Can you have a successful business online by filming fitness classes? Yes.
The shift to filming fitness classes at home with your phone comes with a lot of challenges, but we created this guide from our experience to help those get started filming fitness classes and generating revenue online.
Our Kinstretch Anywhere course was filmed with an iPhone so filming fitness classes at home is accessible by anyone that has a smartphone with a decent camera.
Filming Equipment
First, let’s start off with what is most important and that is audio. The microphone on phones is not the best. As you get farther away from your phone the amount of background noise will increase.
A wireless mic will be your best option.
On one side you will have a wireless pack that receives the signal and it goes into your phone. On the other side, you will have a wireless pack that connects to a lavalier microphone that can be clipped to your shirt or tapped to be hidden.
Here are some of the best practices for lavalier mounting.
We currently use the Rode Mic Go 2 for wireless mics. These are as easy as powering them up and they are ready to go. The best thing about these and why we switched is because even if you have interference issues, the unit that you connect the lavalier microphone to has a backup recording on it.
Regardless of what lavalier system you are using you will need this cord to connect the audio to your phone.
If you are serious about filming fitness classes I would invest in good audio up front instead of having issues down the line and then upgrading.
Tripod
Second, you will need a tripod. Getting the right position for your camera and having a stable shot is very important. If you think you will only ever be filming with your phone you can start off with this tripod that has a phone adaptor.
Video Lighting
Understanding color temperature and white balance are where I would start.
Different types of lights put out different color temperatures. Indoor lighting will generally be tungsten or fluorescent.
A common situation for filming classes at home is where you have the daylight coming in from outside and mixing with your indoor lighting. The camera will probably choose a white balance in the middle somewhere.
The daylight might add a blue color cast, tungsten a yellow color cast, or fluorescent with a green color cast.
If the environment you are shooting in does not work with just natural light you can use your normal household lights by replacing your tungsten or fluorescent bulbs with daylight bulbs. Your indoor light will now match the light coming in from outside.
Buying video lights will give you versatility with power and matching color temperatures to indoor lighting. Video lights get expensive quickly, but here is a good option for shooting indoors that a friend has been really happy with. This is the most budget-friendly option.
For a step up from the Neewer lights, I would recommend the Amaran 200 series. They have their bicolor optioned priced reasonably. If you are not fighting against sunlight, in most situations they will give you enough power to have modifiers on the lights and still get enough light. They also give you the option to match tungsten or fluorescent temperatures.
So the first two options will work indoors, but to compete with sunlight you will need to go into the pro range of lights. You might need to add an additional light or two depending on the size of the room you are trying to light. If you are feeling the lighting is too harsh, try bouncing the lights off of a wall.
Our favorite modifier is the large softbox. It produces a great soft light and narrows the light spread a little bit but not too much.
We have been most happy with Aperture lights. They deliver more power while being decently priced. The 600D with the lantern modifier is a great option to fill a room with light. If you are dealing with other lighting sources than daylight, they have a bicolor option as well. There is a trade-off though. Any light that has the bicolor option is going to have less power than the single daylight option. It is also more expensive. So your decision should be made on whether you will be shooting in environments with different lighting temperatures or only daylight.
The pricing is a lot up front, but you will be happy with these lights in the long run.
Phone Settings
You have a couple of options for optimizing your phone’s settings for filming fitness classes. I would recommend using the app Filmic Pro.
This app gives you the most control of your camera settings. It gives you an audiometer and you can change the shutter speed, white balance, resolution, and more.
Whatever camera app you are using, make sure to turn on your grid in your camera’s settings. The lines will help you keep your horizon line straight and center your subject.
Should you shoot your classes in 4K?
Shooting in 4K gives you more options when posting to different platforms, but it also will increase the time it takes to transfer and edit the footage.
It’s one thing if you are shooting 5-minute clips, but an hour-long class in 4K is a huge file. If you are going to be doing everything on your phone, I would recommend shooting 1080p.
If you are working from a decent computer I would recommend shooting in 4K. You can scale in on your image and center yourself as you move around in a frame. Shooting in 4K also gives you the ability to crop vertically without reduced image quality. Here are the different sizes you can create using 4K.
Shooting Tip: Think about where clips of your video will go. Keep the ratio size in mind when framing and center your subject. Go with more negative space around your subject so the frame can still work for vertical ratios.
Editing Tip: Make sure to use proxies when editing your 4K footage. It will allow your computer to play the footage easier.
