Instagram Fitness Gurus: Why They're Our New Obsession

Instragram, once a window into the love-to-hate world of rich kids and Kardashians, has become a platform for a new kind of social media superstar: the fitness guru. Those green juice–sipping, head-standing, uber-flexible yogis who give us an eye into their upside-down lives (that seem perfectly right-side-up), are different from your average social media star. They're enviable, yes, but they're also aspirational. With Instagram, the exercise-obsessed are able to teach — and yes, show off — their practices to thousands of enthralled followers, all through the power of pictures. It makes sense when you think about the nature of our days, tethered to the Internet, because it's a lot easier to mimic a photo of a downward dog than it is to go to a 90-minute class. And sometimes, just looking at somebody stretching in the sunset is fit-spiration enough to make you feel like you've just worked out. If you're not already following the fitness faction, here's your guide to the rulers of Instragram's exercise class. ––Erika Ostroff, Shine Staff