What’s Up with Pumps: Networking one pump at a time

What's Up With Pumps combines the best of both worlds: fitness and professional networking, all while creating an energizing alternative to traditional happy hours.

Whether it’s motivated by an interest in health benefits, the active networking or to simply be more fit, those who attend the ‘pump sessions’ say it's for everyone at all fitness levels.

"What's really great about the What's Up with Pumps events is that we call it the ‘networkout.’ That was a term coined by one of the people that helped us in the very beginning, Tom Gourley. He calls it a ‘networkout’ because you're networking in between working out," said Diana Morgan​, founder, What’s Up with Pumps. She's also the mastermind behind What's Up with Supps​, another networking opportunity that happens after the trade show closes down. 

"We have people of all different fitness levels that come," she said. "We have beginners, people that do yoga, people that just walk on the treadmill and then you have the big bodybuilders that are lifting like 500 pounds, so it's a really great mix."

Attendees emphasized the importance of exercise not just for physical appearance but for overall health such as cognitive performance, mitochondrial function, muscle maintenance and microbiome diversity.

"We're doing this at 6, 7 a.m. in the morning, so we can have energy all day long for this expo and for the meetings that we have and more, and more importantly, when you are in Las Vegas and you're at a convention, typically sleep is not one of the things that gets prioritized," said Doug Kalman, PhD, adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern and co-founder of Substantiation Sciences LLC. 

"And when you don't get great sleep, it negatively impacts your microbiome. Lo and behold, exercise alone increases the diversity of the makeup of our microbiome, enhancing overall wellness of our microbiome. Just by us being here exercising, we're awakening the brains, we're enhancing our gut microbe makeup, and we are enhancing our human social interactions, which is making the world a better place, one rep at a time.”

David Slagle, senior director of brand partnerships and marketing at Radicle Science, said attendees have told him they've gained business by simply spotting someone at a Pumps session.

“Because now that I've spotted you on your lift, you're going to pick up the phone when I call,” he said. “And a synergy might be between the companies. And then I get feedback later, and it's happened to me over a dozen times, so yeah, a ‘networkout.’”

To hear the backstory on where What’s Up with Pumps originated, where it’s headed and what to expect, watch the full story.