Followers Don’t Make You Fit: Ditch the Runfluencer, Find a Coach

When I made the decision to formalise my coaching operation, one of the first things I did (because everyone said you had to) was set up a Facebook page. Maybe that’s how you ended up here.

What surprised me wasn’t how many people saw it, but what else started showing up in my feed. It was wild! Suddenly, I was flooded with runfluencer content. People I’d never heard of offering generic plans, running tips, product recommendations, and even high-priced coaching. All polished and packaged with slick videos, dramatic captions, and loads of hashtags.

I jumped over to Instagram. It was even worse! It made something very clear to me. A lot of people are finding their “coaches” through social media, and mistaking content for credibility.

Coaching Isn’t About Popularity

Let me say this plainly. Just because someone is great at posting running content online doesn’t mean they know how to coach. Followers don’t make you fit.

Coaching isn’t about social clout. It’s about experience, education, and the ability to adapt a plan to a person.

What’s getting lost in the noise is this. Coaching is an actual skill. It takes years of study, experience, practical application, and ongoing refinement. It requires you to truly understand how normal people respond to training, physically and mentally, and how to pivot when things don’t go to plan.

No amount of high-tempo background music or Garmin discount codes will teach you that.

The Runfluencer Problem

Look, I’m not against people sharing their running journeys. I think it’s great that the sport is growing and more people are getting involved. However there’s a difference between being inspiring and being qualified.

What frustrates me is how easily the line between the two gets blurred. The social media algorithm doesn’t care about coaching credentials, it rewards style over substance. 

Content creation thrives on quick wins and visual appeal, but coaching demands nuance. Many runfluencers produce videos edited to perfection, sometimes even staging runs day to day just to capture visuals. One I found admitted hopping in a car between clips just to make it look like they ran miles. Astounding!

Running industry experts echo similar concerns. Coach Cory Nagler commented that influencers often “give bad advice that might hurt performance or even lead to injury.” He knows and he’s 100% correct.

Over on Women’s Running, Dr. Phillip Sullivan cautioned that unqualified “experts” often suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect, believing they know more than they do, resulting in training that may be harmful

Yet, they’re charging real money for coaching services. It’s hard to watch, especially as someone who’s spent decades immersed in this sport, as an athlete, as a coach, and as a student of training science.

What Real Runners Are Saying

I took a very quick dive into the Reddit cesspit and found that actual runners are regularly calling out the pitfalls:

“Too cheap ... if it’s under $100/month for ‘in-depth 1:1 coaching’, they’re probably not investing much time in you.”
“I’ve picked up people to coach from ‘Instagram coaches’... copy-and-paste plans, high fees…most ended up injured or burnt out.”

Another runner said:

“There's far too many... people selling services for inflated prices. I watched someone run their first marathon poorly, and then start claiming to coach others.”

These stories underscore the frustration with social-media driven coaching masquerading as expertise.

My Personal Response

Honestly, I’m not great with social media. It’s not my strength, and that’s OK. I figure that rather than focusing on content creation, I will choose to let my qualifications, experience, and athlete results speak for themselves. When I work with an athlete, they get:

• A flexible, adaptive training plan, not a templated PDF

• A coach who adjusts based on how they’re feeling, not just what the spreadsheet says

• Honest, ongoing communication (because training isn’t static)

• Strength and conditioning advice tailored to runners

• The benefit of my actual education in sport and exercise science, and my lived experience training and racing at a national level

In short, they get someone who knows what they’re doing, and who’s 100% invested in their progress.

What to Look for in a Real Coach

If you’re looking for coaching support, whether you’re chasing a marathon PB, coming back from injury, or just want structure and accountability, here’s what you should prioritise:

✅ Qualifications and experience – not just “I ran a marathon once”
✅ Adaptability – a plan that changes as life happens
✅ Individualisation – your training, your life context, your goals
✅ Communication – regular check-ins, not just auto-emails
✅ Support – someone who’s in your corner, not just collecting payments

Final Word

There are plenty of people online who look the part. Their videos are sharp and their feed is curated. They post split times and training montages that make it all seem easy.

However coaching isn’t about how you present, it’s about how you respond. It’s not about being popular, it’s about being useful.

Don’t confuse the number of followers with the ability to coach. One gets you attention. The other gets you results.

If you’re serious about your running, about doing things right, staying healthy, improving over time, then ditch the runfluencer, and find an actual coach. Rant over :-)