are an inexpensive method to create exciting content
• Video marketing creates trust and brand awareness in your products or service
• Video editing is flexible to fit your schedule
• Boost your online presence and following

Simple tips to make motivating fitness videos

Start with a plan

Before you hop right into recording, you'll want to set some ground rules. First, decide what you want to film. Do you have specialized knowledge or experience in a particular industry or niche? Take some time to pin down what you're good at and what you like doing most.

Next, decide on where–book studios, equipment, and rooms ahead of time and plan for good lighting. Some of the best fitness videos can be filmed right at home.

Write out a script covering all exercises and points you want to discuss. Write to your audience and adjust the tone and style to match. For example, write different scripts for beginner classes and advanced classes.

Keep it short and sweet

In the day and age of social media, attention spans are at an all-time low. If your video takes too long to get to the point, you risk losing your audience. To pause scrolling fingers, cut to the chase.

Spotlight on quality lighting

The proper lighting can make or break the visual quality of your video. Stay away from low, yellow, flickering lights or heavy shadows—plan to film in a well-lit location with natural light. You can take it a step further by renting a small and inexpensive ring light to illuminate your face and what you're demonstrating.

Here are a few essential lighting tips:

• Keep lighting consistent, so it looks the same throughout your video.
• Keep the sun pointed toward, not behind you.
• Avoid lighting that shines down on you like ceiling lights.
• Play around with dimension and shadows by propping a few lamps in different angles.

Let your personality shine through

Imagine taking a spin class where the instructor whispers in a monotone mumble. Everyone in the class would lose their momentum and start wondering if they should have grabbed brunch instead. Fortunately, talking to a camera is a skill that comes down to nailing just a few essential tips:

• Say “Hi!” Welcome your viewers with enthusiasm and a smile.
• Fake it until you make it. It doesn't matter if you don’t feel confident yet. Act it, and the confidence will follow.
• Practice recording your tone of voice and playing it back.
• Practice speaking with a smile and notice how it warms up your tone.
• Have a friend sit in on a practice session to give you feedback.

Rehearse before the big day

Rehearsing saves time by reducing the amount of retakes you might need. You'll want to make sure you look like the subject matter expert, so practice your moves a few times beforehand.

Talk yourself through it

Practice verbalizing the moves, instructing clearly and patiently so that your narration is the last thing you worry about when filming your fitness video.

Set the vibe

Select a place with minimal background clutter or distractions when choosing a location. A solid-colored or plain white wall is a great option and keeps unnecessary clutter out of the frame.

Nail your audio

There's nothing worse than a screeching crane in the background of a yoga class when you're trying to get into the right state of mind. Audio should be clear and crisp without background noise or distracting music.

If you want to explain an exercise but don't want it accompanied by your huffing and puffing, focus on executing the move, then add in your voice-over later.

With Animoto, you can always add music in later as well. If your fitness video is set to a specific song, you can also upload it by clicking the Your Audio tab.

Pro tip: Invest in a lavalier mic that clips onto your shirt and a Zoom recorder. These enable you to focus the sound input and monitor volume levels to make sure your audio is clear and loud enough.

Engage your audience

Check-in with your audience and keep them engaged, so they don't feel like a fly on the wall. Answer frequently asked questions or address any comments as they start coming in.

Take them on the journey with you–let them know what to expect in today's workout video and what they will need. Encourage viewers to power through that last set and when it's over, congratulate them on finishing strong.

Throw in a few extras

Viewers aren't just coming to you for a workout video. They're looking for inspiration, tips on a proper form, common mistakes to avoid, nutritional advice, and so much more.

Including tips keeps their attention and reinforces the impression that you know what you're talking about.

Hook your audience with a series

The easiest way to keep your audience coming back is to be consistent, both in style and posting regularly.

When viewers click back to your page, make sure they can easily find what to watch next. Greet viewers with a short introduction to the series, and remind them to check-in for the next episode and check out your page for more content. Easily create multiple consistent fitness videos by duplicating and editing your existing Animoto video.

Create your masterpiece

After you've filmed and recorded all your material, use a video editor like Animoto to edit your video. Use your script as an outline and combine all the clips to create a cohesive storyline.

