34 Ways to Get Paid to Workout!

For many people, the word “exercise” is the most cringe-worthy term in the dictionary.

But I bet if they found out they could get paid to workout, they’d be singing a different tune.

Even though exercise isn’t likely at the top of your to-do list, it’s important to engage in some sort of physical activity each day.

Exercise provides the following benefits:

Bone/muscular strength
Weight management
Longevity
Health risk reduction
A larger bank account (Alright, I added this bullet point as a half-joke. But, that’s the point of this article, right?)

Okay, let’s cut to the chase.

Below are websites/apps, careers, and business ideas that can make working out fun and profitable.

19 Apps that Pay You to Exercise

Check out these apps and websites that help you earn while you feel the burn.

1. MapmyFitness

Earning Potential: Depends on challenge
Payment Option: Cash prizes, sports gear and apparel discounts, or gift cards
App Availability: Android/iOS

MapmyFitness, an Under Amour app, allows you to set and track your fitness goals with personalized training plans and coaching tips.

It offers over 800 exercises for you to choose from, and you can connect 400+ devices to help you import and examine your fitness data all in one location.

Each month, MapmyFitness offers challenges that reward the best performers with prize money and points exchangeable for cool Under Armour stuff.

For some challenges, you have to be a UA reward member so that you can earn 50 points to redeem for gift cards.

Its basic plan is free, but you’ll have to pay $5.99/month (or $29.99/year) to upgrade to its premium version.

2. Strava

Earning Potential: Varies if you win certain challenges
Payment Option: Digital trophies and money credits toward apparel
App Availability: Android/iOS

Make your workouts a social activity with Strava!

This app syncs with GPS watches, phones, and most other devices, enabling you to monitor data as you run, cycle, or hike.

Additionally, Strava comes with a platform that lets you attach photos and captions of your adventures to share with your friends.

If you sign up for some of its challenges and win, you’ll receive digital trophies and money credits exchangeable for sports apparel.

Strava even includes a premium option with extra features like advanced training analysis and segment leaderboards. (You get 30 days to try it out for free before paying $6.67/month.)

3. Cash for Steps

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Gift cards and PayPal
App Availability: iOS

Cash for Steps is a get paid to exercise app that rewards you for walking.

How?

By reaching achievements!

When you earn five stars for each achievement you complete, you receive $1.

Cash for Steps also gives $1 to 50 randomly-selected users who reach the top 500 on its leaderboard the day before.

Redeem your earnings for PayPal cash or gift cards.

4. Runtopia

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: PayPal, gift cards, merchandise
App Availability: Android/iOS

Earn money for walking or running with Runtopia!

Its app converts physical activity like jogging and hiking into Sports Coins you can trade for PayPal payments, gift cards, or Runtopia merchandise.

Runtopia also allows you to make extra cash by watching ads and inviting new members.

5. Sweatcoin

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Charity donations, classes, or merchandise
App Availability: Android/iOS

With Sweatcoin, you can make money by walking.

The app pays you to walk to school, work, or around your neighborhood.

Once you earn enough Sweatcoins, give them to charity organizations, sign up for yoga classes, or use them to buy Amazon and Apple Products.

You can even make more Sweatcoins by being an influencer.

6. CARROT

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Digital gift cards
App Availability: Android/iOS

CARROT makes working out fun and rewarding — literally!

This app contains challenges and games that motivate you to adopt healthy habits. (For example, one of its games — CARROT Survivor — challenges users to meet their exercise goals every single day.)

CARROT gives you Reward Points for the steps you take and provides a personalized Activity Goal that aids you in reaching your fitness targets.

Trade your Reward Points for digital gift cards from brands like Game Stop and Target.

7. Charity Miles

Earning Potential: Depends on how much money you pledge
Payment Option: Charity donations
App Availability: Android/iOS

With Charity Miles, you can raise money for your favorite charity by taking part in various types of physical activity.

Just create a Pledge Page and share it on social media so your friends can sponsor you while you run, walk, or ride your bike.

When you raise enough money, donate it to Feed America, Habitat for Humanity, or any other charity you prefer.

8. Fit for Bucks

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Dessert, haircuts, massages, etc.
App Availability: iOS

What’s interesting about Fit for Bucks is that it pays you in the steps you take rather than in real money.

That said, it rewards you regardless of what you do, even if it’s as simple as walking up a flight of stairs.

After you accumulate enough steps, exchange them for treats like yogurt, coffee, or fitness courses.

9. Winwalk

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Gift cards
App Availability: Android

Get paid to exercise with Winwalk!

This digital pedometer keeps track of the steps you take when jumping rope, running, walking, and more.

