A Look Into the Life of a Fitness Influencer
By Tara Goldstein
March 28, 2022
Image Credit: Tara Goldstein for The Campus Trainer
Natalie Ludwig is a fitness influencer with almost 13,000 followers on her gym account, @gymratnatt, and over 100,000 followers on her other account where she posts recipes and taste tests, @eatsbynat.
The 20-year-old TikToker started her fitness page around November this year. However, she’s been into fitness and sports her entire life. According to Ludwig, she can’t remember a time when she was just sitting around, she always played volleyball or was doing some kind of activity.
Last March, Ludwig decided to get a gym membership. She started out only doing cardio, but as she began to see other influencers and TikTok videos about weight training she decided to try it for herself. After doing some research and finding out the many benefits of lifting, she quickly got more into it.
This led right into her starting her own fitness account. While her @eatsbynat page came first, Ludwig decided to separate her fitness journey with its own account.
“It’s a different niche,” she said.
Ludwig is a college student majoring in marketing at her local community college. While everyday looks different for her, she tries her best to find a balance between school, social media, and the gym.
She usually tries to go to the gym in the morning so she can spend the rest of her day on schoolwork and filming content for her TikTok. Although most of her classes are online, Ludwig still has to attend classes two days a week.
When she’s not in the gym or at school, she's either filming, scrolling through TikTok, or replying to comments. Ludwig noted that while she loves posting online, sometimes she has a hard time coming up with video ideas.
“Coming up with eight videos in one day is hard,” Ludwig said.
The hate comments under her videos tend to get overwhelming at times, but she does her best to ignore and block them. She focuses on doing what makes her happy while also making sure to be fully transparent with her viewers. Ludwig’s goal is to always be honest with her audience, and she takes pride in never lying about products or results in her videos.
She explained that if she tries a product and genuinely doesn’t like it, she just won’t post about it. In the long run, she’s not only helping out her viewers by only recommending quality products, but she is also helping the companies improve and grow by offering useful feedback.
Ludwig's favorite part about being an influencer is being able to inspire others. She hopes to help others in their fitness journeys and to help motivate people to start going to the gym.
Ludwig said that she’s not in the creator fund, which gives TikTok creators money based on a variety of factors from their video. This means that she hardly makes any money from her TikToks.
“I’m not in it for the money. I just want to make people happy,” she said.
Ludwig hopes to continue growing her TikTok and Instagram, while also starting a YouTube channel.
“YouTube is more personal, and it's easier to be yourself,” she said. “People on TikTok are mean.”
She plans to film a variety of videos, such as daily vlogs, mukbangs, and fitness videos.
As a marketing major, Ludwig also hopes to start her own fitness brand one day. She has her associate’s degree and was originally majoring in psychology. However, after starting her TikTok page, she realized her passions were in marketing.
Ludwig’s biggest piece of advice for both aspiring influencers and people wanting to get more into fitness is to “just start.”
She described how ridiculous she looked when she first started lifting weights with horrible form but has since learned a lot.
“Never give up. Everyone wants fast results, but that’s just not the case,” she said.
While you may think that people are judging you at the gym, they’re not. People are there for themselves and no one pays attention to what you’re doing, according to Ludwig.
At only 20 years old, Ludwig has been able to grow both of her TikTok accounts tremendously. Ludwig is still young and is only just beginning in social media. Check out her accounts to see what she’s going to do next! @eatsbynat and @gymratnatt
Also, check out a few of Ludwig’s fitness holy grail items:
Misfits Protein Bars - “kindest people to work with and the bars taste amazing”
Three Wishes Cereal -“the ingredients are so good and all natural”
Kiala Nutrition - “the people who run it are incredible and I love the flavors”
TLF Apparel, Barebells, Light and Fit yogurt
The 20-year-old TikToker started her fitness page around November this year. However, she’s been into fitness and sports her entire life. According to Ludwig, she can’t remember a time when she was just sitting around, she always played volleyball or was doing some kind of activity.
Last March, Ludwig decided to get a gym membership. She started out only doing cardio, but as she began to see other influencers and TikTok videos about weight training she decided to try it for herself. After doing some research and finding out the many benefits of lifting, she quickly got more into it.
This led right into her starting her own fitness account. While her @eatsbynat page came first, Ludwig decided to separate her fitness journey with its own account.
“It’s a different niche,” she said.
Ludwig is a college student majoring in marketing at her local community college. While everyday looks different for her, she tries her best to find a balance between school, social media, and the gym.
She usually tries to go to the gym in the morning so she can spend the rest of her day on schoolwork and filming content for her TikTok. Although most of her classes are online, Ludwig still has to attend classes two days a week.
When she’s not in the gym or at school, she's either filming, scrolling through TikTok, or replying to comments. Ludwig noted that while she loves posting online, sometimes she has a hard time coming up with video ideas.
“Coming up with eight videos in one day is hard,” Ludwig said.
The hate comments under her videos tend to get overwhelming at times, but she does her best to ignore and block them. She focuses on doing what makes her happy while also making sure to be fully transparent with her viewers. Ludwig’s goal is to always be honest with her audience, and she takes pride in never lying about products or results in her videos.
She explained that if she tries a product and genuinely doesn’t like it, she just won’t post about it. In the long run, she’s not only helping out her viewers by only recommending quality products, but she is also helping the companies improve and grow by offering useful feedback.
Ludwig's favorite part about being an influencer is being able to inspire others. She hopes to help others in their fitness journeys and to help motivate people to start going to the gym.
Ludwig said that she’s not in the creator fund, which gives TikTok creators money based on a variety of factors from their video. This means that she hardly makes any money from her TikToks.
“I’m not in it for the money. I just want to make people happy,” she said.
Ludwig hopes to continue growing her TikTok and Instagram, while also starting a YouTube channel.
“YouTube is more personal, and it's easier to be yourself,” she said. “People on TikTok are mean.”
She plans to film a variety of videos, such as daily vlogs, mukbangs, and fitness videos.
As a marketing major, Ludwig also hopes to start her own fitness brand one day. She has her associate’s degree and was originally majoring in psychology. However, after starting her TikTok page, she realized her passions were in marketing.
Ludwig’s biggest piece of advice for both aspiring influencers and people wanting to get more into fitness is to “just start.”
She described how ridiculous she looked when she first started lifting weights with horrible form but has since learned a lot.
“Never give up. Everyone wants fast results, but that’s just not the case,” she said.
While you may think that people are judging you at the gym, they’re not. People are there for themselves and no one pays attention to what you’re doing, according to Ludwig.
At only 20 years old, Ludwig has been able to grow both of her TikTok accounts tremendously. Ludwig is still young and is only just beginning in social media. Check out her accounts to see what she’s going to do next! @eatsbynat and @gymratnatt
Also, check out a few of Ludwig’s fitness holy grail items:
Misfits Protein Bars - “kindest people to work with and the bars taste amazing”
Three Wishes Cereal -“the ingredients are so good and all natural”
Kiala Nutrition - “the people who run it are incredible and I love the flavors”
TLF Apparel, Barebells, Light and Fit yogurt