5 Simple Tips to Make Your Fitness Videos More Watchable

Outside of shaking a hand, videos are the best way to introduce your fitness business to the masses. It also helps that every major platform for sharing content has put an emphasis on beefing up their video capabilities over the next few years. With a society accessing the web on the go from their mobile phones, video tends to perform better than other content, giving you more bang for your buck. In a recent study from Buffer, posts that contained video averaged much larger organic reach/impressions than those containing links or photos.

Whether you’re creating an intro video, a how-to video, a member spotlight or “going live”, here are five ways you can capitalize on this growing trend and create more watchable fitness videos.

1). Use the best camera you have

For many of us, this is our smartphone, and that’s good enough! Most phones shoot in 4k but 1080p at 24 frames per second is plenty good enough to produce a high quality, cinematic feel.

Bonus tip: Make your mobile phone a more powerful setup with interchangeable lenses. They can give you different perspectives and open up shots that otherwise were not possible or as appealing. You can also use apps like Filmic Pro to gain more manual control over your phone’s camera settings. At $15, it’s a great way to flex your videography muscle without dropping a ton of coin on a more powerful setup.

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2). Move with purpose

Slow, steady, singular motions can make your videos more interesting, but if the footage is shaky, it can be disorienting to the viewer. If you’re going to move, move with intention and keep it smooth. Luckily, most smartphone cameras now contain stabilization hardware and software that make movement appear much more fluid.

Bonus tip: If you want to take your mobile videos to the next level, DJI makes an awesome gimbal to help create more silky smooth videos. You can also use editing software after the fact to stabilize shots in post.

3). Lighting

Poor lighting can result in shots that are either grainy or a little spooky feeling. Use natural light where you can and try to reduce shadows on faces by bringing in additional light. Overhead light and a big window go a long way.

4). Audio

Bad video can be adjusted in post to make it more watchable but bad audio will spoil a whole shoot. Most built-in mics on cameras aren’t the greatest, and as you move further away, quality declines dramatically. Invest in a cheap lavalier mic that you can clip on your shirt and never worry about bad audio again.

Bonus tip: Background music can add to the mood you’re trying to create with the video. YouTube provides great free audio files or you if you want a larger pool of music, SoundCloud has a ton of great artists that only require you credit their work.

5). Cut it together

Now that you’ve got your cinematic, smooth, well-lit, audible video clips, you’ll likely need to do a little post editing. Things like iMovie, PowerDirector and Quik provide powerful tools to quickly chop together video, add titles and transitions. For more control and features, you can edit on a desktop using Adobe Premiere.

Bonus tip: Shorter is almost always better. Attention spans are short, and most people drop off after a minute. Keep it short and to the point!

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