The Pump
The Pump — A community-building workout platform connecting Arnold Schwarzenegger to his fans, supporters and fellow training buffs.
Long story short
Designed and built by STRV, The Pump app captures the look and feel of everything Arnold Schwarzenegger has represented over the past decades — by merging the old-school energy of Mr. Olympia with the motivational persona he’s become as an actor, producer and politician.
The Pump Highlights
— Limited app release sold out lifetime memberships in just 72 hours
— 5,000 lifetime members attracted in record time
— Hit the Top #20 on the US App Store (Health & Fitness category)
— Massive engagement, with hundreds of comments per post within days
Services/Deliverables
— Product Management
— Product Design
— Frontend Engineering
— QA
About The Pump
Tailored workouts are at The Pump’s core but above all, the app is a community-based ecosystem where Arnold himself engages directly with users on a regular basis. It’s a place of motivation and people encouraging each other in a non-toxic environment.
Every The Pump exercise program has 16 variations, each based on a combination of preferences — like male/female/other, gym/bodyweight, get shredded/get big — that provide users with the perfect workout. Beyond that, the app includes aggregated inspirational content and community features to keep users engaged, plus a store to grab some Arnold merch.
Challenge
Arnold had long wanted to unite his diverse community in one place. In the past, Arnold-related designs often felt outdated; STRV changed that with a design concept that impressed the big man himself, and we were chosen to build The Pump from the ground up.
For such a data-heavy platform, elaborate architecture was a must — as was design that would present the expansive workout program variations, advanced admin functionalities and community features in an easy-to-consume way. And with all the fitness apps out there, The Pump needed to stand out not just thanks to the name behind it, but as a standalone product.
Solution
On top of UX/UI, we also created The Pump logo and brand pillars. Every detail is intentional, from the color red (Arnold’s fav) to font choices working in harmony with vintage content. Our engineers applied an equally innovative approach to deliver a product far beyond a simple MVP.
From the development side, the name of the game was efficiency. Built in React Native, the app can be distributed natively on Android and iOS. And because of the massive data load, common approaches like Firebase or Amplify were too rigid — so our engineers got creative with a custom backend solution and utilized Remix for a tailored admin panel.
We’re proud to say that the result is a hit with Arnold, who can often be found on The Pump, keeping an eye on the content, asking his fans questions — just as he’s been known to do on other online platforms throughout the years.