How to create proxies for Premiere
How to create proxies for Final Cut
For those on Mac your best easy and free option would be to use iMovie. OpenShot would be for PC. You will have some limitations on what they can do.
If you are in it for the long run I recommend starting with Premiere or Final Cut.
Options for Sharing Classes
Sharing your full classes by reposting your IG or Facebook live might be a good way to try things out and judge demand, but the thing about social media is that people really only view short-form content. We only post really short classes on social or short clips from them.
Social media is great for creating an audience, but to make money filming fitness classes you need to get your followers to other sites.
Thinkific
Thinkific is where we host our classes. It’s a great platform we chose because it is geared towards education. You can create your landing pages easily and they have a great back end plus good customer support. For the cost, they have different monthly payment options depending on what you need.
They also have launched a $1 Million Entrepreneur Growth Fund where they mentor you in starting your online business.
For your offering, we recommend starting with a subscription model. Your income will be more steady and the lower price point will make it more accessible.
Make sure to continually add value to your subscription. To keep people subscribed you will have to commit to adding new content.
We are actually working on a new subscription with all new videos so make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know!
A one-time price will work better if what you are selling is a specific program such as a 30-Day Challenge. Our example would be our Mobility Coach Plus course.
Uscreen.tv
If you are looking for an option that gives you all the business tools that Thinkific does, but is more focused on video then education, Uscreen.tv is your choice. They are a leader in the video-on-demand world. They also give you the option to stream live and use their app.
Youtube
Youtube is free to use and great for exposure. It is the second-largest site searched with over 3 billion searches per month.
To make a lot of money on Youtube you need A LOT of views, but it is a great place to start. Again, provide value to the viewer.
Patreon
If you like the membership model Patreon is a simple option. The platform is geared towards individual creators. It’s easy to set up and get started.
The cost is a percentage of your sales so you will only pay more if you grow. If you are testing the waters and don’t want to invest in setting up a platform such as Thinkific or Uscreen.tv this is a smart option.
The downside to Patreon is that they do not offer as many tools on the backend for businesses.
If you are looking into another option that’s not listed or have any questions let me know and drop a comment below!
So you’ve chosen which site you want to host your content and you’ve filmed and uploaded a few fitness classes, what’s next?
Growth will not happen overnight so it is important that you lay the groundwork at the beginning for future gains.
The number one reason that online classes should be part of your business is that it is scalable. Get your system set up from the start and you will grow.
It’s a great feeling when you wake up in the morning to see a few sign up emails and realize you made money while you are sleeping.
Spending money to market your product will be part of it, but most should start off with what they can do for free.
Spread Your Classes Organically
Break down your classes into short videos that you can post on social or Youtube.
Create clips that provide value, but don’t give away everything you got. People aren’t going to sign up with you if you haven’t shown value. You can then post these on your social channels and Youtube to promote your paid content.
It is okay to give away full fitness classes for free here and there, but I would not on social. Use Youtube.
Asking for donations during you IG/FB live could be an option short term, but I would not do that long term.
We generally break down our classes into shorter clips by two methods:
- Focus on a certain exercise/movement
- Class highlights in short bursts
Here’s a short clip example we put together for our Shoulder ER Kinstretch Class.
Add Text To Your Social Videos
When you have instruction during a clip you are going to use on social, add text to the video. A large percentage of people will be watching your videos with no sound. You still want to deliver the value of your instruction if people can’t hear our video.
Save a lot of time by using a service that transcodes your audio.
Pricing is pretty reasonable at Temi. You are able to download the caption files (.srt) and bring them into your video editing software.
Create a Blog
A good blog will be your best option for getting organic searches to your site. Blogs help with SEO tremendously. Content that you create for Youtube or social media can be reformatted for your blog. Just to start you can create a post of the free classes you have on your Youtube as we did with our At Home Mobility Routines.
Here’s another place where providing value is key. A blog gives you the ability to go in-depth on a subject as we did with our Ultimate 90/90 Stretch Guide.
Start your email list ASAP.
We use Mailchimp. The goal is to try to rely less on platforms that control your audience. Facebook and Instagram’s algorithm can be frustrating. Email is in your control.
You can integrate your list with the platform you choose. When you have a new class you can notify those on your list first.
Takes money to make money
We have laid out how to get started filming fitness classes with your phone and given you the path to make money, but to reach more possible customers beyond your organic reach you will have to turn to paid advertising.
Paid advertising can be really effective and have a great return on your investment. Advertising online for an online product makes sense. For that, we will leave it to another post.
Let us know if you have any questions about getting set up in the comments below!
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