You earn coins every time you take 100 steps.

In addition, Winwalk monitors the calories you burn, time, and walking distance.

Exchange your coins for gift cards from popular retailers like Domino’s, Nike, and Uber Eats.

10. Evidation (former Achievement)

Earning Potential: $10 per 10,000 points
Payment Option: Prepaid cards, gift cards, PayPal or charity donations
App Availability: Android/iOS

With Evidation, you earn points for sleeping, participating in physical activity, and even answering survey questions.

Track your activity by linking an activity app or smart device.

Then, redeem points for gift/prepaid cards, charity donations, or PayPal.

11. Miles

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Raffles, donations, challenges, or gift cards
App Availability: Android/iOS

Do you enjoy skiing, boating, running, and other sports?

Then get paid to workout with Miles!

This app pays you for the miles you rack up from engaging in your favorite physical activity.

Miles even rewards you for taking public transportation.

Use the miles you run, walk, or travel to redeem for services/products like gift cards, donations, and raffles.

12. Lifecoin

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Gift cards
App Availability: iOS

Lifecoin pays you in Lifecoins to take walks.

Depending on the number of coins you earn, you can use them to get prizes like PayPal gift cards, Apple AirPods, and Lululemon gift cards.

Lifecoin also has a brand ambassador program that allows you to make extra cash by sharing it with others.

13. Optimity

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Points, charities, raffles, and offers
App Availability: Android/iOS

This app was voted No. 1 in the Free Health and Rewards category in both Google Play and the Apple Store.

It’s easy to see why Optimity is so highly rated because it provides entertaining features that promote:

Physical health
Nutrition
Mental health
Social connectedness
Financial wellness

What are the entertaining features Optimity offers?

It provides micro-activities like community challenges and wellness knowledge quizzes.

Furthermore, Optimity gives you points for steps you take, which you can exchange for offers, raffles, donations, and more.

14. PK Rewards

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Vacations, gift cards, or clothes
App Availability: iOS

Want to get clothes, a vacation, or gift cards without spending your own money?

PK Rewards will reward you with cool prizes when you download its app and record your efforts from various physical activities.

Your efforts convert into PK Coins exchangeable for zipline tours, Starbucks coffee, and other prizes/experiences.

15. HealthyWage

Earning Potential: Up to $10,000 in prize money
Payment Option: Check, PayPal
App Availability: Android/iOS

HealthyWage is willing to reward you with a healthy wage when you hit your weight loss goals.

All you have to do is use its weight calculator to figure out your prize range before placing your bet.

Then, you do what it takes to lose weight and win money if you win your bet.

16. Stepbet

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: PayPal
App Availability: Android/iOS

Place bets and exercise with Stepbet!

Pick a game, bet on the money pot, and focus on meeting your step goals.

If you win your bet, you win a payout, too.

17. Oberit

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Coupons for wellness services and products
App Availability: Android/iOS

Make money with Oberit by taking part in exercise, dieting, sleeping, and other healthy habits.

The app transforms your behaviors into a type of currency called Oberit coins. (You use the coins to get discounts on various wellness products and services.

18. FitCoin

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Cryptocurrency
App Availability: Android/iOS

“Burn 2 Earn” is FitCoin’s motto because it pays you to workout.

Participate in daily, weekly, and monthly challenges and earn crypto.

Download the app or press “Register Now” to begin.

19. DietBet

Earning Potential: Varies
Payment Option: Check, PayPal
App Availability: Android/iOS

With DietBet, you take part in games for a chance to win prize money.

Pick the Transformer option if you want to take your time losing weight (about six months).

If you want to challenge yourself in losing weight within four weeks, go the Kickstarter route. (You’re welcome to join existing games or host your own.)

Other Creative Ways to Make Money in Fitness

Here are a few more ways you can directly or indirectly make money exercising. (And not all of them are related to athletics per se.)

20. Personal Trainer

Salary Range: $30,000 to $95,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

Personal trainers aid clients one-on-one in achieving physical fitness.

They usually work in gyms or run their own training studios.

21. Cleaner

Salary Range: $19,000 to $30,000+ per year
Payment Option: Varies

Sprucing up houses and public spaces is bound to give anyone a workout.

I should know because I once had jobs cleaning restaurant lobbies and hotel rooms, and I would come home sore and exhausted.

Find work at schools, stores, or other places, or start your own cleaning business.

22. YouTube Fitness Trainer

Earning Potential: $18 per 1,000 views
Payment Option: Electronic Funds Transfer, Wire Transfer, Check

If you prefer to host online training sessions from home instead of dealing with the hassles of working at (or operating) a gym, consider becoming a YouTube fitness trainer.