Fitness video editing made easy with Animoto

Select a template

Animoto removes the guesswork for creating fitness videos. There are tons of customizable and stunning templates. If you want more creative control, you may like to start from scratch.

Use a video template like this one to get your viewers sweating.

Add your media

Upload your video clips and photos to the Animoto workspace. Don't be afraid to quickly cut to stock images and videos from Animoto’s stock library during lengthy explanations or when you want to paint a picture for your viewer. This will keep your viewer's attention throughout the entire video.

Add and edit text

Play around with text options to create titles, introduce yourself to viewers, and caption your video. Use text and video styles to add exciting transitions and animations to your video. Don't be afraid to go big–some of your viewers are likely squinting to read their tiny phone screens.

Get pumped up

Add music in the background that doesn't compete with your narration, and bump it up during action shots to get your viewers pumped during the workout.

Our fitness video maker has 3,000 licensed music tracks in our Professional and Professional Plus plans, so you don't have to worry about finding copyright-free music. Sort by mood, genre, or add your own music!

Final Touches

Now that you've finished creating and editing your video with our online video maker, make sure to watch it all the way through.

• Fill in any gaps in audio or music.
• Monitor the audio levels, and ensure that you can still hear narration over the music.
• Make sure there aren't any duplicate clips or gaps in the footage.
• Don't forget to add your social usernames and a call to action at the end.

Fitness video ideas to get your pump on

Not sure where to start? Here are three fitness video ideas to help you get started.

Easy recovery workout routine

Start with a pitch: Sore, stiff muscles from being cramped in the office all week? Here are a few simple exercises to combat 9-5 office chair strain.

Then film a few exercises, explaining how to do them and the benefits for the body. Throw that all in our fitness video editor, and you’ve got yourself a fitness video!

Strength training 101

Pitch: New to strength training and not sure where to start? Here are five exercises you can do to build your confidence and personal bests.

Just like the recovery workout routine, think of a few activities that don't require complex equipment or movements, such as free-weight strength training exercises.

20-minute fast and effective HIIT at home

Pitch: Pinched for time? No problem. Create high intensity interval training (HIIT) videos at home with this quick, high-intensity, no-equipment workout.

Have viewers follow you through a few sets of each exercise and provide modifications or suggestions to make it harder or more accessible.

A few other fitness video ideas:

• Easy 10-minute warm-up exercises
• 30-minute cardio burner
• Toning exercises that you can do at home
• Proper form: how to do popular exercises correctly and safely

Need more inspiration to make your next fitness video?

This short video from Kayla Itsines is a great example of how to edit a fitness video to hook the viewer quickly and provide straight-forward, easy-to-digest information they can use for their next workout.

What they did right:

• Quick hook that sets the viewer’s expectations
• Outlined steps and exercises
• Demonstrated the exercise with tips on good form and technique
• Short video less that’s less than 5 minutes long

How to make money selling fitness videos online

Monetizing your content is easier than you'd think. Videos can help establish you as a trustworthy source of information. Depending on your business model, viewers can try out your online fitness videos and then decide to subscribe for more content.

Start by determining where to sell fitness videos online

There are tons of resources out there to help you get started, but here are a few options:

• Share videos on your own ecommerce website
• Share your videos on continued learning platforms such as Udemy or Uscreen
• Create registered classes on ZOOM or CreateSpace
• Sell your classes through an app or invest in making one like Kayla Itsines' Sweat App

The final rep

Finally, decide on a business strategy and choose between selling a one-time purchase vs. a subscription model. Research the pros and cons of each model, and the platforms that work best for you.

Making a fitness video is easy with Animoto

So now that you’ve read our tips on making fitness videos using our online video editor, you're ready to get started. A well-made fitness tutorial can bring many benefits, such as establishing you in the wellness and fitness community, creating brand awareness and trust with clients, and even monetizing your videos and services.

If you've been thinking about creating some fun video content, you'll be surprised how easy it is to make fitness videos with our fitness video maker. Plus, getting started with Animoto is free. Sign up for an account and start creating!