Strava is a platform where users can find, map or record workouts and the app keeps track of the user’s performance and training goals along with speed, distance, elevation change and more. Strava can even recognize if you are running the same route and the app can tell you if your pacing was slower or faster than the previous workout.

While this app is great for athletes to record and analyze their performance, Strava offers an entirely other aspect to their app. The gamification and socialization features make working out fun, social and competitive. Strava users can see other individuals who may be friends or complete strangers who did the same workout that they previously completed. Now users can see how they compare to someone else. This creates friendly competition and can even foment a new friendship between strangers.

Furthering more into the socialization aspect, Strava has a mixture of Facebook and Instagram features. Each Strava user has an activity feed that shows your friends’ activities that you can “like”, give kudos to or write a comment on. Similar to Facebook, Athletes can craft “posts” where they can add photos, headlines, and descriptions and other friends can share. There are also different groups users can join and challenges such as the “November 30-Hour Challenge.” In addition, Strava has a “Clubs” feature that uses your geographical location and allows you to join different clubs in your area.

Strava is an app that is taking over the fitness industry while allowing people a place to communicate, create new relationships, have friendly competition all along with getting the data that one needs to improve their own performance. Strava currently is growing at a 1 million rate of new members every 40 days¹. Their member rate will keep rising as they continue to bring in new exercise features along with social sharing features. Strava will continue to gain popularity as there is no fitness app that is giving the same amount of data while at the same time, promoting challenges among people globally along with trying to gather people with the same interests in their own community area.

 

Sources:

1. Gross, M. (n.d.). How strava became the only fitness app that matters. Men’s Journal. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/how-strava-became-the-only-fitness-app-that-matters-w501209/
2. Hall, C. (2022, January 1). What is Strava, how does it work and is it worth paying for? Pocket-Lint. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/154854-what-is-strava-and-how-does-it-work