Help viewers adopt a healthy lifestyle in real time via live streaming or create a video series they could play at their leisure.

23. Rover

Earning Potential: Up to $1,000 per month
Payment Option: Stripe

Love dogs?

Best of all, the company lets you set your own schedule and rates.

24. Yoga Instructor

Earning Potential: $31,000 to $100,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

A yoga instructor teaches group courses on how to perform movements like stretching poses as well as practice mindfulness and meditation.

It’s an ideal career if you prefer laidback exercises to intense ones like running and weight lifting.

25. Babysitter

Earning Potential: $20,000 to $27,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

Taking care of children is a workout in itself, particularly if you’re caring for rambunctious toddlers.

As a babysitter, you’d need to play with kids, feed them, ensure they don’t get into trouble, etc. (Once they take their nap, you’d want one, too, ha!)

26. Airtasker

Earning Potential: Up to $16,056 per month
Payment Option: Airtasker Pay

Airtasker is a TaskRabbit competitor where you can find gigs like plumbing, carpet cleaning, lawn care, and much more.

Choose who you want to work with and set your own prices.

27. Shipt (Shopper)

Earning Potential: $15 to $30 per hour
Payment Option: Cash tips, Stripe Connect, Instant Pay

With Shipt, you make money shopping for others.

You receive a free Shipt membership, and you’re welcome to work on a full- or part-time schedule.

28. Park Ranger

Salary Range: $26,000 to $61,000 per year
Payment Options: Varies

If you love being outdoors and want to do everything possible to protect nature, then being a park ranger might be the right job for you.

Park rangers typically patrol wildlife areas and educate the public on nature conservation.

29. Farmer

Earning Potential: $35,000 to $73,000 per year
Payment Options: Varies

Being a farmer requires a lot of stamina, especially since you have to wake up at the crack of dawn.

Farming entails raising animals for food production and crop harvesting.

30. Circus performer

Earning Potential: $17,000 to $149,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

Circus performers engage in acts like the trapeze, clowning, and the German wheel.

They’re also nomadic, which is great if you like traveling often.

31. Police Officer

Salary Range: $30,000 to $100,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

Police work is not for the faint of heart.

They have to patrol neighborhoods and public spaces, plus confront dangerous people and make arrests when necessary.

32. Pro cyclist

Earning Potential: $15,000 to $100,000+ per year
Payment Option: Varies

Have you always dreamed of being part of the Tour de France or other bike races?

If you work hard enough, you could be a famous cyclist, too.

Keep in mind that you’ll be away from home a lot and have to share hotel rooms with fellow cyclists.

33. Tour guide

Salary Range: $18,000 to $55,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

Tour guides introduce visitors to new buildings or cities.

They can lead tours of vacation hotspots or museums.

34. Scuba diver

Salary Range: $38,000 to $81,000 per year
Payment Option: Varies

A scuba diver can work in various underwater fields like marine biology, search and rescue, and machine repair.

Getting Paid to Workout FAQ

Here are frequently asked questions about earning cash through exercise.

Are these workout apps safe to use?

The apps listed above are very safe for you to use as long as you’re in good health.

It’s best to make an appointment with your physician to make sure your body’s in ship shape before downloading an app and integrating its features into your workout routine.

Are these exercise apps legit?

Yes, they’re legit.

After all, the companies who made them want you to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Besides, at least in my opinion, they’re more legit than those “magic potion” products that claim you can lose weight without dieting or exercising.

Which is the best get paid to exercise app?

The best app for you is based on factors like your personal goals, preferences, and lifestyle.

To elaborate, if you just want to focus on charity donations, sign up for Charity Miles.

If you dream of going on a vacation without splurging thousands of dollars, use PK Rewards.

Do I have to pay to download some of the apps?

Most of the apps cost you nothing to use.

That said, apps like Strava and MapmyFitness have optional premium versions that charge monthly fees.

How do I become a fitness trainer?

In order to be a fitness trainer, you need to meet the following requirements:

Complete a degree program in physical education, kinesiology, or exercise science.
Get personal training certification as well as certification in CPR
Develop skills in communication, problem-solving, fitness, and customer service

Exercise Your Way to Extra Cash!

If you thought exercising was something to avoid, you’re probably now inspired to do it after reading about the various ways you can stay fit.

Whether you want to try out one or more apps as a side hustle or make a career out of the jobs in the opportunity list, it’s great to know that working out doesn’t have to be dull or expensive.

Download an app, sweat it out, and get paid to exercise!