Top Fitness Follows

Nowadays social media is oversaturated with “influencers” who may or may not be giving out the right information. It can be hard while you’re scrolling to figure out what you should take as fact and what may not be backed up by any legitimate scientific research. Beware of what you see on instagram! It’s not all bad but there are definitely some questionable figures out there that have way too many followers just because they look good. I’m here to give you some of my top favorite professional fitness accounts that I highly recommend regarding fitness, nutrition, and recovery so you don’t have to sort through the masses for proper gym advice!

Disclaimer: always consult a doctor if you’re looking for medical advice.

Layne Norton

IG Handle: @BioLayne

Layne Norton is your go-to information source when it comes to all things training and nutrition. Not only is he an elite powerlifter as an IPF World record holder and a natural bodybuilder, but he has the brains to back it all up. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry as well as a PhD in Nutritional Sciences. While you’ll definitely find a lot of Layne’s personal opinions and preferences, he always provides the science to back it up. He’s great at breaking down recent studies, debunking the typical IG “influencers”, and muddling through all of the disinformation out there so you don’t have to! One great thing I love about Layne, aside from his funny quips and no-BS attitude, is that he is always willing to change his thoughts and opinions when research provides new scientific evidence!

Bret Contreras

IG Handle: @BretContreras1

These days, everyone wants bigger, better, and stronger glutes. Bret is your guy as he’s been dubbed “The Glute Guy.” Bret has his PhD in Biomechanics as well as a CSCS and trains those specifically looking for glute gains. Bret quite literally wrote the book on it! I highly recommend picking up a copy of Booty By Bret or Glute Lab Book if you’re interested in growing that derriere. Regardless, if you’re interested in all things hip thrusts and split squats to gain that posterior, you should give him a follow on Instagram. Guaranteed you’ll find something to better your progress. 

 

Dr. Alyssa Olenick

IG Handle: @DocLyssFitness

Ladies, this one’s for you! (Gentlemen, feel free to inform yourselves!) Dr. Alyssa Olenick is a hybrid athlete powerhouse who loves to give out free and useful information. While the majority of her instagram is about balancing training for a hybrid fitness routine (combining both strength training as well as running/cycling/conditioning) she did her dissertation on female hormones and menstrual cycle effects on training. She has a ton of research to back up her posts and it’s always informative and insightful. If you’re interested in learning about how your hormones might affect what you do in the gym and training around your cycle, she is a must follow. If you’re not interested in that but want to know more about a hybrid style of training, she’s AWESOME! There’s plenty of content for everyone!

 

Dr. Aaron Horschig

IG Handle: @SquatUniversity

If you ever squat in the gym, you likely already know about this IG account. Dr. Horschig provides a ton of information on mobility and strength while also showcasing his own impressive journey with mobility, flexibility, and moving better in general. This includes physical mobility assessments, warm ups, cool downs, tutorials, case study examples, patient videos, and well thought out tips and tricks to help you feel better and move better every time you step in the gym regardless of what injuries and limitations you might be dealing with. Always consult a doctor if you’re injured or in pain, but this is a great place to start if you’re looking for information as well as injury prevention! Not to mention, he often does sponsored giveaways with some pretty sweet deals.

 

Dr. Kelly Starrett 

IG Handle: @TheReadyState

Having taken Dr. Kelly Starrett’s mobility course and having had it change my entire approach to warm ups, cool downs, and general recovery from training, I highly recommend keeping his account on your radar. I also subscribe to The Ready State, his mobility app that contains a library of mobility videos pertaining to specific anatomy, injuries, or just overall recovery. It can be hard to know exactly what to do for mobility, so most people end up just laying on a foam roller and not doing much. There is so much more to it and he can teach you the ways. He has some incredibly helpful methods as well as an amazing line of mobility tools for purchase to aid in your everyday maintenance. 

 

Dr. Sarah Barbosa

IG Handle: @StrongerPerformancePT

What better way to educate yourself on movement, injury prevention, and recovery than to follow our very own in-house Physical Therapist on Instagram! You may have seen Dr. Sarah treating clients out of our Hillsborough spin studio or training them through a variety of exercises around the gym. Either way, she’s your go-to local source for pre-hab, re-hab, and recovery! On her social media, you can find info on her services, such as body tempering (think of it as weighted foam rolling!), a variety of educational information, and tutorials on proper movement and mechanics. Check out her page and then make an appointment to see how she can help you move better, recover better, and prevent injury down the road.

 

Dr. Jen Fraboni

IG Handle: @docjenfit

Dr. Jen is one of my top most-visited instagram accounts as she is constantly putting out helpful videos! I’ve purchased some of her online programs as well as taken advantage of all of the free content she’s willing to share and found all of it so helpful. She presents all of the information in a very easily digestible way, makes great quality videos, and even has a podcast (The Optimal Body Podcast) if you’re looking for more than just the quick snippets that Instagram will allow. She talks all things health and addresses popular trends in fitness, medical treatments and procedures, and all things movement and mobility. Highly recommended!!

 

There you have it! These folks all have the credentials and research to back up a lot of the content that they’re putting out. Just remember that just because an account has a lot of followers or a post has a lot of likes doesn’t necessarily mean that the content they’re creating is quality. Hopefully among these recommendations you find something legitimate that helps you along with your fitness journey.