Brad Shaw
If you ever wondered who really ran the fitness circus in 2020 — the brands, the buzzwords and the fitness influencers turning workouts into prime-time entertainment — Future Fit has done the heavy lifting for you. A new report from the company’s Fitness Index breaks down the biggest trends, brands and personalities powering the global fitness economy, using a mix of Google search interest, social following, engagement and overall online noise.
Think of it as a league table for the world’s sweat-soaked attention span: who people searched, who they followed, who they talked about, and what they actually tried to do between the living-room sofa and the kitchen.
Nike leads the pack in 2020 brand heat
In the battle for fitness supremacy, Future Fit’s numbers land with all the subtlety of a kettlebell on a glass coffee table: Nike was the hottest fitness brand of 2020.
The Fitness Index credits Nike as the most followed brand on social media, the most mentioned brand online, and the most searched for on Google. In other words, if 2020 had a podium, Nike wasn’t just standing on it — it was engraving its name while everyone else tried to find a pen.
Adidas chases hard, but Nike wins the social race
Behind Nike sits its familiar rival, Adidas. The report suggests Adidas scored strongly across the board, but there was one area where the gap became a canyon: social media following.
Adidas is described as the “three stripes company” — and yes, the stripes are iconic — but the Index indicates that when it came to sheer social scale, Nike was playing a different sport on a different channel with a different camera crew.
Ivy Park: big engagement, bigger buzz
Third place brings a little stardust and a lot of performance wear. Beyoncé’s Ivy Park took the bronze, blending pop-culture wattage with technical kit — and doing it with the sort of engagement numbers brands normally only dream about.
According to the Fitness Index, Ivy Park recorded the highest engagement rate of all fitness brands measured at 4.9%. It also enjoyed a 104% increase in searches following a high-profile collaboration with Adidas the year before — the kind of spike marketers frame and hang on the wall.
Future Fit notes these combined signals helped push Ivy Park into third place overall.
Note: The excerpt provided references a “top ten” list of the hottest fitness brands, but only Nike, Adidas and Ivy Park are specifically named here.
The most powerful fitness influencers of 2020
Now to the people who can make a resistance band sell out faster than concert tickets: the fitness influencers.
The Fitness Index ranks influence by combining social followings and estimating earnings per Instagram post or video. Sitting at the top of the 2020 pile is Michelle Lewin, whose story reads like the modern social-media fairy tale — minus the pumpkin carriage, plus a terrifying amount of abdominal definition.
Future Fit says Lewin went from working in a clinic in her hometown in Venezuela to becoming one of the biggest names in the fitness industry in only a couple of years, propelled by social media reach. The report credits her with over 13 million followers and 391,000 YouTube subscribers, and estimates potential earnings of $45,411 for a single Instagram post.
Second place goes to Jen Selter, noted as having over 12 million Instagram followers. Third is fitness model Anllela Sagra, listed with 11 million Instagram followers and 362,00 YouTube subscribers.
Note: The excerpt provided references a “top five” list of the most powerful fitness influencers, but only the top three are detailed here.
Biohacking surges while old favourites slide
If 2020 fitness trends were a stock market, “biohacking” was the meme coin that suddenly became a blue-chip. By analysing percentage changes in search numbers for different exercises and trends, Future Fit found the biggest growth was biohacking, up 28.91% versus the previous year.
Biohacking, as the report describes it, is wellness taken to the extreme: changing chemistry and physiology through science and self-experimentation to energise and enhance the body. And because it’s 2020 and reality has left the building, the excerpt adds that “One prominent biohacker claims the approach will help him live to 180 years old!”
Other trends gaining search momentum included spinning (11.06%) and functional training (up to 7.8%) — the practical, real-life movement stuff that helps with everyday patterns, like squatting to tie a shoelace or pushing a door open without sounding like an old attic staircase.
But not everything kept its shine. Once-mighty trends saw meaningful drops in search interest over the year:
- CrossFit: -12.23%
- Zumba: -11.32%
- TRX Total Resistance system: -23.24%
If that feels dramatic, it is — but it also reflects how quickly the internet’s attention can switch from one shiny object to the next.
Every country’s favourite workout: yoga dominates
When Future Fit looked at every country’s favourite workout, one discipline stood tall, serene and suspiciously flexible: Yoga.
The report says yoga was the most popular global fitness regime, ranking as the favourite in 78 countries. Branded workouts also held serious territory, with Zumba and Crossfit emerging as the top choice in 20 countries each.
Meanwhile, Pilates proved it’s no niche side quest. Fourteen countries — including the United Kingdom — favoured Pilates as their go-to method for keeping fit.
Every country’s favourite fitness brand: Nike’s global sweep
On brand preference by country (based on search data), Adidas led in 58 countries, including Germany. But Nike, once again, ran away with it, coming out as the most searched-for brand in 90 countries worldwide.
Beyond the big two, there were a few local love stories:
- Gymshark: preferred in two countries
- Lululemon: favourite in Canada
- Fitbit: favoured brand in Gibraltar
What this says about 2020 fitness culture
Put the whole report together and you get a neat snapshot of a year when home workouts, digital motivation and online identity blended into one big, sweaty algorithm. The biggest brands didn’t just sell gear — they owned attention. The biggest fitness influencers didn’t just post workouts — they shaped what millions believed “fitness” looked like. And the fastest-rising trends weren’t always the most practical; they were often the most clickable.
In 2020, being fit was still about movement and health — but it was also, unmistakably, about momentum: who could capture it, keep it, and turn it into a lifestyle people wanted to search for, share, and buy into.
FAQs
What is the Future Fit Fitness Index?
A ranking of major fitness brands and influencers based on metrics including Google searches, social following, engagement and online mentions.
What was the hottest fitness brand of 2020?
Nike, according to Future Fit’s Fitness Index.
Who was the most powerful fitness influencer in 2020?
Michelle Lewin, based on combined following and estimated per-post earnings calculations in the Index.
What fitness trend grew the most in 2020?
Biohacking, with a 28.91% increase in search popularity compared to the previous year.
What was the most popular workout worldwide in 2020?
Yoga is listed as the favourite in 78 countries.
