Living in the age of #fitness junkies, activity trackers, and sports bra selfies was bound to lead to this: a new fitness app called PumpUp.
PumpUp allows users to not only post their workouts and meals for others to see, but also share progress photos to keep themselves inspired and on track. “Consumers today are looking for inspiration and guidance regarding their physical activity and eating habits without being overwhelmed by a plethora of applications,” said Niko Bonatso, a principal at General Catalyst Partners, according to the .
The new application also includes classic fitness app features that build custom exercise plans, give coaching feedback, and track activity such as calories burned (a la FitBit or Jawbone). But with 1.7 million users already getting pumped up about the app, the ability to build a social media community to share fitness photos and healthy recipes with other users seems to be the one-up PumpUp has over wearable tech or Strava.
The app’s creators claim that fitness-selfie-sharing users are five times more likely to stay on track with fitness goals. More than 90 percent of current users are female, but co-founder Garrett Gottlieb said that the new app is just scratching the surface of the fitness community. “With PumpUp, we’re leveraging mobile technology to connect like-minded individuals across the planet who would have never met otherwise,” he said in a company .
But the science behind it says that at the end of the day, we all just want someone to notice how hot we are.