The health and fitness gurus we love

Whether you need some inspo for a stronger body or mind, check out the health and fitness gurus we love.

The health and fitness sector is growing, and with it comes more people offering advice, tips and motivation. From advocating a certain dietary approach, to providing us with workout tips and tricks, we’re sure we’re not alone in saying that our Instagram feed’s are constantly expanding. But they don’t just offer pretty pictures; these health and fitness gurus can help us stay on track in a moment of weakness and offer us knowledge in areas we are lacking. So who are our faves? Here are the health and fitness gurus we love.

Mark Sisson

Whether you love it or you hate it, the Paleo movement – or as Mark calls it: the Primal Blueprint – has a vast following today. And within this sector, Mark, an ex world-class endurance athlete (he can run a marathon in 2:18 and finished fourth in the Hawaii Ironman Worth Triathlon Championships), is undoubtedly a premiere voice. At the age of 61 and with a six pack in tow, you can’t help but be intrigued by his philosophy.

So what exactly is it? The primal/paleo movement is all about living, eating and exercising in the same way our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, which Mark claims is validated by two millions years of human evolution (can’t disagree with him there). This involves ditching all grains and sugars and eating high volumes of grass-fed meat and veggies (often referred to as ‘the caveman diet’) as well as frequent low-level movement and regular high intensity strength workouts.

Today, you can find Mark over on his website marksdailyapple.com, which, with 2 million unique visitors each month, is one of the highest ranked health information resources on the internet. Buy it or not, he’s clearly doing something right.

@mark_sisson

Kayla Itsines

With over 10 million women part of her Bikini Body Guide community (the largest community of its kind) and nearly 5 million followers on Insta, Kayla is, in our eyes, the undisputed fitness queen. Her Bikini Body Guide promises results in as little as 12 weeks and, for what you get, is pretty affordable. Based on her own experiences after qualifying as a personal trainer, she’s designed workouts and meal plans specifically catered to us women and our desire to have one or all of the following: nice abs, toned arms and slimmer legs. But that’s not the best bit. All of her 28-minute resistance sessions require no or minimal equipment, meaning you can do them wherever and whenever you like.

But the bikini body badass isn’t stopping there. She’s just released her new app, Sweat With Kayla, which provides further coaching tips, quick workouts, daily menus and nutritional information. Kayla knows how to get results, and she isn’t afraid to share her secrets!

@kayla_itsines

Tim Ferris

If you haven’t heard of this guy, where have you been? A man with many a string to his bow, Tim has been labelled it all from: ‘the Indiana Jones for the digital age’ to, quite simply, a ‘name you need to know’. Following on from the success of his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, which has since been sold into 35+ languages and is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller, Tim released The 4-Hour Body which enjoyed similar success and prompted his transition into (amongst other things, as always) a popular (if slightly controversial) health and fitness guru. To give you an idea of what you get with Tim: The 4-Hour Body, hailed as a hack for the human body, includes how to prevent fat-gain while bingeing (Christmas, holidays etc), how to increase fat loss 300 per cent with a few bags of ice and how to sleep two hours per day and feel fully rested. Some of these may sound strange and, well, frankly impossible, but when the guy gains 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days (without steroids and in four hours of total gym time), you quickly become intrigued.

@tferriss

Marion Nestle

For the definitive ‘what should I eat?’, professor of nutrition, food studies, sociology and public health at New York University (and Ph.D holder in molecular biology) Marion Nestle will have the answer. Always. If you hadn’t already gathered from her lengthy and extremely impressive title, this lady knows her stuff and offers it up on a plate for us either in the form of her several books or on her foodpolitics.com website. Always at the forefront of debates, in 2015 she took centre stage on the topic of ‘soda politics’ and the ethics of corporate funding of food and nutrition research. Her approach is realistic and methodical, her opinions backed by research; she feels like a trusted aunt who genuinely wants to look after for you.

@marionnestle


Deepak Chopra

For all your meditation, mindfulness and spirituality needs, look no further than Deepak. A doctor and physician specialising in internal medicine and endocrinology and with a passion for alternative medicine, if you enjoy a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing, this is your guy. He covers a multitude of topics on his deepakchopra.com website, in his books (most recently The 13th Disciple; most popularly 21-Day Meditation Experience) and for outlets such as CNN and the New York Times. Expect articles varying from ‘how to manage anger’ to ‘the secret of lifelong energy’, to ‘what’s the point of being human?’. His offerings are thought-provoking and inspiring and definitely worth a visit if you’ve not already come across him.

@deepakchopra