Drivers of Engagement in TikTok Fitness Content: A Systematic Narrative Review

TikTok has rapidly become a leading platform for short videos, influencing modern fitness communication and the ways users interact with content. Research recognizes the role of social media in promoting physical activity, but the factors that shape engagement with fitness-related content on TikTok are not clearly integrated in the literature. This systematic narrative review aims to synthesize current empirical evidence on how people engage with TikTok fitness content, how this engagement is measured, and what may explain or motivate it. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus databases, covering studies published between 2019 and 2025. In total, 23 peer-reviewed studies met the inclusion criteria and were examined through a structured narrative synthesis. The review brings together quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies to identify the main theories, engagement measures, content types, and factors that explain user interaction. The findings show that engagement with TikTok fitness content has several dimensions. These include behavioral indicators, such as likes, comments, shares, and watch time; cognitive and emotional responses, such as attention, motivation, and perceived usefulness; and social forms of engagement, such as participation, identification, and co-creation. Higher engagement is commonly linked to motivational storytelling, authentic self-presentation, interactive content, tutorials, and participatory features such as challenges, duets, and live sessions. Engagement also appears to result from the combined influence of psychological factors, including motivation and self-efficacy, social factors, such as community belonging and social validation, and algorithmic mechanisms that increase content visibility through personalization and retention-based recommendations. This review contributes to the literature by presenting TikTok fitness engagement as a social and technical interaction, not just as a number or performance metric. In this view, engagement is shaped by users, creators, platform features, and algorithmic systems. The findings may be useful for researchers, fitness professionals, educators, and content creators who aim to understand engagement in short-video environments and use it in an ethical and responsible way.