Arnold’s Corner
I turn 79 today.

I don’t want any gifts. Instead, my team and I decided to revolutionize the fitness industry — and we’re doing something crazy to celebrate.

Here it is:

Between today and Sunday, August 9, when you join the Pump Club app and complete four workout programs in your first year, you pay nothing.

Zero. Nada. Zilch.

No fine print. If you show up and do the work, your first year is free. The payments are automatically sent back to your card.

If that feels shocking, then let me say it even more plainly.

Sign up for the app. Try it free for 7 days. After your trial, pay $100 for your first year. Complete four workout programs. Get $100 back automatically: $50 after your first, and $50 after your fourth.

Have I Lost My Mind?

“Arnold, I thought you were a good businessman. How does this make sense?”

I am a good businessman. But unlike most other fitness apps, the Pump Club is not backed by a private equity fund or a hedge fund. It’s 100% backed by me.

Look. I am fighting a fitness crusade. This is personal — not just business. I’ve been trying to get people to train for six decades, and I’ve found something that works.

If I can make millions of you train consistently all year, I’ll take the loss.

Let me explain.

Over the years, I've learned an ugly truth about the business of fitness.

The industry profits most when you fail.

Think about it.

Every January, gyms and apps scream DISCOUNTS.

They want you to sign up, pay up, and then quietly disappear.

I've talked to gym owners who admitted something shocking: they get nervous advertising after January, because it reminds members who don't show up that they're still paying every month.

Think about that. They want you to forget you’re paying them.

That's the system.

And I don't like that system.

Because we are not here just to take your money.

We are here to make you better.

Progress, not profit, is our primary business principle.

We only deserve profit if you're winning. We have to win together.

The most frustrating thing is, even with the fitness industry exploding into a $270 billion business, nobody really knows (or cares) how to make someone fit for life.

I care. And now I know how.

We’ve Learned What Makes People Work Out — From Real Data

I'm a curious guy and I love statistics. The benefit of running a fitness app is I suddenly have all the data in the world about how people change their behavior. I'm not one of those people that sells data and I never will be.

But I am someone who will use it to make you better.

I can use data to see what works — and what doesn't.

Other people start a fitness app to run a business. For the past 3 years, we’ve been running an experiment. Testing. Searching.

We tested everything.

What we saw was clear and uncomfortable for the industry:

The bigger the upfront discount, the less people train. Every time.

When we gave heavy discounts, more people joined — but fewer people showed up, fewer finished programs, and fewer changed their lives.

This is not a surprise — the majority of people who join a fitness app never start a workout. Anyone who has ever been in a gym in January and stayed until February has seen the attendance drop.

We finally decided to try something different.

Instead of making it cheaper to start, we made it cheaper to finish.

We gave people money back for completing a program.

And those members?

They were different.

More consistent.

More committed.

More likely to finish.

In the fitness app world, it is normal to have 85% of the people who download your app never use it.

We have been very proud that we always doubled the industry standard.

But when we gave an incentive for finishing a program — a discount they earned, instead of one we gave up front — we didn't just double the average. We flipped it upside down.

85% of people started training.

That's when we knew: this is the right way to do fitness.

Stories of Transformation Unlike Anything I’ve Ever Seen

Over and over — thousands of times now — I hear the same thing:

"This is the only thing that’s ever worked."

Ben lost 200 pounds — and wanted to quit at least a hundred times along the way. He never did.

April wondered if strength training could work for a menopausal woman who felt pain doing lunges. She's now deadlifting 300+ pounds at the Arnold Sports Festival.

Jeremi and Danielle, parents in their late 30s and 40s, got more ripped together than they ever were in their 20s.

Christian joined from a hospital bed, lost 80 pounds, and now has a very happy doctor.

Carlee said after two kids, she almost didn't recognize herself. She started training with just her bodyweight, got the leanest she's ever been — and now she's also deadlifting over 300 pounds, and competing in powerlifting.

I hear constantly from people over 50 who thought pain was just "part of aging" — until it wasn't.

I have heard thousands of stories of weight loss, strength gain, pre-diabetes or high cholesterol termination, life improvement — you name it — since I started the Pump Club app.

And the thing about these stories is they aren't the standard lose-it-and-gain-it-back stories we are used to hearing. They're still going. And this is what I love the most: they’re all becoming mini-Arnolds, inspiring other people inside our positive corner of the internet.

If you think, “There can’t be a place for me in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s app,” you’re wrong.

I promise there is someone like you succeeding. Beginner, advanced, young, old, men, women, never did a push-up, competing in bodybuilding or powerlifting — I have seen it all.

I am obsessed with why these success stories are happening at a rate I haven’t seen before. Now the data is clear.

The Only Fitness App That Gets Cheaper the More You Use It

Based on everything we learned about how people actually succeed, and after analyzing tens of thousands of our members' behavior, we are raising the annual price of The Pump Club app to $150.

But if you actually train, you'll pay less than ever.

After the sale, the people who train the most will earn $100 back and pay just $50.

But that’s for later.

For my birthday — from today through Sunday, August 9 — your first year is just $100, so when you earn your $100 back, you will have paid nothing.

It doesn’t require perfection. Everyone who shows up and completes at least one program earns money back — you get $50 back after your first.

That's not a gimmick.

That's a belief.

“This Isn’t How Fitness Usually Works”

That's the point.

The fitness industry isn't working.

I've written multiple best-selling books and been part of multiple hit documentaries about fitness.

I know how it works.

This is a complete reversal of how it has operated for decades — and it changes who wins.

Most companies are happy if you pay and disappear.

We're only happy if you show up.

So yes — the price is going “up” after August 9.

But for the people who show up for themselves, it's actually going down.

We might be the only product in the world that gets cheaper the more you use it.

If that excites you, you're in the right place.

If it doesn't, there are plenty of other apps running discounts.

They're built for people who want to feel like they started — not people who are ready to change their lives.

We're building something different.

We are building for your success story, not the success story of a bunch of investors in suits in some conference room who couldn’t do a real squat if you offered them all the money in the world.

If a million people trained for free this year in the fitness apps they run, those suits would throw up.

I’ll be celebrating.

Join us. Show up. Earn it back.

Your first week is free anyway.

What’s stopping you?

— Arnold

FAQs
Questions You Might Have

Can I sign up for a free trial if I’ve already done one in the past?
Yes! Everyone can start a new free trial, but only through our birthday sale page on our website.

What if I already have a Pump Club subscription and want to switch?
No problem. Just log in to your customer portal, select “Update Subscription,” select “Earn It Back (Annual),” click “Add promotion code,” enter the code EARNITBACK, and click “Apply.” You'll then only be charged for the $100 Earn It Back subscription minus whatever is left on your current term. Your membership will renew a year later at $150/year.

What if I’m already on a trial and want to switch?
If you subscribed with Apple or Google, then you’ll need to cancel your trial in your phone’s subscription management center, wait for your trial to expire, and start a new trial here. If you started a trial directly on our website, then you can log in to your customer portal, cancel your trial, wait for your trial to expire, and then start a new trial with the birthday sale. (Our system prevents you from having duplicate active subscriptions.)

Is this available through Apple or Google?
No, unfortunately we can’t automate refunds there. You have to use this link.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell